A native of Glen Rock, Pennsylvania, Edsall is a protege of current New York Giants head coach Tom Coughlin. Edsall played for Coughlin at Syracuse University and later coached under him at Syracuse, at Boston College, and with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

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 make this move and also become a member of the Bowl Championship Series, as a member of the Big East. In 2004, he led the Huskies to the first bowl game in school history, the Motor City Bowl, which UConn won by defeating Toledo, 39–10.

In 2010, Edsall was hired as the new Maryland head football coach. He coached at Maryland until 2015.