Dino’s positives have been universally agreed upon in this thread - he runs a clean program he is liked and respected by his players. He is hard not to like. The press should be killing him but aside from the occasional Stewart Mandel, there has been little national press hysteria, given the obvious facts of no contract renewal – yet. You can tell the press like him.
A point of order should be made here. Syracuse has been very fortunate with its football head coaches as they have been men of good character.
The only real negative is the won-loss record and, as a major early advocate of Dino along with my compatriot @ottingrotto, I am as disappointed as the next fan, I do believe that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Yes, I like Dino and I am pulling for him.
The Record
In his 7 seasons, Dino has certainly given us some thrills and allowed us to recall the glory days of old. For a wonderful brief moment, gone were the overused pessimistic reasonings as to why Syracuse cannot compete in today’s college football landscape, and just as flowers bloom in the desert after a rainfall, we could hope again.
However, with the graduation of Eric Dungey, Donte Strickland, Jamal Custis, Aaron Robers, Koda Martin, Chris Slayton and others, we reverted back to the recent terrible mean punctuated by the unfortunate COVID season.
If we look at Dino’s record in the context of the state of the program when he arrived, it is certainly a mixed record and where one comes out probably depends on initial expectations. Therein lies a dilemma because Dino raised our expectations to such great heights after the wonderful 2018 season that it is hard to let go of the promise it held.
First off, I think we can all agree that we can literally throw out the 2020 1-10 season thanks to New York State. Syracuse never should have played football that year. So, when we do that, Dino’s record is 35-38 (.470) overall and in the ACC 17-30 (.362). Certainly not stellar but in comparison, Doug Marrone, who regardless of what you think of him, is widely regarded for his coaching ability (he certainly is by me) was 25-25 (.500) and 11-17 (.392) in the Big East. While I don’t like comparisons between eras, it is fair to say that Dino’s record is no worse than Doug’s especially since his entire record is in the ACC.
That said, we have failed to outscore our opponents in 5 of the 7 seasons Dino has been at the helm.
Breakdown
Defense
When viewed from 40,000 feet I think that, until recently (switch to 3-3-5) our biggest problem has actually been our defense. On virtually every metric we look very poor. Perhaps, there are reasons (fast offense, etc.) – but those only speak to a degree and are not the whole answer. I give Dino a great deal of credit for firing his long-time DC Brian Ward whose Tampa 2 defense ranked near the bottom of the ACC even with star corners. Going to the 3-3-5 was a brilliant move.
Look at the table below and it is hard to explain the vast improvement over the last two seasons other than coaching and scheme. If so, we should probably stay well above our pre-3-3-5 level for some time with Rocky Long.
View attachment 230551
Offense
While exciting at times, the offense has largely disappointed. Only once in the past 7 seasons have we averaged more than 30 points per game for the entire season (40.2 in 2018). Hard to rank with fewer than 35 ppg.
In terms of total offense ex-Covid we ranked 6th in the ACC and 55th nationally over Dino’s tenure. However, in total scoring, which is what counts, we ranked 8th and 68th respectively. We are not going to win an ACC championship with those metrics.
Perhaps Dino’s greatest failure has been the inability to recruit and build offensive lines. As Tommy DeVito found out, playing QB at Syracuse is hazardous to your health. Just look at the sack stats below and you can see that during Dino’s regime, we have averaged 39 sacks per season for 11th out of 128 teams nationally. (Remember, sacks are deducted from rushing yards while passing stats are unaffected.)
View attachment 230552
Not sure why Dino switched from DeVito to Shrader, but it was the right choice for SU. Perhaps, he thought GS had a better chance of survival with a weak Oline, perhaps he lost confidence in TD or maybe he just felt we needed a change. Regardless, another gutsy decision.
Coaches
Coaches are everything in a program like ours that needs to develop players. I thought DM had a great staff and SS not so much. Rightly or wrongly. My impression is that we have had weaker or inexperienced (at this level) coaches in the past. Don’t know if it was due to budget but am pretty sure it had nothing to do with Dino’s ability to hire.
Once again, I think Dino has adapted to the changes in CFB and developed into a good CEO. The current roster of coaches may be the best since Marrone’s.
So, what now?
If all the scuttlebutt coming from camp is true, the team should have a very nice season and may surprise some people. I think we can win 7-9 games depending on injuries and breaks. If so, given the depth of the roster, this time we might have lasting positives going forward.
I was in the minority (still am) in thinking that the transfer portal works in our favor net. Playing time is everything to these kids and that is the one thing we have that the big programs really don’t. As time goes on and we continue to put players in the league, we will become a choice location for many, especially defensive players.
If I am right, Dino will get extended, and we can have this discussion again in a few years when we are ready to anoint Beck. If not, then I would think that JW’s patience will be at an end.
