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Message: [QUOTE="OttoMets, post: 2641192, member: 716"] I don't hate him or any other football coach. I don't even dislike him, and am happy to concede that he was personable, well-intentioned, and more or less decent. I wouldn't go out of my way to criticize him, but I took issue with a couple inaccurate statements and wanted to offer corrections. But if we're sorting out exactly what some of the Shafer gripes are: 1.) A lot of sound and fury, signifying nothing. The guy said so many silly, meatheaded things. It would've been cute if the team won, but it came across as childish because they were bad. Especially so because he's a visible rep for the brand of an institution of learning. Stuff like his Clemson sideline tirade and some of his weirder press conferences made Syracuse University look bad. 2.) The hiring decisions. I've said it before and I'll word it a little differently this time: 80-odd kids, some of whom had no chance in life but for football, come to SU because of its head football coach and it's his job to put them in the best possible position to succeed in life. Sometimes that's through academics (I wish it were more, but the greedy powers-that-be in college administrations don't care about that as much as I do), sometimes through networks, and once in awhile through professional football. Shafer, through his hires of obviously incompetent, unqualified people like McDonald and Adam, let kids in the last group down. That sounds harsh, but he did. People like Rob Trudo were on track for pro careers under Marrone and got the rug pulled out from under them when their instructors were replaced by amateurs. That's bad. I also think that Shafer did his damnedest to instill his kids with a set of values that he believed in. That's admirable, terrific, really. Tim Lester is a human being who I have a lot of respect for. From what I heard from players, there were other similar individuals on staff. That's good. In a lot of ways, Shafer was a net positive in the lives of his kids. I just think his mistakes were so glaring that he could and should have done better. And I'd be a little more charitable toward him if not for the bizarre comments surrounding his firing and the cigar business after the game last September. I'm willing to believe that he's a good man and a pro, but come on, act like a grownup and show some class. [/QUOTE]

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