Did fans feel this way when Mac left for NE?

[OrlandoCuse]

I was only 11 or 12 at the time, so I can't remember my feelings after Mac left for New England. I sure as hell didn't hate the guy. I remember being happy that an SU guy got the call from the NFL. I viewed it as a promotion.

I remember being slightly confused by the Coach P hire, only because I'd never really heard of him before. What 11 year old knows the Tight Ends coach?

Mac obviously failed at the NFL, but he is still held in high regard in CNY. Viewed almost as a legend.

How are these two instances different? I wish Marrone all of the best. I've never been a Bills fan, but I can't stand NE, so I hope he kicks Belichick's butt.

 

[dasher]

I was only 11 or 12 at the time, so I can't remember my feelings after Mac left for New England. I sure as hell didn't hate the guy. I remember being happy that an SU guy got the call from the NFL. I viewed it as a promotion.

I remember being slightly confused by the Coach P hire, only because I'd never really heard of him before. What 11 year old knows the Tight Ends coach?

Mac obviously failed at the NFL, but he is still held in high regard in CNY. Viewed almost as a legend.

How are these two instances different? I wish Marrone all of the best. I've never been a Bills fan, but I can't stand NE, so I hope he kicks Belichick's butt.

Marrone can't bring a football to the game that Belichick coaches. And I'm a Giants fan.

 

[omniorange]

I was only 11 or 12 at the time, so I can't remember my feelings after Mac left for New England. I sure as hell didn't hate the guy. I remember being happy that an SU guy got the call from the NFL. I viewed it as a promotion.

I remember being slightly confused by the Coach P hire, only because I'd never really heard of him before. What 11 year old knows the Tight Ends coach?

Mac obviously failed at the NFL, but he is still held in high regard in CNY. Viewed almost as a legend.

How are these two instances different? I wish Marrone all of the best. I've never been a Bills fan, but I can't stand NE, so I hope he kicks Belichick's butt.

Mac will always be held in high regard because he finished the job.

Marrone got us back to second base, which is basically where P left the program at.

Cheers,
Neil

 

[matcuse]

I was only 11 or 12 at the time, so I can't remember my feelings after Mac left for New England. I sure as hell didn't hate the guy. I remember being happy that an SU guy got the call from the NFL. I viewed it as a promotion.

I remember being slightly confused by the Coach P hire, only because I'd never really heard of him before. What 11 year old knows the Tight Ends coach?

Mac obviously failed at the NFL, but he is still held in high regard in CNY. Viewed almost as a legend.

How are these two instances different? I wish Marrone all of the best. I've never been a Bills fan, but I can't stand NE, so I hope he kicks Belichick's butt.

Mac completely turned the program around...not just turned a corner like marrone did.

 

[NineOneSeven]

Mac completely turned the program around...not just turned a corner like marrone did.

Ahh the infamous corner!

 

[donniesyracuse]

I don't remember this much traffic on the board that day.

 

[SyracuseMiami]

You couldn't be more wrong. P left with the team 6-6 and regularly getting blown out and recruiting on the decline. Marrone turned around the program with recruiting on the uptick. Get a grip guys. Marrone got a promotion, good for him! Let's find our next guy and keep winning!

Mac will always be held in high regard because he finished the job.

Marrone got us back to second base, which is basically where P left the program at.

Cheers,
Neil

 

[Orange&Blue44]

Mac never did a big "Sales Job" here. Everyone was disappointed to lose him, but he left us on top.

 

[rosconey]

mac had some honesty about him-
you could always find it in his version of coach talk -

he also finished what he started-

99% of you would never believe it -i wasnt ever in the sac mac group-i was always behind him because of his honesty speak -it was sincere-and i took a lot of heat for it early on-

was on the fence early on about jimmy b till i met him at a reataurant- loved the fact he pulled no punch's

i saw thru the bills new guy real fast-just like robinson

you can be a total ahole imho as long as your honest about it

 

[orlandoorange]

Mac completely turned the program around...not just turned a corner like marrone did.

yep, mac left us in the top 20, the dome was fairly new so facilities were not a concern, we competed with and beat the SEC, re-alignment didn't exist... now it feels as though we may be taking a step or two back before hopefully moving forward again. I also now question the commitment to football on behalf of the university

 

[CusefanATL]

I was only 11 or 12 at the time, so I can't remember my feelings after Mac left for New England. I sure as hell didn't hate the guy. I remember being happy that an SU guy got the call from the NFL. I viewed it as a promotion.

I remember being slightly confused by the Coach P hire, only because I'd never really heard of him before. What 11 year old knows the Tight Ends coach?

Mac obviously failed at the NFL, but he is still held in high regard in CNY. Viewed almost as a legend.

How are these two instances different? I wish Marrone all of the best. I've never been a Bills fan, but I can't stand NE, so I hope he kicks Belichick's butt.

well, mac had the advantage of the news not 'breaking' to the minute on any and every interview and hire.

i also doubt there were 7 openings in 1990 and he interviewed or talked to 5 of them.

 

[cmr27]

Mac achieved everything there was to achieve at Syracuse in the 1987 season (and strong 1988 campaign). There was nothing he could to top that. Doug's departure is the rough equivalent of Mac leaving after the Cherry Bowl season.

I don't begrudge Doug leaving for an NFL opportunity but there is so much unfinished business here and he still is on the upside of his career. It's too bad. Mac got the NFL call late in his career. It was fitting for him to leave. He wasn't going to get another chance at the League.

 

[BostonOrange]

I was only 11 or 12 at the time, so I can't remember my feelings after Mac left for New England. I sure as hell didn't hate the guy. I remember being happy that an SU guy got the call from the NFL. I viewed it as a promotion.

I remember being slightly confused by the Coach P hire, only because I'd never really heard of him before. What 11 year old knows the Tight Ends coach?

Mac obviously failed at the NFL, but he is still held in high regard in CNY. Viewed almost as a legend.

How are these two instances different? I wish Marrone all of the best. I've never been a Bills fan, but I can't stand NE, so I hope he kicks Belichick's butt.

To me Mac leaving was a lot more shocking. Marrone just always projected to be an NFL candidate in terms of resume, demeanor, etc. Mac seemed college through and through. No way Mac gets hired in today's NFL. Mac also left a very solid core of players. Graves returning at QB, Gedney, Shelby, and Qadry at receiver\TE, Conley (pre injury), Mitchell, Young, etc on D.

 

[LennX6]

mac had some honesty about him-
you could always find it in his version of coach talk -

he also finished what he started-

99% of you would never believe it -i wasnt ever in the sac mac group-i was always behind him because of his honesty speak -it was sincere-and i took a lot of heat for it early on-

was on the fence early on about jimmy b till i met him at a reataurant- loved the fact he pulled no punch's

i saw thru the bills new guy real fast-just like robinson

you can be a total ahole imho as long as your honest about it

I remember the general feeling was one of being proud one of "ours" hit the big time and good for him. The only hand-wringing was that we hired a Penn St guy to replace him. That got tempered somewhat when P's first teams were very good. We were wondering if this was gonna to be deja vu re: Danforth to Boeheim.
Also a lot of ppl liked Mac despite the record due to the horrible Frank Maloney experience. Like Marrone couldn't help but be good after groober,

 

[omniorange]

You couldn't be more wrong. P left with the team 6-6 and regularly getting blown out and recruiting on the decline. Marrone turned around the program with recruiting on the uptick. Get a grip guys. Marrone got a promotion, good for him! Let's find our next guy and keep winning!

P's last 4 years 26-23, a co-Big East championship, a second place BE finish (when the league was much tougher), 1-1 in Bowl games. I'll give you recruiting, but he did get Ray Rice to commit.

Cheers,
Neil

 

[LennX6]

Mac achieved everything there was to achieve at Syracuse in the 1987 season (and strong 1988 campaign). There was nothing he could to top that. Doug's departure is the rough equivalent of Mac leaving after the Cherry Bowl season.

I don't begrudge Doug leaving for an NFL opportunity but there is so much unfinished business here and he still is on the upside of his career. It's too bad. Mac got the NFL call late in his career. It was fitting for him to leave. He wasn't going to get another chance at the League.

Even the "bad" teams in '89 and '90 ended they year with very nice bowl wins over Georgia and Arizona.

 

[Orangetradition44]

I was young as well. But the differences are simple: Mac accomplished what he set out to do, Marrone has not. We weren't changing conferences the following year. Mac never proclaimed SU his dream job.

How are these two instances different? I wish Marrone all of the best. I've never been a Bills fan, but I can't stand NE, so I hope he kicks Belichick's butt.

 

[donniesyracuse]

LSU, not Georgia.

They beat Georgia in the Peach Bowl

 

[LennX6]

P's last 4 years 26-23, a co-Big East championship, a second place BE finish (when the league was much tougher), 1-1 in Bowl games. I'll give you recruiting, but he did get Ray Rice to commit.

Cheers,
Neil

The difference then was that was not good for us, and on the heels of the McNabb era, that appeared to the great unwashed as a "precipitous downturn". File that under "beware of what you want..." Hell changing coaches almost made sense. I mean GRob should have worked, right?

 

[cmr27]

To me Mac leaving was a lot more shocking. Marrone just always projected to be an NFL candidate in terms of resume, demeanor, etc. Mac seemed college through and through. No way Mac gets hired in today's NFL. Mac also left a very solid core of players. Graves returning at QB, Gedney, Shelby, and Qadry at receiver\TE, Conley (pre injury), Mitchell, Young, etc on D.

The point about Mac being college through and through is a great one. He endeared himself to the fans here, though it took some time and things were not rosy at first.

Mac's Sugar Bowl reaction to Pat Dye was great. What really did it for me was the way he stood up to Paterno, who was at the height of his powers in the 1980s. Mac beat PSU twice and his criticism of JoePa being "Machiavellian" seems prescient given what we know now.

Part of me thinks Doug just isn't cut out for the glad-handling college coaches have to do with alums, adminstrators and recruits. Mac seemed made for it, at least by the end of his time here.

 

[omniorange]

The difference then was that was not good for us, and on the heels of the McNabb era, that appeared to the great unwashed as a "precipitous downturn". File that under "beware of what you want..." Hell changing coaches almost made sense. I mean GRob should have worked, right?

Nah, the GRob hiring was a clusterfluck of epic proportions due to timing.

Still think Cantor should have allowed P to stay one year and then let TGD can him in November of that year. This hopefully would have given TGD time and space away from the USC influence (damn you Pete Carroll) to make a better choice.

TGD's other hires have, for the most part, been spectacular.

Cheers,
Neil