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Clock management is such an important part of coaching football that it’s often said that head coaches need to delegate that role to an assistant who will focus on that as his primary responsibility on game days. That’s what Lions coach Jim Caldwell has done.

Caldwell hired former Maryland and UConn head coach Randy Edsall this offseason and gave him the title of director of football research/special projects. Caldwell said Edsall will work as a scout to pick up tendencies about the Lions’ upcoming opponents, but on game days Edsall will be focused on clock management.

“He’s going to do a little bit of advanced scouting for us, taking a look at teams from a defensive standpoint to help our offense,” Caldwell said. “We’re going to have him work with a little bit of time management issues, clock management issues. Across the board, there’s going to be quite a few things.”

Edsall, who was a head coach for 17 seasons, actually has more years of experience as a head coach than Caldwell has. He’ll be putting that experience to good use for the Lions on Sundays.