James Vollono (ST coordinator)

[orange79]

Wonder why such an experienced ST coach had such horrible issues here? Just strange and sad how badly our special teams were this year.

Weather.


Oh, wait...

 

[Scooch]

Happy to see that Brown acted swiftly. I think it sends an important message to the staff: you can make mistakes, your unit can have issues, but they must be fixed or you’ll be held accountable.

I’m a firm believer that coaching has more of an impact on ST than O or D. The latter two have far more to do with talent (not that coaching doesn’t matter, just that a coach can only do so much if the talent doesn’t match up to his opponents). But ST is soooo much about fundamentals, execution and scheme. And ours sucked hard all season.

 

[David321]

What a relief, we can't be bringing that guy along next season with our bear of a schedule.

 

[CuseMan4]

It’s honestly a miracle we didn’t lose a game this year because of special teams. We should have had a couple more blowouts this year that ended up being close just because of special teams

 

[Red2003]

We attempted 37 punts this year. Only successfully kicked 33 of them.

That means 11% of them got blocked or worse. I’m not going to do the research, but I’ll assume that’s the highest pct in FBS football.

Also had at least one FG blocked. And nobody kicking the ball was reliable.

It was a disaster, and unsurvivable for the ST coach.

These stats are why I come here. Was at Ga Tech game I think if that game is a loss not sure if that Coach makes it out of the dome. I personally would've ran into the locker room and told him to find a new career.

 

[Dcuse]

He's the one who hired him too... just sayin.

He did? Get rid of both...he's over his head as a head coach.

 

[Newhouser]

What was going on with the first punt at the bowl game. Was that confusion or part of some 4D plan?

 

[Red2003]

I hate to be that metrics guy because we still won the games.

It's gotta be said Special Teams does count in SP, FPI, and all these other metrics algorithms that ultimately are used for spreads and to rank teams outside of the AP/Coaches. Anything that can be used against a team to make them look bad is going to be used.

 

[NJneer12]

He's the one who hired him too... just sayin.

Did we have issue when Vollono was hired? I seemed to think it was an okay hire. I don't remember any concerns on the board.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

Did we have issue when Vollono was hired? I seemed to think it was an okay hire. I don't remember any concerns on the board.

New ST Coach: James Vollono

syracusefan.com

 

[RF2044]

D.A.R.T.

 

[gocraz4dasu]

Unfortunately, it basically had to be done. We did not see much improvement over the course of the season on many of the issues. The punt team really struggled and those problems are largely fixable. The fact that it persisted was indicative that a change needed to be made. I wish him well but that is the nature of the beast of the football coaching business.

 

[kcsu]

Special teams were terrible. Its a shame that he lost his job, but the operative word is He

 

[swish7]

D.A.R.T.

Don't want to start an argument with anyone, or change the topic, but I have seen DART posted here a few times. It is only DART to me, if changes also happen to the DC or defensive side of the game.

The STs Coordinator was awful.

The DC was better than the STC, but was not good enough.

I doubt Fran does anything bc Robinson is legit his family, but for this to be DART, some things need to change on the defensive side.

I expect the DC & OC to he executing at equivalent levels. EDIT: when they have equivalent talent.

 

[FrancoPizza]

Of course. Did I say that?

To be fair there’s nothing worse than getting a punt blocked. It’s like a pick 6.

 

[orangepassion]

Interesting we already brought in a new kicker w/o a ST coach.

 

[hoopsupstate]

Don't want to start an argument with anyone, or change the topic, but I have seen DART posted here a few times. It is only DART to me, if changes also happen to the DC or defensive side of the game.

The STs Coordinator was awful.

The DC was better than the STC, but was not good enough.

I doubt Fran does anything bc Robinson is legit his family, but for this to be DART, some things need to change on the defensive side.

I expect the DC & OC to he executing at equivalent levels.

Only if they have equal talent. They were not this year.

 

[NJneer12]

New ST Coach: James Vollono

syracusefan.com

Yeah. No cause for concern. We all saw the resume and DMV recruiting ties and it checked a lot of boxes what we wanted in a first year staff.

Didn't work out. Next person up.

 

[AZOrange]

Don't want to start an argument with anyone, or change the topic, but I have seen DART posted here a few times. It is only DART to me, if changes also happen to the DC or defensive side of the game.

The STs Coordinator was awful.

The DC was better than the STC, but was not good enough.

I doubt Fran does anything bc Robinson is legit his family, but for this to be DART, some things need to change on the defensive side.

I expect the DC & OC to he executing at equivalent levels. EDIT: when they have equivalent talent.

Eh I didn’t love the gameplan but the bend but don’t break philosophy was a necessary evil with current talent levels

 

[OttoinGrotto]

Eh I didn’t love the gameplan but the bend but don’t break philosophy was a necessary evil with current talent levels

So what happens next year?

Not sure the talent level is going up.

 

[swish7]

Eh I didn’t love the gameplan but the bend but don’t break philosophy was a necessary evil with current talent levels

We'll find out, eventually, now won't we?

It's either coaching hocus pocus that draws out the big salary as long as possible while we're all held hostage, or he's actually a Nixon level DC.

 

[721Comstock]

We'll find out, eventually, now won't we?

It's either coaching hocus pocus that draws out the big salary as long as possible while we're all held hostage, or he's actually a Nixon level DC.

I mean, Tony White had a MUCH better-performing D at Cuse, and did it with less overall talent, and far less depth.
Plus with an offense that wasn't the greatest, so the D had to play a LOT of snaps.

Per Sports-Reference.com, here are the season overall D rankings for Syracuse:
2024 96 - ERob

2023 57 - Rocky Long
2022 41 - Tony White
2021 65 - Tony White

xxxx (whatevs - covid)
2019 89 - Steve Stanard (interim)
2018 64 - (fire!) Brian Ward

2017 99
2016 120 !!
2015 90

The orange represent our 2 10-win seasons.
The blue represent our best defensive rankings (along with 2018) using the 3-3-5.

I'd wager we had objectively less 'talent' on the 21, 22, and '23 teams, than the 2024 squad.
And certainly less depth.

So - either ERob needs a LOT more talent, and/or he needs to get a defensive guru like Paul Pasqualoni to assist him.
Because we cannot rely on an insanely prolific O to carry us every season.
And in a DART world, we cannot have a sub-par D for multiple seasons.
The D being ranked in the 90's is just unacceptable. Period.

 

[Sudano]

He did? Get rid of both...he's over his head as a head coach.

Come on put your big boy pants on...Fran Brown is obviously a great hire and terrific, but let's not set a absurd standard that nothing he does can be questioned. Then we just self deceive and become blind to the obvious, bordering on religious dogma. Let's set a standard Fran has set for himself. Your strawman posts are for the Dino days left in the past. Embrace the new era.

 

[djcon57]

He's the one who hired him too... just sayin.

Well yeah. Sometimes you hire someone that has good credentials and it doesn't work out. You can either be stubborn with the hire or admit you were wrong. I'm happy to see Fran can admit he was wrong, are you not?

 

[ImperialOrange]

Bye Felicia