Curse of Coach P

[CUSENEPA]

After nearly twenty years of disappointment I’m officially resigned myself to the firing of Coach P. Canned following a bowl game which we can only dream of making these days. It’s like the Cubs and the goat. Thoughts?

 

[OrangeXtreme]

We fired a guy who went 6-6 on his worst day.

Since then we beg the football gods just to get back to 6-6.

The gods are cruel, and they have long memories.

After the Israelites sinned at Mount Sinai, God made them wander the desert for 40 years before they were allowed to enter the Promised Land.

We've only been wandering for 17 years. Long way to go.

 

[sufandu]

We fired a guy who went 6-6 on his worst day.

Since then we beg the football gods just to get back to 6-6.

The gods are cruel, and they have long memories.

After the Israelites sinned at Mount Sinai, God made them wander the desert for 40 years until they were allowed to enter the Promised Land.

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We've only been wandering for 17 years. Long way to go.

Well, 4-8 was actually his worst.

He shouldn't have been fired the way he was. I suspect he would have been a few years later though, hopefully with a bit more respect and a better replacement.

 

[OrangePA]

After nearly twenty years of disappointment I’m officially resigned myself to the firing of Coach P. Canned following a bowl game which we can only dream of making these days. It’s like the Cubs and the goat. Thoughts?

It's the curse of the folks who made decisions back in 2004 who didn't understand the situation, and the curse of locals - like Brent Axe - who mouth off for attention - and don't know or understand the facts or the inner workings of major college football.

 

[tbonezone]

point taken. but if my memory serves P was not always the best game clock manager either.

 

[DoctorBombay]

P was let go at the right time, IMO. His tenure was… tired.
It was the WAY it was done, AND the guy who replaced him, that was the real mistake.

 

[JeffCuse]

P was let go at the right time, IMO. His tenure was… tired.
It was the WAY it was done, AND the guy who replaced him, that was the real mistake.

100% this

 

[GoSU96]

P was let go at the right time, IMO. His tenure was… tired.
It was the WAY it was done, AND the guy who replaced him, that was the real mistake.

No, if you change just to make a change and you screw up the second part, the the first part is just as bad.

it’s one decision, a single screw up

 

[DoctorBombay]

No, if you change just to make a change and you screw up the second part, the the first part is just as bad.

it’s one decision, a single screw up

That’s just it…i disagree that letting P go was “a change just to make a change”. In hindsight, it ended up being a bad decision- but at the time it happened, i agreed w/ it & still do to this day.
P’s teams were starting to get blown out on a regular basis. After years of being in the top half of the league, we’d started backsliding in what was a very mediocre Big East.
Fans had grown entitled, and bored. Did we take P for granted? Of course. We aren’t the first fanbase or program to not appreciate what we have because we “should” be better.
But at the time, letting P go was at best a 65-35 proposition, w/ most folks wanting him gone.
Now, had we made a good solid hire w/ proven NE roots to pick up the mantle and keep the program on track, we wouldn’t be having this discussion. Instead in our lofty quest to become the “USC of the North”, we found GRob.
In any case, P deserved better than he got, and Darryl made a horrendous mistake. Those 2 things are mutually exclusive, imo.

 

[Chip]

We did have the Marrone success. And Dino’s 2018. It hasn’t all been bad.

Gross hit .333 on coaching hires. That was the bigger problem. And he had to get talked into swinging on his only hit.

 

[DoubleDee]

I have felt this way since day one.

 

[All4SU]

Had they addressed the root problem - investment in facilities and assistants - rather than just bring frustrated over wins and losses, we could have ridden out the down cycle with Coach P, and SU would have remained a top program in the East. Impatience and short-sightedness cost us dearly.

 

[elimunelson]

No, if you change just to make a change and you screw up the second part, the the first part is just as bad.

it’s one decision, a single screw up

The big issue was Jake retiring. Had he stayed the transition would have been smoother. P was going to leave at some point. The time he did was atrocious. Give him 2005/2006 and maybe the UConn ascension is minimalized, maybe Rutgers stays mediocre.

 

[721Comstock]

The big issue was Jake retiring. Had he stayed the transition would have been smoother. P was going to leave at some point. The time he did was atrocious. Give him 2005/2006 and maybe the UConn ascension is minimalized, maybe Rutgers stays mediocre.

Neither of those last 2 things is a ‘maybe’.

“Nature abhors a vacuum”.

When Cuse got the death penalty by virtue of hiring GERG, Rutgers and UConn were able to move in and move up.
It’s not a coincidence.

I mean, Ray Rice flipped from Syracuse to Rutgers after P got canned, and he was the catalyst for them becoming some semblance of respectable.
(at least for a little while).

IF P stays even 1 more season, that never happens.
And having a stud player like that probably keeps us winning for another 3-4 years, rather than wandering in the desert, and having to dig out of a crater the depth of the Mariana Trench.

 

[zjscuse]

What do you mean MaN doc HolLYwOoD is going to make us the uSC of tHe nOrTh. I listened to a Podcast I can’t remember who’s I think it was Tyler maronas, and either him or the person he was interviewing literally said g rob on his recruiting pitch stated that they just needed to come in and do strength and conditioning and he was a guaranteed starter lol

 

[texascpa]

Well, 4-8 was actually his worst.

He shouldn't have been fired the way he was. I suspect he would have been a few years later though, hopefully with a bit more respect and a better replacement.

If he wasn't fired, we would have had Ray Rice, and who knows how good of a 4 years we would have had.

 

[Cusefan78]

If he wasn't fired, we would have had Ray Rice, and who knows how good of a 4 years we would have had.

I believe there was a good linebacker that was coming also.

 

[Cusefan78]

The big issue was Jake retiring. Had he stayed the transition would have been smoother. P was going to leave at some point. The time he did was atrocious. Give him 2005/2006 and maybe the UConn ascension is minimalized, maybe Rutgers stays mediocre.

Jake stayed too long. At the end he settled in when we needed someone to keep pushing. We lost recruits not because of a tired program it was because of tired facilities. If p had some basic improvements like weight rooms and locker rooms things would have been a lot better.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

Jake stayed too long. At the end he settled in when we needed someone to keep pushing. We lost recruits not because of a tired program it was because of tired facilities. If p had some basic improvements like weight rooms and locker rooms things would have been a lot better.

Jake had a huge list of facilities improvements that he wanted to make. But he didn't have the money in the budget.

And Buzz wouldn't open up the checkbook. Back then, everytime SU went to a bowl game, the Athletic Department couldn't keep the money. It went into the General Fund. We had a decent run from 87-98, but the football program never saw that money reinvested.

So Jake did the best he could with what he had to work with.

 

[sufandu]

If he wasn't fired, we would have had Ray Rice, and who knows how good of a 4 years we would have had.

Maybe. I'm not sure one player that's not a QB changes the whole program's trajectory. In 2002 Walter Reyes ran for over 1100 yards and set the single season record for rushing TDs (17) and we were 4-8. The next year he ran for over 1300, coming close to Joe Morris's record, and broke his single season record for rushing TDs (20) and we were 6-6.

 

[Cuse1985]

Sometimes i miss the short side option on third down. I remember being at Virginia and the entire Syracuse section booing him when he ran to the tunnel at halftime and i never felt worse for a coach(or anyone) from the look on his face. It was over then and there for him.

 

[dollarbill44]

Jake had a huge list of facilities improvements that he wanted to make. But he didn't have the money in the budget.

And Buzz wouldn't open up the checkbook. Back then, everytime SU went to a bowl game, the Athletic Department couldn't keep the money. It went into the General Fund. We had a decent run from 87-98, but the football program never saw that money reinvested.

So Jake did the best he could with what he had to work with.

Wait, are you saying that there were actually several factors? That's not allowed.
You make a very strong point that shouldn't be overlooked or forgotten. And that is, Buzz was not a strong advocate for the athletic department, particularly the football team.

 

[dollarbill44]

Sometimes i miss the short side option on third down. I remember being at Virginia and the entire Syracuse section booing him when he ran to the tunnel at halftime and i never felt worse for a coach(or anyone) from the look on his face. It was over then and there for him.

That game stunk.

 

[elimunelson]

Jake had a huge list of facilities improvements that he wanted to make. But he didn't have the money in the budget.

And Buzz wouldn't open up the checkbook. Back then, everytime SU went to a bowl game, the Athletic Department couldn't keep the money. It went into the General Fund. We had a decent run from 87-98, but the football program never saw that money reinvested.

So Jake did the best he could with what he had to work with.

Wait we arguing that Jake wasn’t the best AD the school ever had and prob a top 5 AD in Big East/Northeastern sports ever? I didn’t expect anyone to say anything negative about Jake.

He was gruff but boy did he run a great athletic dept in his run. I wish the school pleaded w him to pick his successor and figure out how to modernize the dept. the modernity of college sports happened a few times in his tenure. By mid 2000s it was a facility game which there wasn’t funds for.

I would agree that Ray Rice would have been a Tucker like success.

 

[dollarbill44]

Wait we arguing that Jake wasn’t the best AD the school ever had and prob a top 5 AD in Big East/Northeastern sports ever? I didn’t expect anyone to say anything negative about Jake.

He was gruff but boy did he run a great athletic dept in his run. I wish the school pleaded w him to pick his successor and figure out how to modernize the dept. the modernity of college sports happened a few times in his tenure. By mid 2000s it was a facility game which there wasn’t funds for.

I would agree that Ray Rice would have been a Tucker like success.

I didn't get that take at all from the post.