How Doug Marrone became 'The Man Who Left Buffalo'

[OrangePA]

I've heard a lot of people here damn Doug's personality/character. Does it come from personal experience?

I've only had two experiences with him, both of which were honestly pretty pleasant. I know people are different at work, but, I think everything is being exaggerated across the board, positive and negative.

He was always gracious to my family.

And, he was pretty frank while discussing SU Football with my parents and me.

 

[Millhouse]

Does it matter? He was telling the story now, as a college graduate. Very minor detail.

i think it does. him leaving without a degree is part of his story of why does he keep leaving places when there is still more to do?

"Marrone was a young lineman for the Miami Dolphins. He'd grown up from meager beginnings in the Bronx and was the first person in his family to graduate from college. He strutted into that restaurant with the confidence that he'd finally arrived."

him being a college graduate is used as part of the reason he strutted into that restaurant feeling like he'd arrived.

only he wasn't a college graduate.

 

[Finwad32]

i think it does. him leaving without a degree is part of his story of why does he keep leaving places when there is still more to do?

"Marrone was a young lineman for the Miami Dolphins. He'd grown up from meager beginnings in the Bronx and was the first person in his family to graduate from college. He strutted into that restaurant with the confidence that he'd finally arrived."

him being a college graduate is used as part of the reason he strutted into that restaurant feeling like he'd arrived.

only he wasn't a college graduate.

I can understand your point, I just don't find it as intriguing. Revisionist history I suppose, 30 years later my memory blends some things together too.

For example, I'm pretty sure our now Town Supervisor popped my scooter tire at my 5th birthday party. He believes it was my 7th or 8th.

 

[Millhouse]

I can understand your point, I just don't find it as intriguing. Revisionist history I suppose, 30 years later my memory blends some things together too.

For example, I'm pretty sure our now Town Supervisor popped my scooter tire at my 5th birthday party. He believes it was my 7th or 8th.

i don't think that's something you goof up

 

[Crusty]

It seems to me that DM has many admirable qualities and would be a great guy with whom to have a few beers. I have no doubt he is a "a good guy" and a loving father, but he did not know how to " manage up" or work with stakeholders who did nit agree 100% with him. Apparently, he pissed off former players and many alum/boosters.

Quite frankly, I wouldn't have cared had he stayed and would have continued to support him. However, he isn't the first talented guy whose response to not getting his way is to leave. He has now done that twice. Sooner or later Doug was going to leave in a huff.

 

[MSOrange]

I've heard a lot of people here damn Doug's personality/character. Does it come from personal experience?

I've only had two experiences with him, both of which were honestly pretty pleasant. I know people are different at work, but, I think everything is being exaggerated across the board, positive and negative.

Exaggerations on this board? No way! Not at this place mister

 

[chakka3421]

It seems to me that DM has many admirable qualities and would be a great guy with whom to have a few beers. I have no doubt he is a "a good guy" and a loving father, but he did not know how to " manage up" or work with stakeholders who did nit agree 100% with him. Apparently, he pissed off former players and many alum/boosters.

Quite frankly, I wouldn't have cared had he stayed and would have continued to support him. However, he isn't the first talented guy whose response to not getting his way is to leave. He has now done that twice. Sooner or later Doug was going to leave in a huff.

Regarding recruiting, I remember Doug once saying he liked the pros better because the guys were fighting for a job and the players did everything they could to make the team so players were self motivated. In the college scene, he said he really didn't mind going into living rooms trying to convince kids & parents that SU was the best place for the kid. What he didn't like were overcoming obstacles with things like being in the BE, attendance, facilities, IPF, SU being a basketball school with the Melo center that were always being used against us.

Shafer & his staff is much better at recruiting but he has fewer obstacles to face than Marrone had - we are in the ACC, we have better facilities including the new IPF but we are still labeled as a bball school and attendance is down. Shafer is very good at motivating college kids but it seems to me he still trying to figure out the finer things like recognition where his kids are especially in the 4th quarter - like when to go for 2 in overtime, clock management, timeouts, going for it on offense vs relying on defense for stops, etc. That's his job to manage the pulse of the team and momentum of the game, not his staff's job and he needs to think this through before the game because we could very well be in it up or down by 1 score in the 4th quarter from here on out.

Coyle was hired with the long term goal to bring back football and has already started to address the attendance problem like they did at Boise with the stakeholder committee they are forming. That is encouraging. The redo of the Dome with emphasis on football game day experience is encouraging too. Simply the emphasis to bring back football is very encouraging. JB won't be here much longer and we don't really know what will happen with bball.

I hope Shafer survives because in my opinion he has the right demeanor to be a really good football HC. He just needs more time.

 

[Millhouse]

What he didn't like were overcoming obstacles with things like being in the BE, attendance, facilities, IPF, SU being a basketball school with the Melo center that were always being used against us.
.

none of that should've been a surprise to him

 

[Crusty]

Regarding recruiting, I remember Doug once saying he liked the pros better because the guys were fighting for a job and the players did everything they could to make the team so players were self motivated. In the college scene, he said he really didn't mind going into living rooms trying to convince kids & parents that SU was the best place for the kid. What he didn't like were overcoming obstacles with things like being in the BE, attendance, facilities, IPF, SU being a basketball school with the Melo center that were always being used against us.

Shafer & his staff is much better at recruiting but he has fewer obstacles to face than Marrone had - we are in the ACC, we have better facilities including the new IPF but we are still labeled as a bball school and attendance is down. Shafer is very good at motivating college kids but it seems to me he still trying to figure out the finer things like recognition where his kids are especially in the 4th quarter - like when to go for 2 in overtime, clock management, timeouts, going for it on offense vs relying on defense for stops, etc. That's his job to manage the pulse of the team and momentum of the game, not his staff's job and he needs to think this through before the game because we could very well be in it up or down by 1 score in the 4th quarter from here on out.

Coyle was hired with the long term goal to bring back football and has already started to address the attendance problem like they did at Boise with the stakeholder committee they are forming. That is encouraging. The redo of the Dome with emphasis on football game day experience is encouraging too. Simply the emphasis to bring back football is very encouraging. JB won't be here much longer and we don't really know what will happen with bball.

I hope Shafer survives because in my opinion he has the right demeanor to be a really good football HC. He just needs more time.

Thanks. Do you think Marrone was more aggressive managing games?

 

[tep624]

After the disastrous end to the 2011 season that would not surprise me. Too many forget the 7 game losing streak - last 5 of 2011 and first 2 of 2012 in the BE. I find it strange that some who blame Shafer for last year seem to give FHCDM a pass for that streak. Both were the result of injuries.
All was forgiven when we went 8-3 for the remainder of 2012. Same thing will happen if Shafer wins next year.

Exactly. Injuries were a reasonable explanation in 2011, but they weren't in 2014. :crazy:

 

[TheCusian]

Exactly. Injuries were a reasonable explanation in 2011, but they weren't in 2014. :crazy:

Don't forget the 2010 bowl year - 8-5!

Against SOS 100+. Shafer's avg is like SOS 30 or something.

 

[br801]

Is that a real saying? And what does it mean? Chicken is delicious by itself and chicken salad is what you make from the leftovers.

He left out part of the phrase to keep it clean (turning chickensh!t into chicken salad)

 

[GoSU96]

Regarding recruiting, I remember Doug once saying he liked the pros better because the guys were fighting for a job and the players did everything they could to make the team so players were self motivated. In the college scene, he said he really didn't mind going into living rooms trying to convince kids & parents that SU was the best place for the kid. What he didn't like were overcoming obstacles with things like being in the BE, attendance, facilities, IPF, SU being a basketball school with the Melo center that were always being used against us.

He didn't hate recruiting, he hated not being able to compete on as even a footing as possible. He hated losing recruits because of that.

The school didn't do what it could to help him compete.

That's what pissed him off.

 

[Crusty]

He didn't hate recruiting, he hated not being able to compete on as even a footing as possible. He hated losing recruits because of that.

The school didn't do what it could to help him compete.

That's what pissed him off.

And when he didn't get everything thing he wanted in Buffalo he quit again. At some point you can't blame everyone else for the failures and have to stay and work with everyone to make things happen.

 

[chakka3421]

Thanks. Do you think Marrone was more aggressive managing games?

What I do hope is that Shafer learns from these 4th quarter & OT situations. He's as much a freshman/sophomore as a head coach as his team is. When they review film I hope it goes like "when we are in that OT situation again and the D is worn out, we go for 2 and end it". That one play really bothered me because his defensive minded DC roots kicked in, had no feel for the situation and didn't read the pulse of the team or the change in momentum to give it to his offense to win the game. Strategic error in my book. I know Marrone would have gone for it as I think most HCs would have. If crap like that happens again in the next 5 games, whether in the 4th quarter or OT, I say he cannot learn on the job and must go. My gut tells me he is smarter than that but only time will tell.

He didn't hate recruiting, he hated not being able to compete on as even a footing as possible. He hated losing recruits because of that.

The school didn't do what it could to help him compete.

That's what pissed him off.

Spot on. What I don't know is if promises were made to him about things like the IPF before he was hired. There were facilities upgrades like the locker room but the big one was the IPF. Not sure if we will ever know either.

 

[Crusty]

What I do hope is that Shafer learns from these 4th quarter & OT situations. He's as much a freshman/sophomore as a head coach as his team is. When they review film I hope it goes like "when we are in that OT situation again and the D is worn out, we go for 2 and end it". That one play really bothered me because his defensive minded DC roots kicked in, had no feel for the situation and didn't read the pulse of the team or the change in momentum to give it to his offense to win the game. Strategic error in my book. I know Marrone would have gone for it as I think most HCs would have. If crap like that happens again in the next 5 games, whether in the 4th quarter or OT, I say he cannot learn on the job and must go. My gut tells me he is smarter than that but only time will tell.



Spot on. What I don't know is if promises were made to him about things like the IPF before he was hired. There were facilities upgrades like the locker room but the big one was the IPF. Not sure if we will ever know either.

I can't imagine he was in any position to extract any promises when he was hired.

 

[dollarbill44]

He left out part of the phrase to keep it clean (turning chickensh!t into chicken salad)

Huh, I've seriously never heard that one before. I've learned something new. I can go home now and call it a day.

 

[rrlbees]

He didn't hate recruiting, he hated not being able to compete on as even a footing as possible. He hated losing recruits because of that. The school didn't do what it could to help him compete. That's what pissed him off.

There might be a shred of truth there but he also hated sucking up to kids and their parents and HS coaches.

And what are all the promises made to him that the school didn't come through on?

 

[Scooch]

none of that should've been a surprise to him

Yeah. I think it's legitimate to be upset if Gross promised him that they would build an IPF and 4 years in that still was languishing. Everything else he knew before he was offered the job.

I think that's all just rationalizations though. He got offered an NFL gig and he bounced. Who wouldn't?

 

[br801]

Huh, I've seriously never heard that one before. I've learned something new. I can go home now and call it a day.

I often wish I could forget many of the things I've learned here.

 

[Millhouse]

Yeah. I think it's legitimate to be upset if Gross promised him that they would build an IPF and 4 years in that still was languishing. Everything else he knew before he was offered the job.

I think that's all just rationalizations though. He got offered an NFL gig and he bounced. Who wouldn't?

the amount of bullsh1t spoken in that interview between gross and marrone must've been off the charts. i wouldn't put it past gross to promise everything

 

[Full_Rebar]

I'll say this. If Shafer, or any future Syracuse HC, has an opportunity at a NFL HC job, they should take it and we as fans should applaud them for it.

I don't understand how a coach getting a job at the highest level in the sport is seen as a bad thing, or somehow being less than loyal.

 

[GoSU96]

the amount of bullsh1t spoken in that interview between gross and marrone must've been off the charts. i wouldn't put it past gross to promise everything

I can't remember who it was, it might have been IB, but when Marrone and his staff set up they were supposedly shocked. They knew it was bad, but didn't really know how bad it was from the facilities, to the team conditioning, to the recruiting board.

I really think there was a big element of, "come on how bad can it be" to "holy !"

Completely gutted.

 

[Crusty]

I can't remember who it was, it might have been IB, but when Marrone and his staff set up they were supposedly shocked. They knew it was bad, but didn't really know how bad it was from the facilities, to the team conditioning, to the recruiting board.

I really think there was a big element of, "come on how bad can it be" to "holy . . . . !"

Completely gutted.

Then he was stupid as well. He was the guy with the notebook remember? What, did forget to tour the facilities?

 

[Crusty]

That's true.

Doug just didn't hang around long enough to achieve the kind of success that I think he was capable of achieving on the Hill.

Or, perhaps he might have been unable to achieve success. You can be sure if he had stayed and suffered through 2014 injuries everyone would be saying off with his head he has had 6 years!