John Desko Announces Retirement

[WoodyUK]

Extremely moving, love this guy, hes been Coaching Syracuse for the majority of the time I have followed them and I have been lucky enough to spend time with him.

I wish him all the best in his retirement! He was always a role model and hero of mine and has inspired me in many ways!

I will miss him.

 

[DoctahLexus]

In the spirit of things I may as well share the one personal story in the memory bank that involves Desko. It is more like my dad's story involving me, but anyways:

My dad played pickup basketball with Desko when he was a good deal younger and got to know him back then in a casual way. He saw Desko again at one of my team's summer lacrosse tourneys in early high school. This was one of those that Cuse held on the numerous fields just by Manley with a whole bunch of teams. Desko sat down near my dad in the grass and my dad pointed out where I was on the field in a joking "you should check out this kid" sort of way (I am skinny as hell and don't exactly make up for it with speed so D1 was not even a pipe dream). They were also quite far away from the action on a hill. Desko smiled and glanced over at the field and then they just went back to small talk.

My dad said that even though they were so far away, and even though they were basically focused and making eye contact occasionally while talking, Desko would see every little play I was making and throw in a little comment whenever I did something good, all just by glancing at a field off in the distance with his peripheral vision. He would be looking at my dad going "yeah so the family is doing pretty well -oh hey your son just got a nice assist- and the wife is doing fine, the kids - oh hey nice groundball from your son there -" all from way over on a hill far away from the field in mid conversation. My dad had no idea how he did it! I guess decades of recruiting really sharpens the eyes. In the end apparently I didn't do enough to get the call and the full ride, but I was smiling for about a week strait after my dad told the story later that day.

Excitement is in the air, but this is still a sad day.

 

[Powellfan]

 

[OrangeXtreme]

 

[OrangeXtreme]

From the P-S article:

The fate of Roy Simmons III and the rest of the staff is uncertain. Simmons III said he had planned on retiring this season even before Desko’s decision. Tuesday, he said Gait and Wildhack have asked him to stay on and he is reconsidering his decision.

“My biggest concern is I don’t want to be seen as standing over Gary. It should be a clean break. It should be about him and not about me necessarily breathing down his neck and the pressure that may come with that,” Simmons III said.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

 

[OrangeXtreme]

 

[OrangeXtreme]

 

[wvlax]

Fantastic career, good to see him loosen up and smile during presser. 5 national titles, 11 total as a coach and assistant. Was an assistant and head coach during the amazing 22 straight final four run. One can divide his head coaching career into 2 segments. From 1999-2009 won 5 titles and made 8 final fours. Then the stretch from 2010 to now, with 1 final four, but not obvious to everyone, he put together some great regular seasons. Was a 1 or 2 seed 6 times during that span. Sad to see him go. Hope he has a great retirement.

 

[syrBossHogg]

I haven't followed Lax too closely since graduating but congrats to John on a terrific career. That 2011 game vs Virginia was a lot of fun and one of the best SU experiences for me.

 

[Orangello]

Well done Coach. All the best to you and your family. Class.

That is called Grace campers with a capital "G". I pray for it every day. That's how it should be done. I really hope he stays connected to the program.

 

[GoSU96]

Fantastic career, good to see him loosen up and smile during presser. 5 national titles, 11 total as a coach and assistant. Was an assistant and head coach during the amazing 22 straight final four run. One can divide his head coaching career into 2 segments. From 1999-2009 won 5 titles and made 8 final fours. Then the stretch from 2010 to now, with 1 final four, but not obvious to everyone, he put together some great regular seasons. Was a 1 or 2 seed 6 times during that span. Sad to see him go. Hope he has a great retirement.

acc titles and tourney wins as well

 

[N.Y. Orangeman]

God, he is gold.

 

[Powellfan]

 

[OrangeXtreme]

 

[OrangeXtreme]

 

[Easy Goer]

Correct. Leave on your own terms or you’re going to be fired.

 

[Powellfan]

 

[MD Cuse Fan]

I actually listened to this episode earlier today. I thought it was pretty good although when Cottle asked Desko why he decided to retire now it was slightly awkward. Also learned John Grant Jr. was very close to playing for the Orange, which some of you may have known but I hadn't ever heard that.

 

[CuseNHouse]

I actually listened to this episode earlier today. I thought it was pretty good although when Cottle asked Desko why he decided to retire now it was slightly awkward. Also learned John Grant Jr. was very close to playing for the Orange, which some of you may have known but I hadn't ever heard that.

Agree ,,really enjoyed the episode. A lot of history and great stories.

By asking the question, I think Cottle was "doing a friend a favor" by suggesting that it was Desko's decision to leave (for optics), but it didn't work.

For whatever reason, Desko has never really gotten his story together around the "why" he "left" so it just always creates this awkward, floundering moment.

As a side note, Desko was just at IMG talking to the kids about Syracuse and providing tips on getting recruited, so he's still remotely involved.

 

[Cuse All-In]

I too enjoyed listening to the podcast. I always found him to be a classy "old school" guy who wasn't a self-promoter and almost rather shy.

Looking back, I wonder if a lot of us missed what was going on during the last few years. He kept the team competitive in the top 10 range at a time when the program was not getting the elite recruits. And maybe, just maybe he did the best he could in recruiting when most parents wanted their kids to go to better academic schools - notably all the other ACC teams plus Gerogetown, the Ivies etc.

His visit to IMG reminded me that it was under his watch that 2 recruits came from IMG - Porter and Fernandez - who were strong starters and another IMG recruit - Lewandowski - who left Cuse for Vermont.

 

[JustSayin]

I listened to the podcast this morning. It was classic John Desko, so humble, unassuming and soft spoken. There was a great deal of history about how the Gaits found their way to SU and how John Grant got away. It reminded me of his calls to me to meet with the parents and the new recruits to showcase the majors in our school (Information School.)

While I realize the Ivies and a few other schools have better academic reputations, I've always taken exception to all the hyperbole. I agree, parents do love it, though. I work on research projects with faculty from these schools. Are they pretty good? Sure. But don't sell SU short on academics. We have the top rated (consistently in top 5) Information school (School of Information Studies), Public Policy school (Maxwell) and Communications school (Newhouse.) And our Physics department in Arts and Sciences is world class. When I take students to CERN, I always get plenty of accolades from the CERN scientists about our Physics profs. I've always felt we don't have the marketing engine and alumni working at full throttle to break though the elite academic ceiling but, we actually have a great deal of academic success to brag about.

 

[fieldystick]

While I realize the Ivies and a few other schools have better academic reputations... We have the top rated (consistently in top 5) Information school (School of Information Studies), Public Policy school (Maxwell) and Communications school (Newhouse.) And our Physics department in Arts and Sciences is world class. When I take students to CERN, I always get plenty of accolades from the CERN scientists about our Physics profs. I've always felt we don't have the marketing engine and alumni working at full throttle to break though the elite academic ceiling but, we actually have a great deal of academic success to brag about.

Old money is entrenched at the top of the USNWR rankings, which are what most people point to when they talk about college rankings.

I'd put the engineering program of my alma mater (Ga Tech, not JHU) against just about any in the country aside from MIT and Caltech and expect it to come out on top. And yet GT is relatively buried down in the 30s or 40s in their annual overall rankings. When you look at the methodology for how they actually rank schools, it's easy to see why - it greatly rewards schools with low student to faculty ratios and huge endowments. Basically perfectly describes the HYPSM, the other Ivies, Hopkins, etc.

And the schools that are suddenly rising in the rankings (e.g., Florida, UCs aside from Berkeley and Los Angeles), I almost wonder if they're purposefully trying to game their rankings by specifically addressing criteria that they know the rankings look at. I don't have the old rankings with me right off hand, but some of these schools have risen 20+ spots in a decade. Florida went from 50-60 range to ~30. Similar with the second tier UCs.

 

[Cuse All-In]

I listened to the podcast this morning. It was classic John Desko, so humble, unassuming and soft spoken. There was a great deal of history about how the Gaits found their way to SU and how John Grant got away. It reminded me of his calls to me to meet with the parents and the new recruits to showcase the majors in our school (Information School.)

While I realize the Ivies and a few other schools have better academic reputations, I've always taken exception to all the hyperbole. I agree, parents do love it, though. I work on research projects with faculty from these schools. Are they pretty good? Sure. But don't sell SU short on academics. We have the top rated (consistently in top 5) Information school (School of Information Studies), Public Policy school (Maxwell) and Communications school (Newhouse.) And our Physics department in Arts and Sciences is world class. When I take students to CERN, I always get plenty of accolades from the CERN scientists about our Physics profs. I've always felt we don't have the marketing engine and alumni working at full throttle to break though the elite academic ceiling but, we actually have a great deal of academic success to brag about.

I agree with you that Cuse has some strong academic programs and they could do a better job of marketing etc. However, parents are acutely aware of the higher overall academic rankings and higher SAT scores for Duke, ND, UVA etc and how that looks on their kid's resume for future jobs. I think the Newhouse School probably has the highest visibility and impact with potential employers but ... many lacrosse parents are focused on business careers for their kids, not media and communications/journalism.

 

[SkyTopBus44]

I have always been a Desko fan and listening to that pod made me miss him a little more than I thought. His teams brought me a lot of joy and great memories with friends over the years. Desko took over when I was a student and had been the coach my entire post grad life. I watched just about all of his postgame interviews that OrangeExtreme used to put on this site. Felt like a visit with an old friend. Cottle's pods are quite entertaining for lax nuts. I liked the interview he did with Petro and I can't stand Petro