May take an extra 12 months for this rebuild

[Stern]

If he wins 8 games this year, give him a contract extension. Lock him up now and he will deliver a National Championship

This is college sports, contract extensions aren't worth the paper they are written on. If a bigger school wants him they will pay whatever it takes to get him out of that contract. If he is unhappy here (even if he is winning) he will bolt to make himself happy. Contracts in college sports have become meaningless to a certain level.

 

[IthacaBarrel]

This is college sports, contract extensions aren't worth the paper they are written on. If a bigger school wants him they will pay whatever it takes to get him out of that contract. If he is unhappy here (even if he is winning) he will bolt to make himself happy. Contracts in college sports have become meaningless to a certain level.

Agreed, it also will depend after year 2 or 3 if he feels he can ACTUALLY accomplish what he has set out to do at Syracuse, 7-8 wins is one thing, next step and beyond that is entirely different. To me that is what will be the driving factor in him staying or leaving and yeah the $$ as well

 

[elimunelson]

i am going on record stating that i will not be surprised by literally any result this year. Dino has put me in a pretzel in terms of how we have been accustomed to our HC at Syracuse. How this works out is anyone's guess. I could see this team rattling off 9 wins or 1 win. There's no precedent to this type of pivot at Syracuse, in my lifetime.

It makes it super interesting and fascinating. Regarding how long he stays with Syracuse, I don't really care. Those things work themselves out. It's very rare for a guy with minimal success, like Marrone, to get nabbed that quickly but ultimately he had no interest in the college game. It was a stopover. Dino is college and for him to move on in college he will need to put up a few big years at Syracuse. Bring it on.

 

[orangeinjersey]

I'd be happy with 30 points a game

 

[TheCusian]

I'd be happy with 30 points a game

Bowling Green in year one of Babers system, with their #2 QB, averaged 31 v P5 competition

 

[Orijinal]

Maybe it's just me but that seemed like just another repackaging of answers he has been giving all along. Babers is excellent at handling interviews and answering questions. Hopefully he is as good at turning a program around.

Yes

 

[Whitey23]

Oh, I am so, so, so sick of these endless questions:

Where's your dream job?

Do you bleed Orange or just coach Orange?

Are you looking to leave soon?

Man, just neurotic. I mean, do we WANT the coach to continue to think about leaving?? Maybe make him think twice about staying, then??

Keep sounding like a schoolgirl who needs constant assurance of her identity and security

After awhile I'd be like, "Yes! I'm leaving! I can't handle you tugging on my shirt anymore and pestering me with your questions. Get some self-esteem!"

It really is ridiculous. Same people who harp on Marrone saying Cuse was his dream job. Gotta let it go people. Enjoy the ride.

 

[IthacaBarrel]

It really is ridiculous. Same people who harp on Marrone saying Cuse was his dream job. Gotta let it go people. Enjoy the ride.

Exactly, I look at football coaches in 2 year cycles, I would bet almost anyone that he will be here at least 2 years, after 2 years people will either worry about keeping him or want him fired. Just the way it goes, if coaches went worried about being fired all the time, they might stay longer for a bit less money some places but they have to chase the cash because their tenure can be short lived

 

[donniesyracuse]

We think "he said it may take 3 years to get to 7 wins" ...

I doubt a majority of fans feel that way. I know I don't. I usually ignore season prediction threads, but if there is one, I bet you will see a lot of people already predicting seven wins for this season. I think you overstate the pessimism of the overall fan base.

 

[TheCusian]

I doubt a majority of fans feel that way. I know I don't. I usually ignore season prediction threads, but if there is one, I bet you will see a lot of people already predicting seven wins for this season. I think you overstate the pessimism of the overall fan base.

1. Not sure this site is exactly representative of the fan base. This place is filled with die hards who pay attention (too much? ).
2. So what do you think he meant by it maybe taking an extra 12 months?

 

[Finwad32]

I doubt a majority of fans feel that way. I know I don't. I usually ignore season prediction threads, but if there is one, I bet you will see a lot of people already predicting seven wins for this season. I think you overstate the pessimism of the overall fan base.

Agreed, I've heard people discuss the possibility of year 1 struggles, but, 3 years to 7 wins would be crazy.

 

[TheCusian]

Agreed, I've heard people discuss the possibility of year 1 struggles, but, 3 years to 7 wins would be crazy.

Fair enough. Let's not get too hung up on my example and account for the fact that generalizations are inherently problematic.

The larger point is I think there is a difference in what "rebuild" means to the fanbase and Coach Babers internal ideas and goals are. I still think year one struggles will result in re-writing more than a few records on offense.

 

[CuseLegacy]

Bowling Green in year one of Babers system, with their #2 QB, averaged 31 v P5 competition

The problem with comparing his success at BGSU with what might happen at SU is that he took over a conference winning program there from Clawson. Not quite the same situation.

 

[Finwad32]

Fair enough. Let's not get too hung up on my example and account for the fact that generalizations are inherently problematic.

The larger point is I think there is a difference in what "rebuild" means to the fanbase and Coach Babers internal ideas and goals are. I still think year one struggles will result in re-writing more than a few records on offense.

There's no doubt about stats, its inherent with the system. If you run 100 + more plays than another team over the course of a season, you're going to have that many more yards, points, etc.

Internally Babers thinks he can win now, and, win much bigger by year 3. The rest is lip service to temper expectations; a buffer if things don't go as planned. No coach goes into a season saying, this is going to be a rough one.

 

[TheCusian]

There's no doubt about stats, its inherent with the system. If you run 100 + more plays than another team over the course of a season, you're going to have that many more yards, points, etc.

Internally Babers thinks he can win now, and, win much bigger by year 3. The rest is lip service to temper expectations; a buffer if things don't go as planned. No coach goes into a season saying, this is going to be a rough one.

Of course. I'm not seeing the disagreement.

What I'm arguing is that when fans see "rebuild to take longer" I think that there is an inherent gap between what fans already expect vs what Babers expects. That most non-Syracusefan fans have been beaten down to not expect what's possible in this system with a very good HC in Babers.

So a rebuild in Babers world is Conf Championships
A rebuild in the minds of the local fan is 7-8 wins regularly

His tamping down of expectations is brilliant - because they already are with a lot of depressed, used-to-be-a-fan-but-now-I-just-follow-basketball. I sat with a bunch at the UNC BBall game when he was announced. Lots of sighs and "yeah rights" up in the 300's.

 

[SoBristol]

The problem with comparing his success at BGSU with what might happen at SU is that he took over a conference winning program there from Clawson. Not quite the same situation.

True enough, but Clawson had won with defense, and most of that defense graduated; Babers lost Clawson's QB (Matt Johnson) to injury in the first game. He inherited good talent on offense, and improved the production right out of the box. He struggled on defense in his first season because (like SU's 2015 defense) BGSU was rebuilding in 2014 with underclassmen, backed by true frosh.

 

[TheCusian]

The problem with comparing his success at BGSU with what might happen at SU is that he took over a conference winning program there from Clawson. Not quite the same situation.

Yeah, not a perfect comp. But that's why I included only P5 teams - they'd expect to beat the MAC teams due to their history. They hadn't beaten a P5 team under Clawson. They beat Indiana in 2014 and Maryland in 2015. They punched above their weight, which we'll have to do a lot more of.

(Side note: we averaged 25 vs P5 schools)

 

[SoBristol]

Of course. I'm not seeing the disagreement.

What I'm arguing is that when fans see "rebuild to take longer" I think that there is an inherent gap between what fans already expect vs what Babers expects. That most non-Syracusefan fans have been beaten down to not expect what's possible in this system with a very good HC in Babers.

...

Agree -- and for some good examples, check the predictions of the PS sports writers. One is 6-6, the others are looking for a repeat of 4 wins or at best 5 wins. Beaten down by 2014 and 2015 results.

The offense will be better under Babers; the defense is better in most spots than last year's defense (and may be OK at DE with Slayton & Coleman). And yet essentially the same record as last year? No credit for improved S&C? For 8 returning starters on defense? No credit for a head coach and assistants with a record of strong offenses?

 

[Finwad32]

Of course. I'm not seeing the disagreement.

What I'm arguing is that when fans see "rebuild to take longer" I think that there is an inherent gap between what fans already expect vs what Babers expects. That most non-Syracusefan fans have been beaten down to not expect what's possible in this system with a very good HC in Babers.

So a rebuild in Babers world is Conf Championships
A rebuild in the minds of the local fan is 7-8 wins regularly

His tamping down of expectations is brilliant - because they already are with a lot of depressed, used-to-be-a-fan-but-now-I-just-follow-basketball. I sat with a bunch at the UNC BBall game when he was announced. Lots of sighs and "yeah rights" up in the 300's.

My only disagreement with what you're saying is that a local fan should not think that the development I'll call it, because I don't recall him saying rebuild, would equate to 7-8 wins by year 3.

That shouldn't be acceptable.

Babers was brought in to get the wins SS's staff struggled to get. This was not a god awful team. It was a very young defense with an offense lead by about 6 different inexperienced QB's in 2 years.

Give me Pitt and Virginia again in '15 and it's a 6 win ball club. It's not like it was a 1-win team. The injury situation at QB was of epic proportions, literally something I've never seen before from anybody over a 2-yr stretch.

If the average fan is willing to wait 3 years for 7 or 8 wins then why in the hell did we get rid of the last staff?

 

[upperdeck]

we make 2 plays at the end of games and its a 6 win team. just a couple tackles. not even crazy drives down field. but you stack the qb issues on top of it as well. its a rebuild in style and where he wants it to end up. but there is a decent talent base here in many positions far better than what he had at BG and he competed against the p5 with it there.

the offense will have chances to make plays. the question is will they make them. Last year we missed almost every key throw/catch when they were needed and too many blown 3rd and longs allowed by the D. We could call great plays and have success or call a great play and make a poor throw or drop the ball. Last year with out tempo we only had those shots 2-3 times a game. we should have 6-7 of those same shots now. we could see an uptick of 10pts a game just by volume and hopefully keeping the key guys healthy. you can have Dungey/Estime/Phillips all down like last year.

 

[orangenirvana]

Words diretly from Coach Babers mouth

You missed a great thread title opportunity here: "Out of the mouth of Babers"

 

[KaiserUEO]

good Q & A article.

proves what I thought about SS was right. he went out searching for big recruits, found a few, but instead of having a plan for the rest of the team and him being the fertilizer to help them all grow...he filled in around his big recruits with manure, and hoped it would work.

#InDinoITrust

 

[TheCusian]

My only disagreement with what you're saying is that a local fan should not think that the development I'll call it, because I don't recall him saying rebuild, would equate to 7-8 wins by year 3. That shouldn't be acceptable. Babers was brought in to get the wins SS's staff struggled to get. This was not a god awful team. It was a very young defense with an offense lead by about 6 different inexperienced QB's in 2 years. Give me Pitt and Virginia again in '15 and it's a 6 win ball club. It's not like it was a 1-win team. The injury situation at QB was of epic proportions, literally something I've never seen before from anybody over a 2-yr stretch. If the average fan is willing to wait 3 years for 7 or 8 wins then why in the hell did we get rid of the last staff?

Now you're talking about what our expectations should be - and I agree with that whole heartedly.

My point is that the fanbase has had its expectations beaten to a pulp by a lot of mediocre football. Which means when Babers succeeds, they'll be picking their jaws up off the dome floor . It will be fun to watch.

(Someone in another thread was asking what our predictions might be if Shafer and company were retained. I'd say 4 wins. With Babers, this season, I'm on board with 6 + a bowl game. But I believe fully that the ceiling is what's shifted the most)

 

[Alsacs]

We actually have a HC thus the patience will be there. It has been frustrating as hell watching offense blowup everywhere in college football but here. Thus, it will be fun again. I don't expect to beat more talented teams every week but 1 upset a year and fun football isn't that high a bar.

Dino brings excitement.

 

[Jeremy L.]

I love how honest he is. Great seeing that in a head coach.