Edsall was named the 27th head football coach at the University of Connecticut on December 21 , 1998 and led the Huskies from Division I-AA into Division I-A . UConn was the first school to ever move from the FCS to the Bowl Championship Series as a member of the Big East . In what has been considered one of the best and fastest building jobs in recent memory , Randy Edsall oversaw a period of unprecedented success at the University of Connecticut . UConn went from Division I-AA into Division I-A , and in only their first year as a full member of the FBS in 2002 , Edsall guided the 2002 team to a 6 – 6 record in its first year with a full Division I-A complement of 85 scholarships . UConn ended the 2002 season impressively with four-straight wins to reach the .500 mark , including season-ending road wins at Navy and at bowl-bound Iowa State of the Big 12 Conference led by Seneca Wallace that was ranked as high as 9th in the country that year , 49 – 37 . The excitement for Edsall and his team continued to swell in 2003 as the Huskies moved into their new home , Rentschler Field , and enjoyed the nation 's largest attendance increase with a gain of 21,252 fans per game . Finishing with a 9 – 3 record , many national media outlets , including Bristol-based ESPN , proclaimed that UConn should have received a bowl berth , a feat highly uncommon for an independent team . Also in 2003 , UConn was the only public I-A school to graduate at least 90 percent of its football players
Big East
Big East Conference (1979–2013)
Randy Edsall