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As reported by the Hartford Courant’s Mike Anthony, a Connecticut Superior Court judge ruled on Tuesday that Randy Edsall would not be charged by the state ethics board for improperly negotiating a contract for his son Corey while he was an employee of the state and that Corey would be able to continue working on the staff through the end of his one-year contract.
Corey will be able to stay pending an appeals process. The board had initially ruled that he would not be able to stay after the end of his one-year contract, which would be January 14, 2018. If they reject the appeal, Corey would need to leave the program, but it is still unclear whether Randy would simply just need to re-sign him or would be barred from doing so.
Randy has still not officially signed his contract with UConn, and has been working as UConn Football’s head coach. He signed an offer letter and has a “binding letter of agreement” that has allowed him to be paid his $1 million salary and run the Husky football program and hasn’t signed an official contract due to this entanglement with the state ethics board, where it seems the primary sticking point is whether Edsall was hired as head coach on December 28th or January 3rd. He also may not want to stay on as head coach if he’s unable to work with his son.
The ethics board is concerned with nepotism in this case, and that Corey has improperly received the honor of being UConn’s tight ends coach improperly. But not only is Corey qualified for the role he has, having worked at the University of Colorado and in the NFL, but he’s been a key contributor to the Huskies’ recruiting efforts. Also, it’s not like he’s a coordinator or one of the highest-paid members of the staff. This shouldn’t be on the state ethics board radar or been pursued as aggressively as it has been and solving the matter does not need to take this long. It’s a distraction for the program and for the staff at a time when they have many more pressing priorities, including recruiting, with football’s early signing period starting Dec. 20.