The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Edsall: Generation not mentally tough
STORRS — Almost five minutes into his weekly press conference, Randy Edsall began his critique of kids today.
The UConn coach was asked Tuesday about the patience required to manage and coach this group of college athletes in 2019. Edsall was ready to roll. “It’s today’s generation,” Edsall said. “It’s frustrating. There’s been no accountability in a lot of households and there’s been no accountability with these kids growing up. They’ve never had it tough, they’ve never known how to work, they’ve never known how to sacrifice and be disciplined.
“That’s the tough thing. We’re trying to change all of those things.”
UConn (16) is preparing to face UMass (16) Saturday in Amherst. The Huskies, who have beaten a Football Bowl Subdivision opponent in two years, are the favorite against the hapless Minutemen.
Yet as his program sputters in his second goaround as UConn coach, Edsall has continually been asked about signs of progress. On Tuesday, Edsall bemoaned the challenge of building a program with young players from a generation he deems, well, entitled.
“You can’t give these guys any credit because they don’t know how to handle it, because that’s all that’s happened to them throughout their whole life,” Edsall said.
He was just getting started. When it was suggested he was doing more babysitting than coaching, Edsall said he is trying to impart “life lessons” on his players.
“Because a lot of these kids have no idea about life’s lessons,” he said.
Edsall said 21 players were required to do the socalled “opportunity workout” Tuesday morning as punishment for missing a class. Edsall said he talked to the players about their two obligations at
UConn — academics and athletics.
“It’s hard, but this is what they signed up for,” Edsall said. “Supposed to be a fulltime student, fulltime athlete. That’s all it is. Stop worrying about it. Stop being on your phone all the time. Stop playing Fortnite. Go to bed early at night.”
The challenging Tuesday morning workout, Edsall said, was no issue for players of past generations. Now? Players fear it. “Kids today aren’t as mentally tough and as mentally strong,” Edsall said. “Because they’re never been
put in those situations. They never even go outside and play and pickup teams and there’s no way leadership is ever developed.”
Edsall, who is 536 since he was tasked with rebooting the program in 2017, continued to steer his monologue to the lack of leadership and his players’ fear of not being liked by their teammates. He harkened back to his first stint as UConn coach, when he ushered the program from Division IAA to Division IA, and he cited some of his leaders from those teams.
“I don’t have the (Alfred) Finchers, the (Dan) Orlovskys, the (Ryan) Krugs, the (Tyler) Lorenzens, the Donald Browns, those guys,”
Edsall said “They didn’t care what their teammates thought. Too many kids nowadays want to be liked. They don’t understand it’s about respect. Be respected by your teammates, not liked.”
And about this generation?
“They don’t want to take accountability,” Edsall said. “They don’t want to take responsibility.”
Edsall, 61, began coaching in 1980. He got his first head coaching job in 1999. He left UConn for Maryland after the 2010 season and was 2234 in five seasons in College Park.
The wins have been scarce since he returned to Connecticut. On Tuesday, Edsall talked about the
need to create a culture within the program, then “the wins will come.”
Until then, Edsall insists he and his staff are making progress.
“There’s so many lessons ... that you never see, that you never see or experience with what we do,” Edsall said. “Everything is trying to make these kids better people, better students, and better athletes. We did it before and we’re working to do it again. And it’s hard. And it’s harder now than what it was then.
“Because our generation’s changed. Society has changed.”