1. He’s won in tough road atmospheres

Virginia Tech’s Lane Stadium. Penn State’s Beaver Stadium. Michigan’s Michigan Stadium. Any college football fan would list these three venues as some of the toughest places to win on the road in all of college football, yet Edsall’s Terrapins pulled off victories in all three of those stadiums during the 2013 and 2014 seasons. In 2014, Edsall’s Terps won five road games on their way to a winning record and a bowl appearance. For reference, Maryland’s won six road games from 2015 until now. Winning road games is always tough, but Edsall’s proven he can do it with the Terps already.

2. He’s produced clear NFL talent

Stefon Diggs, if you haven’t heard, is really good at football and caught one of the most exciting touchdowns in NFL history. Yannick Ngakoue played in the Pro Bowl last season. Sean Davis has started 32 games and counting in his first three years in the NFL with the Pittsburgh Steelers. All three of these players were recruited and coached by Edsall before going pro. If you’re a wide receiver choosing between several schools, why wouldn’t you want to play for someone who helped someone like Diggs reach his current level of success?

3. He had a knack for finding diamonds in the rough

Maryland’s 2015 recruiting class was officially DJ Durkin’s, but two of its most important players committed when Edsall was still at the helm. One of those players was the 47th-best wide receiver in his graduating class, a 3-star recruit from Philadelphia. Pretty lackluster, right? Surely, there’s no way that player would get 1000 receiving yards his junior year before being the first wide receiver off the board in the 2018 NFL draft. Of course, that did happen, because I’m talking about DJ Moore.

Edsall also found Ty Johnson, who went from being ranked No. 55 out of all the running backs in his class to having over 2,500 rushing yards for his career while leading the entire country in yards per carry his sophomore season. Consistently bringing in 4-star recruits is important and trying your darndest to land 5-star recruits is also essential, but so finding 3-star talents who can be major contributors, and Moore and Johnson are proof Edsall could do just that.

4. He also got Dwayne Haskins to come here

Dwayne Haskins has the XXX-most passing yards in all of college football with XXX. He’s also (insert ranking) for passing touchdowns. And he’s doing all of that for the Ohio State Buckeyes. For a time, Haskins intended to stay in-state and play for the Terrapins under the leadership of Edsall. However, Haskins decommitted after Edsall was fired and instead decided to go to Urban Meyer’s Buckeyes. Maryland was able to land Kasim Hill as his replacement, but Hill has so far not been quite able to play as well Haskins.

5. Okay we’re just kidding