conley

[Orangeyes]

Here's all I can add to this discussion. I watched Dan Conley coach his position for two years, that's twenty-seven practices from start to finish. I'm not the only one who will say this, Dan Conley is one hellava coach. This comes from fans here on the forum, parents of the players and a former player.

Dan is the kind of coach you would want your son to play for. He has a keen eye and makes quick adjustments. He talks to his players the way you and I would want to be talked to.

If EJ Carter and Malcom Cater weren't total screw ups or if Myles Davis didn't blow up his knee would we even be here discussing this subject?

On how much Doug had to do with Doug Hogue and Derrell Smith's making it to the NFL. If Dan was a bad coach those two young men would not be where they are now.

If it is true that Dan Conley has indeed been fired, there has been no official statement from the football office, I for one want to know why.

In addition I want Dan, Jenn and the boys to know that they have my support.

 

[Scooch]

Wasn't everyone surprised when Marrone retained Conley after GumpRob was fired? I seem to recall the board thinking he'd be a casualty because it wasn't clear that he was much of a coach or recruiter.

I'm VERY hesitant to give assistants too much credit, or too much blame, when it comes to player development. Yes, 2 RBs because quality LBs, but no one besides the head coach really knows how much of that was the position coach, and how much of that was just the player's own ability and commitment.

*edit* Just read orangeyes post... I'm not disputing your assessment, but I come down on the side of saying it's Marrone's program and he can do what he wants. If dumping Conley, retaining Hackett, etc. are mistakes then we'll see that manifest itself next year, and soon enough Marrone himself will be out of a job.

 

[kcsu]

Here's all I can add to this discussion. I watched Dan Conley coach his position for two years, that's twenty-seven practices from start to finish. I'm not the only one who will say this, Dan Conley is one hellava coach. This comes from fans here on the forum, parents of the players and a former player.

Dan is the kind of coach you would want your son to play for. He has a keen eye and makes quick adjustments. He talks to his players the way you and I would want to be talked to.

If EJ Carter and Malcom Cater weren't total screw ups or if Myles Davis didn't blow up his knee would we even be here discussing this subject?

On how much Doug had to do with Doug Hogue and Derrell Smith's making it to the NFL. If Doug was a bad coach those two young men would not be where they are now.

If it is true that Dan Conley has indeed been fired, there has been no official statement from the football office, I for one want to know why.

In addition I want Dan, Jenn and the boys to know that they have my support.

Great post. Why in your opinion if he is such a good coach was he let go?

 

[MadNY3]

I dont think HCDM and Dan saw eye to eye. Dan may have been a little too much of a players coach. As to Dan being let go because he cant coach does anyone happen to remember that he took two RB's and turned them into NFL LB's.

I don't care if Marrone fires the Christmas Tree.

2011 was a disappointing step back year. A program defining win that is now an anomaly because of five losses to finish dead last in the worst BCS Conference.

Whatever Marrone thinks is needed to win now/long term, he should do. And if firing Conley is one way of protecting Shaefer, it's a smart CEO move.

 

[bnoro]

Ok thx Bnoro lets hope we turn the corner next year

I think that's what we all have to hope for or this will just get worse.

 

[Orangeyes]

There is and was a systemic problem on this team from the spring throughout the summer and through the season. The problems were many fold and extended to all positions on the field. It has been well documented that there was no one true leader on this team, period. The people who are normally leaders, the QB on offense, and possibly a guy like Chandler Jones, who arguably is our best defensive player when healthy, were not comfortable with those responsibilities.

I harken to the NY football Giants, Super Bowl champs in 1987 & 1991, clearly Phil Simms the QB and Lawrence Taylor LB were the leaders. Look at any successful team you need leaders on both sides of the ball. When there are no leaders that is a recipe for disaster.

The 2011 Syracuse football team, as pointed out many times by HCDM, was very young, 55 freshmen & sophomores. Combine youth & no leaders and it's that recipe for disaster. Back before spring practices I was getting reports from inside the program that too many players were living large. By that I mean acting like BMOC's, living off the glory of the bowl win and not focusing on the task at hand. They didn't have the eye of the tiger and were too much into partying and girls. I was hoping against hope that those observations were off base. The way the season ended with five straight losses points to the way you prepare is the way you play.

Right after we beat West Virginia the reports started coming to me that the preseason pattern had returned. That there was dissension, I didn't want to believe it. I read a post on the board that said I don't see another win on the schedule, I thought that was ridiculous and I was almost right the next week.

We were absolutely handling Rutgers all over the field, at one point I calculated the score should have been 26-3 in our favor. When Antwan Bailey fumbled the ball in the red zone little did we know that that one play would be our last great chance of becoming bowl eligible.

Pittsburgh was our last chance and so what happens, we learn that Mikhail Marinovich and Adonis Ameen-Moore are out with injuries, Phillip Thomas has been suspended for a year, Keon Lyn has been sent home for an undisclosed team violation. We were already without Tyson Gulley who had two injuries sustained, non-football related earlier in the season. We get behind 10-0 before our seats were warm. We go on to have 10, count em 10 freaking penalties and commit 6 ghastly turnovers in the biggest game of the season.

I'm a firm believer that you will only finish as strong as you start. I'm not talking about the Wake Forest game I go all the way back to the attitude this team started with post Pinstripe which continued throughout the season. If you want to blame all of this on the two dismissed coaches that is your prerogative, I feel the blame should be shared equally by all parties involved.

 

[chakka3421]

+1

 

[Nick44]

Great post. While I agree with Orangeyes, I have to say the most frustrating thing about your opinion is that I would've thought a Doug Marrone team would be the last team something like this would happen too. I say that because of his attention to detail, you would've thought he would catch this when the snowball started to roll downhill before it got out of control.

I guess thats the risk you take when you go after kids who have maturity and discipline problems. They may be talented but it is only a matter of time before it catches up to a team. Hopefully some day we'll be in a position to go after kids who are both talented and mature. Not one or the other. Unfortunately, those are the kids with 30+ offers.

 

[rrlbees]

he had two new starters this year and Spruill was new to the middle. Again who knows i just find it odd that Dan was let go if true and others on O retained

he only had spruill. he was assigned mlb only.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Great post. While I agree with Orangeyes, I have to say the most frustrating thing about your opinion is that I would've thought a Doug Marrone team would be the last team something like this would happen too. I say that because of his attention to detail, you would've thought he would catch this when the snowball started to roll downhill before it got out of control.

I guess thats the risk you take when you go after kids who have maturity and discipline problems. They may be talented but it is only a matter of time before it catches up to a team. Hopefully some day we'll be in a position to go after kids who are both talented and mature. Not one or the other. Unfortunately, those are the kids with 30+ offers.

I really don't want to beat a dead horse but this is why I find Marrone and his coaching tenure so maddening.

Exhibit A: Marrone is a detail guy and heavy on discipline, which would lead Joe Fan to believe that his teams would focus on details and exhibit discipline on and off the field. And yet, lack of focus and on and off field discipline have been big problems.

Exhibit B: Now that things fell apart we see that some of our players had some major issues and we recently have had leadership issues. Yet on this board we've had lengthy discussions about how Marrone cleaned house and only kept the guys that bought in and recruits players that are leaders and high character players, so we shouldn't be having these kind of issues. And yet we are.

Throw that all together with Exhibit C: $&%*tacular Offense and I'm grateful the guy keeps us out of the ESPN Bottom 10 but I don't feel that overall he has delivered on a lot of what has been expected of him and his teams.

 

[javadoc]

There is and was a systemic problem on this team from the spring throughout the summer and through the season...

Great post, and it can be illustrated by one opponent, and one player.

Last year, as injuries mounted and the team wore down, we had a last gasp to become bowl eligible against Rutgers. With Rutgers driving into FG range late, Derrell Smith crawled and sacked the Rutgers QB by the guy's ankle, knocking them back - and as it would have it out of FG range - as Te muffed the subsequent attempt.

This year, we could not overcome adversity, and Rutgers got the better of us in another close grudge match. Again, the game was our key to beocming bowl-eligible.

The difference is that this year we did not have a Derrell Smith on the team. It sounds like there are a lot of young guys who needed to have the riot act read to them, and no one was willing - or able - to do it. Recall that Smith was also in favor of the "purge" that occurred, precisely because it got rid (in some cases) of divisive or harmful elements of the team.

You can be a disciplinarian and all as a coach, but if you don't have those leaders, you're out of luck. I'm not sure whether you can create those leaders, or if they have to "have it" inside themselves from the get-go. I will say that if you are going to recruit any number of guys who have a "South Beach" mindset, you had better get some Derrell Smiths to keep them in line.

I guess we should be looking at the roster and trying to figure out who those leaders will be next year. Likely there are some among this year's true frosh, and who will exert more control as they get into the rotation.

 

[Aweart23]

I really don't want to beat a dead horse but this is why I find Marrone and his coaching tenure so maddening.

Exhibit A: Marrone is a detail guy and heavy on discipline, which would lead Joe Fan to believe that his teams would focus on details and exhibit discipline on and off the field. And yet, lack of focus and on and off field discipline have been big problems.

Exhibit B: Now that things fell apart we see that some of our players had some major issues and we recently have had leadership issues. Yet on this board we've had lengthy discussions about how Marrone cleaned house and only kept the guys that bought in and recruits players that are leaders and high character players, so we shouldn't be having these kind of issues. And yet we are.

Throw that all together with Exhibit C: $&%*tacular Offense and I'm grateful the guy keeps us out of the ESPN Bottom 10 but I don't feel that overall he has delivered on a lot of what has been expected of him and his teams.

Leadership comes from the kids that have been in the program 4 and 5 years, not from Freshman and Sophomores. How about we give the kids Doug has recruited a chance to mature into leadership roles before pronouncing him a failure for not recruiting leaders? It happens on the basketball side all the time, its just there is more talent there to hide the youth and lack of leadership from time to time.

And how about the concept that maybe, just maybe, Doug's not the disciplinary that some on the board have proclaimed him to be. Did he come in and set minimum standards? Absolutely. I don't believe he has asked anything of this football team that any other Division 1 football program asks of its players. Go to class, dress up on road trips, no Hookah Bars, don't steal your teammates TV Sets, you know little things like that...

 

[Cuseman78]

I'm not sure why anyone is surprised that Conley and Brumbaugh were relinquished of their duties after both had their respective positions split with other coaches (Anselmo as co-LB and Daoust as co-DL) coming into this year.

I don't think this had much to do with their positions performances this year. I chalk it up more to Shafer getting more control on who he wants to be coaching under him. He had a relationship with Daoust and I bet whoever we hire will have some sort of Shafer tie.

To me, these moves show me that Shafer has almost complete control of his defense, even down to the hiring and firing. If true, I am completely fine with that.

 

[KaiserUEO]

wouldnt be surprised if our old friend in the nutmeg state makes room for danny.

this whole thing looks to me like marrone knows he better win more than 1 stoopid fn bmw game or hes gone after this year.

 

[kingottoiii]

I'm not sure why anyone is surprised that Conley and Brumbaugh were relinquished of their duties after both had their respective positions split with other coaches (Anselmo as co-LB and Daoust as co-DL) coming into this year.

I don't think this had much to do with their positions performances this year. I chalk it up more to Shafer getting more control on who he wants to be coaching under him. He had a relationship with Daoust and I bet whoever we hire will have some sort of Shafer tie.

To me, these moves show me that Shafer has almost complete control of his defense, even down to the hiring and firing. If true, I am completely fine with that.

But that brings up the point of why keep them in the first place? At the end pof 2010 if Marrone thought that lowly of them, then why even keep them? Get two new guys in who can either coach or recruit.

 

[Cuseman78]

But that brings up the point of why keep them in the first place? At the end pof 2010 if Marrone thought that lowly of them, then why even keep them? Get two new guys in who can either coach or recruit.

Well it's tough to can coaches after an 8 win year and maybe he was hoping one or both would look to leave n their own after their demotions. It certainly looks like both of them were pegged as weak links as early as last year.

 

[DCCuse]

wouldnt be surprised if our old friend in the nutmeg state makes room for danny.

this whole thing looks to me like marrone knows he better win more than 1 stoopid fn bmw game or hes gone after this year.

My prediction is that whomever takes over at Pitt brings on Dan to their staff ala David Walker.

 

[Whitey23]

My prediction is that whomever takes over at Pitt brings on Dan to their staff ala David Walker.

Speaking of Walker, I've read Indy might let Caldwell go if they go 0-16. Could we find somewhere to put Walker?

 

[chakka3421]

It is my understanding that Conley's recruiting territory was Eastern, Central and Western NY (basically Upstate), Eastern Ohio and Eastern PA and perhaps a few other territories. He has not developed the kind of High School coaching relationships that DM wants his coaches to have so that Syracuse can get on the inside for potential recruits when they still are Fresh & Sophs in high school - and get those coaches to encourage players to play at SU (or at least visit early).

If you havent noticed, we have been missing out on big time recruits in these areas versus NYC and other areas covered by other coaches. Conley may be a good on field coach, but again it is my understanding that he lacks the relationship building skills and the commitment to recruiting. (repeat post from another thread)

 

[kcsu]

he only had spruill. he was assigned mlb only.

Correct still Spruill was too light for the middle this year and a new position for him. Im not sure what happened Bees but something isnt right