Syracuse Decides to Go With the Unknown 'Syracuse Guy'

Way back in September, Syracuse athletic director Daryl Gross all but declared his head football coach to be a dead-man walking. In the course of which, he infamously stated that when Syracuse made the inevitable coaching change, "we'll get the first pick of the draft."

That did not work out as expected. Instead, Tennessee, Clemson and Washington jumped the queue and made hires. Then Syracuse found itself competing with Auburn as well for Turner Gill, and top choices were rejecting the overtures.

So, Syracuse after going with a defensive coordinator that had never been a head coach, had primarily spent his time in the NFL, and had no recruiting connections in the Northeast in Greg Robinson makes the very similar call. They hire the New Orleans Saints offensive coordinator, Doug Marrone.

Marrone had been in the NFL since 2002. Despite the title, he hasn't actually call the plays for New Orleans. He does, however, excel at coaching up the offensive line. Most of his college coaching experience (1994-2001) was in the ACC and SEC, not the Northeast.

On the bright side, he played for Syracuse in the 1980s and is from New York. Plus, he actually wanted the job.

As for the reaction from Syracuse fans...
Tepid seems to be the best way to put it. Some are trying to put a happy face on it by pointing out that he is a Syracuse guy and wants the job and loves the school. Bruce Feldman at ESPN.com seems to be the only one who seems to think it was definitely a good hire.

Others are a little more negative. To the point where some one went to Doug Marrone's Wikipedia page, and briefly amended it to include, "Unwisely, he was chosen as Syracuse University's Head Football Coach after the 2008 season by the incompetent Athletic Director Daryl Gross."

The feelings towards Syracuse's athletic director remain unchanged. Gross has for some time been perceived to be a complete ego-maniac. This hire did nothing to change it as even the banner announcing the hire has the following:


This was in the graphic banner. Not the press release. Who does that?

That's DOCTOR Daryl Gross, finding new and exciting ways to overshadow his more-important coaches by making it all about him. What would be the point of hiring a new coach if Gross couldn't put a personal quote from himself front and center along with his name in fancy script wirting like he's King Louis XIV? That's exactly what our football program needs...more cursive writing.

Seriously, 99% of college football programs DON'T do ego-caressing nonsense like this, right? I'm not crazy, am I?

No. Probably not. Gross seems obsessed with coaches with NFL experience. Why? Well, his great claim is that he was the one that persuaded the USC athletic director to hire Pete Carroll. Of course he was also the driving force to hire Paul Hackett before that. So with Greg Robinson, he is a less than impressive 1-2 on picking college head coaches. If he whiffs here, he's never going to get another chance to influence a pick.