I think you have to have balance in whatever you do. I feel that at other places that I've been as the assistant or the head coach, we've followed kind of the same formula in terms of attracting student-athletes here that — first and foremost, because I do understand what we're judged on — have the ability to help us win an ACC championship. That's the first thing I'm looking for when I put on the film, because I know what we want to accomplish and, you know what, I want our players to understand that if they come here, our goal each and every year is that we want to work to win the ACC. I think that anytime you're in a conference, that should be your No. 1 goal. We're not going to try to win at any cost. We're going to try to get guys that have that, but then again, I think it's very important because then when you get the mission of what the University of Maryland is all about, this is an educational institution. No. 1 is finding those kids who have that ability, but then having those young men who have the ability to graduate from here and the ones that want to get a degree get an education. The statistics prove it out. Only 1 percent or 2 percent of these young men are going to have the opportunity to go on and continue their career. And then the statistics prove it out that they're only going to play in that league for four years, so the thing that's going to carry them the rest of their lives is their education and the networking and the things that they've done here at the University of Maryland. So, I'm going to make sure that we have guys who have the ability to do that, and I want guys who are hard workers because if you're a hard worker, you're going to give yourself a chance to be successful. And then the third thing is people of good character because if you combine those ingredients, you're going to have a pretty good opportunity to go and be successful in life and also to be able to make sure that you're doing a good job for your family. And again, I know you can win with those ingredients and you can win with that formula, and again, I'm never going to compromise the values and morals and what this university stands for. We're not going to do something that's going to go win a game and compromise the things this university is all about.
Q&A with Maryland football coach Randy Edsall
The embattled coach talks about his difficult first season and how the Terps will turn things around
Last question: There are those people who say you learn more about yourself and your players from losing than from winning. Do you subscribe to that theory?
There's no question. There's no question because — you know what — some players maybe have never had adversity settle in, and some people that maybe that have never had to face adversity, and you do. It's very easy when everything is going good and you're on top of the world to watch people and see how they react, but you really find out the true character of a person when they face adversity and how they handle it. So, believe me, I've been through a tremendous amount of adversity in my career, and I think that's the thing that — when you go through a season like this — that's where I'm trying to do everything I can to help our players to understand and be able to move forward and go about the business of, hey, this is what we need to do to get better. You find out a lot about people when you go through adversity, and that measures the character of people in terms of how they handle that, because when you go through adversity, you find out there are people who just bull their neck and stay focused because they know what is going on is right. Or you find those people that when you go through adversity, who now start pointing their finger here, pointing their finger there, but never pointing their finger at themselves. What you hope is, when you go through these situations, what it does is just make you stronger as a person and you become more resolved to say, "Hey, there's no way that I'm going to let that happen again," and just keep moving forward.
