I've read a lot of posts the last few days. Seems to me that the vast majority of fans are (1) upset at Marrone, and/or (2) depressed about the future. I'll take them in order.
First, who can really with a straight face blame Marrone. Yes, I am personally as disappointed as anyone... but to be angry or even upset at him for accepting a job offer that puts him at the pinnacle of his profession seems somewhat hypocritical. I acknowledge he spent the last four years routinely preaching pride in the University and the Syracuse "family" as his bedrock calling cards--to all of us and to recruits--but I honestly believe he did so because he was absolutely 100% committed to the success of the program. I understand why some feel slighted by all this, but we are grown ups in a grown up world. Would we rather Doug have hedged his bets over the last few years and avoided that type of rhetoric in hopeful anticipation of the possibility that he might someday be offered the opportunity to leave by the NFL? Of course not. The bottom line is that Marrone worked as hard, if not harder, than any coach in the country to make this place go from (almost) zero to sixty as fast as possible. Now...we're not yet running at 60, but we're a lot further along in that process than anyone could have reasonably anticipated four years ago. That seems indisputable. So, in the end, I think we should be disappointed he's gone, but not mad, and leave it at that. Maybe, even be magnanimous and thank the guy for doing all the things he did --> like the weekly lunches and taking the time to make multiple in-home visits to key recruits out-of-state (when most college head coaches don't make any). Also, can't one argue that his being offered this NFL job actually raises the profile of this football program? In the end, I seriously wonder whether any coach other than him could have pulled off what he did over the last four years--and if you reflexively bristle at that suggestion, please take a minute and remember what this program looked and felt like during Greg Robinson's farewell press conference. I know this for a fact: Marrone bled for this place for four years, and against all odds returned the program to a solid foundation of respectability. I think at the very least, he and his family deserve our respect for that.
Second, depressed in the near short term is absolutely ok, but we have to realize that future failure is certainly not a foregone conclusion. I am personally royally pissed off that this University is so myopic that it won't get a new football complex built and invest in the program in a meaningful way. From a business perspective, I guess I can understand the University not necessarily wanting to invest ACC money it doesn't yet have. But for **** sake, the other side of me knows that one has to invest in order to enjoy any real growth and prosperity--especially in the world of BCS level college football. I know meaningful $$ was raised to build the new facility, and for a host of reasons the University wouldn't step up to the plate and build it. By not investing now as major programs have been for years, private institution or not, we are cutting off our noses to spite our face. This facilities issue is the big white elephant in the room, and always has been. I cannot believe that this staff was able to convince some of the kids it has to come here to play when our facilities are measured against facilities at the colleges we are competing against. This indoor football only facility absolutely needs to be built, and it needs to have been built yesterday. Whatever the "reason" is for these kids having to practice in freaking Manley Field House, that person or thing must be removed, and removed as soon as possible, for he/she/it is standing directly in the way of our ability as a program to capitalize on what has been built over the last few years...and standing in the way of what we can become. The University is a better place with a strong and healthy football program, and so is this City. If someone is in a position of power who cannot pull this together (i.e. unite the athletic department and the BOT/University in this common goal), then that person needs to be gone immediately. Marrone did not have NFL on his radar when he walked off the field at Yankee stadium. He left because objectively, the reasons to leave were a lot better than the reasons to stay for both him and his family. The University could have and should have tipped the scales in our favor, but failed to do so. This isn't even an issue about keeping Marrone, though--it is a lesson that bears directly on the future, and in my humble opinion, it had better be addressed sooner rather than later or we will piss straight away all the good done in the last few years.
My biggest fear now, though, is that the person/people responsible for the facilities not being built/head coach and staff salaries not being competitive/etc. is/are the same person/people who are facing this daunting task of evaluating all the available talent and shouldering the heavy burden of firing a perfect laser hire of the right head coach to take us from here forward. Doesn't this next hire need to be not only a good football mind, but also a great ambassador for the program--capable of not only leading the players and staff, but also of generating a program's good will from the inside out? I must admit that if it is the good doctor sitting in his office right now making those decisions, then you can all color me scared to death for the fate of this program (see Robinson hire, then his overwhelming desire to hire Holtz and then when that didn't work out, Turner Gill). That track record just scares the *** out of me, especially when I think this next hire is just as important as the one was when he was trying to hire big Skip. All I see is the guy who once stood on a sideline of an SU game with a cell phone to each ear. I know that sounds petty, but I'm sorry, it's how I feel. I really don't dislike the guy, and I honestly believe that he too wants things here with the athletic department to go as well as possible...but I'm also a realist, and I get uncomfortable trusting decision making like that when the historical "trends" tell such a cautious tale. Either way, the program's fate is now, I think, in his hands, and I'm just holding my breath he can step up and get this done.
Sorry for this long post. In the end, I just hope true football people are involved and pulling the strings on this new hiring process, and someone can step up, make the new facility happen and take us hard core into and through the next act in this play.
First, who can really with a straight face blame Marrone. Yes, I am personally as disappointed as anyone... but to be angry or even upset at him for accepting a job offer that puts him at the pinnacle of his profession seems somewhat hypocritical. I acknowledge he spent the last four years routinely preaching pride in the University and the Syracuse "family" as his bedrock calling cards--to all of us and to recruits--but I honestly believe he did so because he was absolutely 100% committed to the success of the program. I understand why some feel slighted by all this, but we are grown ups in a grown up world. Would we rather Doug have hedged his bets over the last few years and avoided that type of rhetoric in hopeful anticipation of the possibility that he might someday be offered the opportunity to leave by the NFL? Of course not. The bottom line is that Marrone worked as hard, if not harder, than any coach in the country to make this place go from (almost) zero to sixty as fast as possible. Now...we're not yet running at 60, but we're a lot further along in that process than anyone could have reasonably anticipated four years ago. That seems indisputable. So, in the end, I think we should be disappointed he's gone, but not mad, and leave it at that. Maybe, even be magnanimous and thank the guy for doing all the things he did --> like the weekly lunches and taking the time to make multiple in-home visits to key recruits out-of-state (when most college head coaches don't make any). Also, can't one argue that his being offered this NFL job actually raises the profile of this football program? In the end, I seriously wonder whether any coach other than him could have pulled off what he did over the last four years--and if you reflexively bristle at that suggestion, please take a minute and remember what this program looked and felt like during Greg Robinson's farewell press conference. I know this for a fact: Marrone bled for this place for four years, and against all odds returned the program to a solid foundation of respectability. I think at the very least, he and his family deserve our respect for that.
Second, depressed in the near short term is absolutely ok, but we have to realize that future failure is certainly not a foregone conclusion. I am personally royally pissed off that this University is so myopic that it won't get a new football complex built and invest in the program in a meaningful way. From a business perspective, I guess I can understand the University not necessarily wanting to invest ACC money it doesn't yet have. But for **** sake, the other side of me knows that one has to invest in order to enjoy any real growth and prosperity--especially in the world of BCS level college football. I know meaningful $$ was raised to build the new facility, and for a host of reasons the University wouldn't step up to the plate and build it. By not investing now as major programs have been for years, private institution or not, we are cutting off our noses to spite our face. This facilities issue is the big white elephant in the room, and always has been. I cannot believe that this staff was able to convince some of the kids it has to come here to play when our facilities are measured against facilities at the colleges we are competing against. This indoor football only facility absolutely needs to be built, and it needs to have been built yesterday. Whatever the "reason" is for these kids having to practice in freaking Manley Field House, that person or thing must be removed, and removed as soon as possible, for he/she/it is standing directly in the way of our ability as a program to capitalize on what has been built over the last few years...and standing in the way of what we can become. The University is a better place with a strong and healthy football program, and so is this City. If someone is in a position of power who cannot pull this together (i.e. unite the athletic department and the BOT/University in this common goal), then that person needs to be gone immediately. Marrone did not have NFL on his radar when he walked off the field at Yankee stadium. He left because objectively, the reasons to leave were a lot better than the reasons to stay for both him and his family. The University could have and should have tipped the scales in our favor, but failed to do so. This isn't even an issue about keeping Marrone, though--it is a lesson that bears directly on the future, and in my humble opinion, it had better be addressed sooner rather than later or we will piss straight away all the good done in the last few years.
My biggest fear now, though, is that the person/people responsible for the facilities not being built/head coach and staff salaries not being competitive/etc. is/are the same person/people who are facing this daunting task of evaluating all the available talent and shouldering the heavy burden of firing a perfect laser hire of the right head coach to take us from here forward. Doesn't this next hire need to be not only a good football mind, but also a great ambassador for the program--capable of not only leading the players and staff, but also of generating a program's good will from the inside out? I must admit that if it is the good doctor sitting in his office right now making those decisions, then you can all color me scared to death for the fate of this program (see Robinson hire, then his overwhelming desire to hire Holtz and then when that didn't work out, Turner Gill). That track record just scares the *** out of me, especially when I think this next hire is just as important as the one was when he was trying to hire big Skip. All I see is the guy who once stood on a sideline of an SU game with a cell phone to each ear. I know that sounds petty, but I'm sorry, it's how I feel. I really don't dislike the guy, and I honestly believe that he too wants things here with the athletic department to go as well as possible...but I'm also a realist, and I get uncomfortable trusting decision making like that when the historical "trends" tell such a cautious tale. Either way, the program's fate is now, I think, in his hands, and I'm just holding my breath he can step up and get this done.
Sorry for this long post. In the end, I just hope true football people are involved and pulling the strings on this new hiring process, and someone can step up, make the new facility happen and take us hard core into and through the next act in this play.
