My way or the highway is an arrogant, condescending attitude. He took over a 9-4 team, looked around and came to the conclusion that he had to blow it up, and he got 2 wins for the effort. It was clear after a few games he'd lost the team, and I am not in good position to say that the players were necessarily wrong in despising the program Edsel espoused.
I can understand that, but at the same time, it appeared that Fridge was running things so loose that he did have to put the clamps downs. Was it heavy handed? Perhaps, like you, I wasn't really in a position to know, but I do like his style and feel that the program very well could be much better off in the long run. He's already doing more with "his" talent than Fridge seemed to be able to do with what he got.
