By Daniel Chavkin

When the University of Maryland fired Randy Edsall, it came as a mild surprise. After all, Edsall had just received a three-year extension from the school in June, and was coming off his most successful season as head coach.

However, while it was an unexpecting move, it, wasn’t necessarily criticized. Many Maryland fans and students had been calling for Edsall to be fired, especially after losing a 48-27 debacle at home to Bowling Green University.

“It’s a move that Maryland needed to make,” senior Michael Scialabba said. “We definitely didn’t get better. Some of his play calls and some of his coaching moves weren’t the best.”

Scialabba is not alone. In the past, Edsall has been criticized for not being able to manage a game or lead a team.

However, not everybody thinks Edsall was the main problem.

“Its tough any time your team isn’t performing as well as they should,” said senior Josh Charnoff.  “I don’t think our talent is that great so I wouldn’t put the full blame on him.”

Charnoff’s proclamation can be traced back to the offense. This year, the Maryland offense lost their three top receivers, as Stefon Diggs and Deon Long entered the NFL draft and Marcus Leak withdrew from the school.

Yet the biggest drop in talent from last year to this year is at the quarterback position. Even though last year’s starter C.J Brown had his share of issues throwing the ball, he ran the read option to moderate success. Maryland had the ability to run the ball well because Brown’s was mobile. Additionally, even when Brown threw the ball, he had good enough weapons where Diggs and Long could help mask some of Brown’s mistakes.

This year, they haven’t had success at either facet of the game. Perry Hills started the year at quarterback, but he isn’t the threat to run that Brown was and doesn’t throw the ball well either. Caleb Rowe, who replaced Hills as starter midseason, is a pocket passer running more of a read option system.

Basically, Maryland is trying to run a system that their personnel aren’t fit for.

Now that Edsall is gone, who should be the next Maryland head football coach.

“Chip Kelly,” Charnoff said emphatically.

Kelly, the current Philadelphia Eagles and former Oregon head coach, has been a topic of discussion over the past few months. With the Eagles struggling, and many open head coach positions in college football, many believe that Kelly could be fired, then head back to football. However, it’s way too early in the NFL season to speculate.

Yet, Kelly offers an interesting template for which Maryland should go after. He is a big name who has had success in college. Additionally, what Kelly did with Oregon, using Nike as a way to increase revenue and make the program look more attractive, is something Maryland should look at.

Maryland’s connection with Under Armour founder Kevin Plank is similar to Oregon’s connection with Nike founder Phil Knight. Even though Kelly is highly unlikely of becoming Maryland’s next head coach, Maryland’s athletic department should look to become “Oregon East,” taking what Oregon did in the Pac 12 and bring it to the Big Ten.

Maryland certainly needs a big name to replace Randy Edsall. With an impressive recruiting class coming in next year, the talent is slated to be better. Additionally, within the East Division of the Big Ten, Maryland must face great coaches such as Mark Dantonio, Jim Harbaugh, and Urban Meyer.

If they want to be considered a college football threat, Maryland must hit a home run with their new head coach.