Dino loses playcalling duties in Arizona

[FreakTalksAboutSU]

can't get my arms around Arizona and Arizona State in the Big 12. Along with Cincinnati, Utah, TCU, Colorado (well that kind of makes sense Big Eight Conference - Wikipedia)...
What a mess.

I wanted Arizona and ASU to come with Stanford and Cal to the ACC.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

He wanted the usc job and didn’t get it. I know for a fact he was after that job like you can’t believe and truly believed he was going to get it. After he didn’t, the guy packed it in. People don’t want to hear that but it’s 100 percent factual. And for those that think Dino was such a great guy, he was hardly that. He didn’t show up to anything that he wasn’t forced to go to. He didn’t do anything extra ever. I’m not saying he disliked Syracuse, but he was using it to get a job he really wanted. I’ll leave it at that for now

Yeah I've come to accept that Dino viewed us as just another stop toward the bigger goals in his career to be a big time HC out west, and instead he topped out here.

 

[SU91]

I will add, Dino was not, is not, has never been and will never be a very good football coach. Those that reference 4-0 and 6-0 starts etc etc, are referencing fools gold. We beat soft teams and played soft schedules to accumulate those records and caved as soon as we played any semblance of real football teams. We can also reference injuries etc but those were always nothing more than excuses too. Part of a head coaches job is to coach and build depth, he never did and our talent was not Power Conference level. He couldn’t recruit nor could he coach.

10-3 was nice but fluky and gimmicky against a weak schedule. An upset here and there were nice too, but upsets turned into subsequent 4-8 seasons. No bueno. His gimmick that he tried to implement was figured out pretty quickly and he had no alternative strategies. That was all she wrote. I did not want to extended after 10-3 because he was never any good. He wasn’t a very good coach prior to SU. He should thank Dave Clawson (a good coach) for the millions he made here.

I know nothing about Dino’s character, so I’ll never comment on that. But as a football coach he was horrible. Full of nothing but hot air and no answers. His quitting was an abomination. Be a bad coach, fine, but don’t let yourself and your team quit, which happened more than a few times.

People also want to “throw out” 1-10. lol. It happened. It’s in the record books. And, yes, there were extenuating Covid circumstances, which many other teams also had to contend with. There are no “do overs” in major college football. Just saying “it doesn’t count” doesn’t make it true. 1-10 was our record. Dino owns it. We were 1-10 because Dino and his staff were awful.

People like to defend Dino because he was a nice guy. Okay, fine, that’s fair. However, he didn’t “change”. Nothing “changed”. He wasn’t a good coach. The proof is 100% in the pudding. His horrendous coaching performances are memorialized on film for the rest of eternity. Let’s call it like it was people. USC??? Didn’t happen because they knew.

 

[ChrisCourt]

I will add, Dino was not, is not, has never been and will never be a very good football coach. Those that reference 4-0 and 6-0 starts etc etc, are referencing fools gold. We beat soft teams and played soft schedules to accumulate those records and caved as soon as we played any semblance of real football teams. We can also reference injuries etc but those were always nothing more than excuses too. Part of a head coaches job is to coach and build depth, he never did and our talent was not Power Conference level. He couldn’t recruit nor could he coach.

10-3 was nice but fluky and gimmicky against a weak schedule. An upset here and there were nice too, but upsets turned into subsequent 4-8 seasons. No bueno. His gimmick that he tried to implement was figured out pretty quickly and he had no alternative strategies. That was all she wrote. I did not want to extended after 10-3 because he was never any good. He wasn’t a very good coach prior to SU. He should thank Dave Clawson (a good coach) for the millions he made here.

I know nothing about Dino’s character, so I’ll never comment on that. But as a football coach he was horrible. Full of nothing but hot air and no answers. His quitting was an abomination. Be a bad coach, fine, but don’t let yourself and your team quit, which happened more than a few times.

People also want to “throw out” 1-10. lol. It happened. It’s in the record books. And, yes, there were extenuating Covid circumstances, which many other teams also had to contend with. There are no “do overs” in major college football. Just saying “it doesn’t count” doesn’t make it true. 1-10 was our record. Dino owns it. We were 1-10 because Dino and his staff were awful.

People like to defend Dino because he was a nice guy. Okay, fine, that’s fair. However, he didn’t “change”. Nothing “changed”. He wasn’t a good coach. The proof is 100% in the pudding. His horrendous coaching performances are memorialized on film for the rest of eternity. Let’s call it like it was people. USC??? Didn’t happen because they knew.

THIS!!!

 

[sufan59]

Under Dino, we were not what he preached. Occasionally great, not consistently good. Atleast we weren’t consistently bad during his tenure.

 

[PhatOrange]

I will add, Dino was not, is not, has never been and will never be a very good football coach. Those that reference 4-0 and 6-0 starts etc etc, are referencing fools gold. We beat soft teams and played soft schedules to accumulate those records and caved as soon as we played any semblance of real football teams. We can also reference injuries etc but those were always nothing more than excuses too. Part of a head coaches job is to coach and build depth, he never did and our talent was not Power Conference level. He couldn’t recruit nor could he coach.

10-3 was nice but fluky and gimmicky against a weak schedule. An upset here and there were nice too, but upsets turned into subsequent 4-8 seasons. No bueno. His gimmick that he tried to implement was figured out pretty quickly and he had no alternative strategies. That was all she wrote. I did not want to extended after 10-3 because he was never any good. He wasn’t a very good coach prior to SU. He should thank Dave Clawson (a good coach) for the millions he made here.

I know nothing about Dino’s character, so I’ll never comment on that. But as a football coach he was horrible. Full of nothing but hot air and no answers. His quitting was an abomination. Be a bad coach, fine, but don’t let yourself and your team quit, which happened more than a few times.

People also want to “throw out” 1-10. lol. It happened. It’s in the record books. And, yes, there were extenuating Covid circumstances, which many other teams also had to contend with. There are no “do overs” in major college football. Just saying “it doesn’t count” doesn’t make it true. 1-10 was our record. Dino owns it. We were 1-10 because Dino and his staff were awful.

People like to defend Dino because he was a nice guy. Okay, fine, that’s fair. However, he didn’t “change”. Nothing “changed”. He wasn’t a good coach. The proof is 100% in the pudding. His horrendous coaching performances are memorialized on film for the rest of eternity. Let’s call it like it was people. USC??? Didn’t happen because they knew.

Yes I throw out the Covid 1-10. Nobody in the country had it as bad with rules as NY and New England did. Trust me the ACC schools south of us, didn’t have to practice in pods while wearing masks.

10-3 was a great season vs teams that had been thumping us for years. It wasn’t gimmicky or flukely.

I don’t feel sorry for Dino.

 

[IthacaBarrel]

He wanted the usc job and didn’t get it. I know for a fact he was after that job like you can’t believe and truly believed he was going to get it. After he didn’t, the guy packed it in. People don’t want to hear that but it’s 100 percent factual. And for those that think Dino was such a great guy, he was hardly that. He didn’t show up to anything that he wasn’t forced to go to. He didn’t do anything extra ever. I’m not saying he disliked Syracuse, but he was using it to get a job he really wanted. I’ll leave it at that for now

Agreed. He was screwed after he followed up the 10-3 season with the 5-7 one in 2019 because he was no longer really sought after.

 

[SU91]

Yes I throw out the Covid 1-10. Nobody in the country had it as bad with rules as NY and New England. Trust me the ACC schools didn’t have to practice in pods while wearing masks.

10-3 was a great season vs teams that had been thumping us for years. It wasn’t gimmicky or flukely.

I don’t feel sorry for Dino.

For the record, I thoroughly enjoyed the 10-3 team. I loved every minute of the season except the thrashing vs Notre Dame. Having said that, we were a fairly good team. not a great one as our record would suggest. I’ll take 10-3 no matter how we get it and be happy. So, I don’t want to diminish that or take anything away from our joy. As you say in this post, it was a pleasure to beat teams that had been thumping us for years. But, I also try to keep things in perspective and, although 10-3 was an accomplishment, this Dino team wasn’t a juggernaut as some like to think it was either. Fingers crossed we get to 10+ wins again soon.

 

[Cover1]

I will add, Dino was not, is not, has never been and will never be a very good football coach. Those that reference 4-0 and 6-0 starts etc etc, are referencing fools gold. We beat soft teams and played soft schedules to accumulate those records and caved as soon as we played any semblance of real football teams. We can also reference injuries etc but those were always nothing more than excuses too. Part of a head coaches job is to coach and build depth, he never did and our talent was not Power Conference level. He couldn’t recruit nor could he coach.

10-3 was nice but fluky and gimmicky against a weak schedule. An upset here and there were nice too, but upsets turned into subsequent 4-8 seasons. No bueno. His gimmick that he tried to implement was figured out pretty quickly and he had no alternative strategies. That was all she wrote. I did not want to extended after 10-3 because he was never any good. He wasn’t a very good coach prior to SU. He should thank Dave Clawson (a good coach) for the millions he made here.

I know nothing about Dino’s character, so I’ll never comment on that. But as a football coach he was horrible. Full of nothing but hot air and no answers. His quitting was an abomination. Be a bad coach, fine, but don’t let yourself and your team quit, which happened more than a few times.

People also want to “throw out” 1-10. lol. It happened. It’s in the record books. And, yes, there were extenuating Covid circumstances, which many other teams also had to contend with. There are no “do overs” in major college football. Just saying “it doesn’t count” doesn’t make it true. 1-10 was our record. Dino owns it. We were 1-10 because Dino and his staff were awful.

People like to defend Dino because he was a nice guy. Okay, fine, that’s fair. However, he didn’t “change”. Nothing “changed”. He wasn’t a good coach. The proof is 100% in the pudding. His horrendous coaching performances are memorialized on film for the rest of eternity. Let’s call it like it was people. USC??? Didn’t happen because they knew.

He wasnt a good head coach at the p5 level but to say he wasnt a good football coach is false

 

[sdhall01]

Many of us regret him not bouncing when his stock was highest

I will say I agree that he has given us teams with actual highlights n between some awful years

To be fair, we would have been APOPLECTIC if he left.

 

[oldpinepoint]

He was an employee who didn’t get the job he really wanted and was stuck in a place he didn’t want to be. Could not leave and couldn’t get hired away. University was stuck as well with a huge buyout. Hence 5 years of a disgruntled coach who didn’t really care

 

[JRHEETER]

He was an employee who didn’t get the job he really wanted and was stuck in a place he didn’t want to be. Could not leave and couldn’t get hired away. University was stuck as well with a huge buyout. Hence 5 years of a disgruntled coach who didn’t really care

Yes, it was a mess for both sides and neither were happy, for years

 

[NJCuse97]

Close your eyes...point at the playbook...open your eyes...run the play.

what playbook?

 

[SU91]

He wasnt a good head coach at the p5 level but to say he wasnt a good football coach is false

Everyone has their pov, which is fine. I’d say P5 is what we’re discussing and he’s proving yet again that he’s not very good. The evidence is not in his favor. A good pee wee coach? I guess.

 

[Millhouse]

His personality changed before that, though. I vividly remember the morose way he was acting heading into that 2019 season. I recall deciding not to post about it because the vibes were so good here coming off that 2018 season, and we all wanted that Gameday vs. Clemson. But it was apparent something was up with him.

He quit so often here, it was incredible

 

[Millhouse]

I had a personal interaction with him and it was not great. I won't belabor it as I've posted about it in the past but he wasn't this super nice guy that everyone talks about ad nauseum. If he's nice I'm a freaking care bear.

His crazy reaction when a grown man was like nah I'm not closing my eyes when I'm doing a job reportiing on what you have to say was a red flag

 

[storange]

The 27th thread that turns into Dino bashing session. People can’t let go . How about that Greg Robinson let’s get that going. Someone in my family did have a chance interaction with the Babers. They were warm and friendly. He brought us the best moments since P. Upset of Clemson , 10-3 bowl win, 6-0 start .

 

[Cusefan95]

i'm glad everyone is coming out of the woodwork to crush Dino now. I wish Wildhack knew this in say 2020. I mean why on earth did John hold on to this guy with one foot out the door as long as he did. Everyone always makes fun of BC when they got rid of Jeff Jags because of his wondering eye but that probably was the best thing they could do to rip a bandaid off.

He probably did know in 2020 - but the contract extension he’d been given put Wildhack in a position where he needed to ride it out because we would have struggled financially if we fired Dino, AND he had more pressing issues that required him to spend the political capital he had on getting resolved (see: Boeheim).

Plus firing him after the Covid year would have been a PR nightmare; as much as some want to say “everyone had to deal with it” - that is transparently stupid nonsense. I say this as someone with young kids who moved from NY during Covid to get away from the state imposed rules which impacted Syracuse as well. About the only time there was a realistic chance to part ways was after 2021 - and as I noted, Wildhack already had bigger fish to fry at that point so 5-7 was good enough to run it back one more time. Making a bowl after 2022 somewhat tied Wildhack’s hands as we had a good three year trend going.

TL;DR version of why Wildhack held on as long as he did is he didn’t have any other politically viable option. I don’t begrudge him for doing the only thing he could have possibly done - that he managed to weather the storm of a checked out football coach and a Hall of Fame basketball coach well past his expiration date is honestly pretty impressive. There’s a reason why Coyle bounced so quickly - only some of it was seeing Minnesota as a better opportunity.

 

[tep624]

I will add, Dino was not, is not, has never been and will never be a very good football coach. Those that reference 4-0 and 6-0 starts etc etc, are referencing fools gold. We beat soft teams and played soft schedules to accumulate those records and caved as soon as we played any semblance of real football teams. We can also reference injuries etc but those were always nothing more than excuses too. Part of a head coaches job is to coach and build depth, he never did and our talent was not Power Conference level. He couldn’t recruit nor could he coach.

10-3 was nice but fluky and gimmicky against a weak schedule. An upset here and there were nice too, but upsets turned into subsequent 4-8 seasons. No bueno. His gimmick that he tried to implement was figured out pretty quickly and he had no alternative strategies. That was all she wrote. I did not want to extended after 10-3 because he was never any good. He wasn’t a very good coach prior to SU. He should thank Dave Clawson (a good coach) for the millions he made here.

I know nothing about Dino’s character, so I’ll never comment on that. But as a football coach he was horrible. Full of nothing but hot air and no answers. His quitting was an abomination. Be a bad coach, fine, but don’t let yourself and your team quit, which happened more than a few times.

People also want to “throw out” 1-10. lol. It happened. It’s in the record books. And, yes, there were extenuating Covid circumstances, which many other teams also had to contend with. There are no “do overs” in major college football. Just saying “it doesn’t count” doesn’t make it true. 1-10 was our record. Dino owns it. We were 1-10 because Dino and his staff were awful.

People like to defend Dino because he was a nice guy. Okay, fine, that’s fair. However, he didn’t “change”. Nothing “changed”. He wasn’t a good coach. The proof is 100% in the pudding. His horrendous coaching performances are memorialized on film for the rest of eternity. Let’s call it like it was people. USC??? Didn’t happen because they knew.

That's not really true with 6-0. We beat a a ranked NC St. team on the road to go 6-0 and beat eventually bowl eligible Louisville and Purdue before that. The issue was as was with most of his teams - there was literally no competent or able depth beyond the first string, and no depth on the QB depth chart. We lived and died with Dungey staying healthy followed up by living and dying with Shrader staying healthy. Dungey not staying healthy - 4 win seasons. Dungey largely healthy - 10 win season. Shrader got us to 6-0 and 4-0 healthy and when he got hurt, the wheels came off and we limped to mediocre bowls.

 

[Cover1]

Everyone has their pov, which is fine. I’d say P5 is what we’re discussing and he’s proving yet again that he’s not very good. The evidence is not in his favor. A good pee wee coach? I guess.

Good coaches come from those pee wee programs. So I stand correct. He didnt do great as a P5 head coach at a struggling program

 

[CanadianSU]

Something happened in the off-season ahead of 2019. His whole demeanor changed noticeably after the 2018 season. I don’t know if the expectations got to him, he regretted not bouncing when his stock was highest, or what. But he was never the same.

It’s the bouncing part imo. He didn’t get the job he wanted and then it was just mailing it from there.

 

[atlanticuse]

I wanted Arizona and ASU to come with Stanford and Cal to the ACC.

ACC: "The All Conference Collapse"

 

[NKR1978]

I will add, Dino was not, is not, has never been and will never be a very good football coach. Those that reference 4-0 and 6-0 starts etc etc, are referencing fools gold. We beat soft teams and played soft schedules to accumulate those records and caved as soon as we played any semblance of real football teams. We can also reference injuries etc but those were always nothing more than excuses too. Part of a head coaches job is to coach and build depth, he never did and our talent was not Power Conference level. He couldn’t recruit nor could he coach.

10-3 was nice but fluky and gimmicky against a weak schedule. An upset here and there were nice too, but upsets turned into subsequent 4-8 seasons. No bueno. His gimmick that he tried to implement was figured out pretty quickly and he had no alternative strategies. That was all she wrote. I did not want to extended after 10-3 because he was never any good. He wasn’t a very good coach prior to SU. He should thank Dave Clawson (a good coach) for the millions he made here.

I know nothing about Dino’s character, so I’ll never comment on that. But as a football coach he was horrible. Full of nothing but hot air and no answers. His quitting was an abomination. Be a bad coach, fine, but don’t let yourself and your team quit, which happened more than a few times.

People also want to “throw out” 1-10. lol. It happened. It’s in the record books. And, yes, there were extenuating Covid circumstances, which many other teams also had to contend with. There are no “do overs” in major college football. Just saying “it doesn’t count” doesn’t make it true. 1-10 was our record. Dino owns it. We were 1-10 because Dino and his staff were awful.

People like to defend Dino because he was a nice guy. Okay, fine, that’s fair. However, he didn’t “change”. Nothing “changed”. He wasn’t a good coach. The proof is 100% in the pudding. His horrendous coaching performances are memorialized on film for the rest of eternity. Let’s call it like it was people. USC??? Didn’t happen because they knew.

10-3 was "gimicky" and the result of a soft schedule, but we can't throw out 2020?

You're throwing out the best season this century but we can't throw out the year covid decimated our roster?

 

[zjscuse]

The 27th thread that turns into Dino bashing session. People can’t let go . How about that Greg Robinson let’s get that going. Someone in my family did have a chance interaction with the Babers. They were warm and friendly. He brought us the best moments since P. Upset of Clemson , 10-3 bowl win, 6-0 start .

Shout out to Greg Robinson and Daryl gross for completely destroying our fertile recruiting relationships and basically put entire football program!

 

[SU91]

10-3 was "gimicky" and the result of a soft schedule, but we can't throw out 2020?

You're throwing out the best season this century but we can't throw out the year covid decimated our roster?

You missed my subsequent post regarding 10-3. Nowhere did I throw it out. I loved it. But let’s not make it out to be something it wasn’t. 2018 was a nice team. That is all.

Had 2020 been a non-Covid season, what would our record have been? Obviously it’s impossible to truly know, but it probably would’ve been 4-8 with wins over Wagner et al and loses to P5 opponents. The point is, Dino was not good. Covid or not, we were not a good team. Since he was the coach getting paid millions, he needed to perform. He didn’t.

I’ve never piled on before, but I was responding to the notion that Dino somehow got worse over his time here. I think this thread lays out the obvious, Dino was relived of his play calling at Arizona for good reason. Syracuse was never in a good situation with him at the helm.