Marrone Speaks!

[Chip]

My guess is that he experimented with closing practice early, was happy with the results and decided to go with it for the rest of the year.

It obviously wasn't what he intended going in.

Bottom line we will know more about some things after Saturday.

Well, I do hope it works. I guess I just keep talking about it, because, well, there's nothing else to talk about...

 

[xc84]

Man...I've never seen so much chatter about spring practice. Marrone is generating quite a bit of interest by closing practices. His strategy has worked perfectly.

 

[billsin01]

Well, I do hope it works. I guess I just keep talking about it, because, well, there's nothing else to talk about...

Yeah, I guess this is the main point. I'd much rather be arguing about whether or not Loeb throws the best deep ball. I mean, it's still relatively pointless but at least it's something.

 

[Millhouse]

Your fixation with Nassib is so entrenched that you assume others are constantly thinking about Nassib.

you think marrone wants to white knuckle but I think that has to do with the qb. the lockdown mode might indicate he wants the spring to try different things with different qbs. which would mean that maybe he doesn't want to white knuckle

 

[orangenirvana]

By doing this, Marrone is setting 2012 up as a true do or die season.

Which I kind of like, in a way.

He's either digging his own grave, or he's setting the program up for a tremendous turn-around.

Regardless, Marrone either gets an extension after 2012, or he gets canned.

 

[SU2NASA]

if marrone tries to shorten the game because he thinks his qb is too "limited" and he's not letting anyone see practice because he's trying new things with other qbs, maybe just maybe his preferences aren't what you think they are.

every goofy opinion you have about this assumes that nassib is better than he is and they couldn't do any worse by opening it up for him.

I hope he's getting ready to welcome us to the Ashton Broyld show.

 

[44PRIDE]

I hope he's getting ready to welcome us to the Ashton Broyld show.

Now THAT would be shocking...

 

[GoSU96]

By doing this, Marrone is setting 2012 up as a true do or die season.

Which I kind of like, in a way.

He's either digging his own grave, or he's setting the program up for a tremendous turn-around.

Regardless, Marrone either gets an extension after 2012, or he gets canned.

Closing spring practice is digging his grave.

Uh, okay.

 

[hungrychuck]

All puff pieces.

I'm not so sure about that.

The PS has over the years - especially BP - spent a lot of time reviewing the W-L record, the HC salary, and low attendance figures - often without adding the necessary context.

Other than Rahme the local press has demonstrated a striking lack of insight into the college football business.

But, if you are right - that the pieces are nothing more than puff - then I guess we're not missing anything this spring.

Bud?? The man is as much of a lapdog as you will find in a newspaper columnist anywhere.

 

[rrlbees]

If we go 8-4 this season, it wasn't because there was a blackout.
If we go 4-8 this season, it wasn't because there was a blackout.

A complete blackout on the spring will not add or subtract a single win or loss to the record. Those who think it will are nuts.

 

[orangenirvana]

Closing spring practice is digging his grave.

Uh, okay.

You wouldn't agree that shunning the media and fans is a pretty ballsy thing to do as head coach of a major college football program?

He could have made it much easier on himself. With this, he's going to feel the heat in 2012.

Anything less than 6-6, and Marrone is toast. Maybe he'll succeed. It will be interesting to find out.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

Eisenhower closed Spring Practice in 1944.

Things worked out OK.

 

[Millhouse]

Closing spring practice is digging his grave.

Uh, okay.

not every year is a make or break year. i think the board over under on what he needs to win this year is way too high. nirvana thinks he needs 6 win to keep his job? yeesh. and i'm from missouri when it comes to marrone.

he's going to get a chance with a qb he recruited. this year is a throwaway

 

[GoSU96]

If we go 8-4 this season, it wasn't because there was a blackout.
If we go 4-8 this season, it wasn't because there was a blackout.

A complete blackout on the spring will not add or subtract a single win or loss to the record. Those who think it will are nuts.

Nothing to disagree with there.

 

[GoSU96]

You wouldn't agree that shunning the media and fans is a pretty ballsy thing to do as head coach of a major college football program?

He could have made it much easier on himself. With this, he's going to feel the heat in 2012.

Anything less than 6-6, and Marrone is toast. Maybe he'll succeed. It will be interesting to find out.

He's had wide open spring practices for three years, how much good will did that buy?

 

[OrangePA]

You wouldn't agree that shunning the media and fans is a pretty ballsy thing to do as head coach of a major college football program?

He could have made it much easier on himself. With this, he's going to feel the heat in 2012.

Anything less than 6-6, and Marrone is toast. Maybe he'll succeed. It will be interesting to find out.

I just don't agree with this assessment.

I think the University understands the state of the Program and the constraints on its development. We do not have the Dr. Gross 2004. He now understands quite well what we have at SU and what we need in terms of development. I think Dr. Cantor understands as well.

I suspect that the University is very happy with the manner in which Marrone has run the Program.

I don't see next year as a make or break season at all.

 

[Henny & Coke]

No, you are going Bees on me here, I understand the point, I just don't agree with it. My point is he did exactly what you suggest for 3 years. My point is and what Marrone is clearly stating is- this doesn't matter to our already tiring fanbase. Sure a thousand people may be bitching about it on internet if that but for the most part the casual fanbase that will still show up for the NW game does not care because they are not involved in the program in March. This will not sway new fans for sure but nothing seems to at this point. The people I tailgate with are causal fans, a few are season tix holders a few end up borrowing from me, getting tix the day of, etc and they simply do not care about this nonsense and probably aren't even aware of it However, I know come the season opener and the week leading up to it, they will care. Internet posters like people here can't think like the casual fan. Just like many here will state they know a guy in accounting that just cancelled his tickets, etc etc. Well he probably cancelled the tix because his wife is banging some guy in shipping and he is getting a divorce! Or because he is tired of losing all the time. Not because Marrone has shut down spring practice. Marketing, media, PR can't solve everything and can only put so much lipstick on a pig. All the coverage in the world is ineffective with a bad team. That pig needs to win games. Most fans judge Marrone on wins and losses, not on his spring schedule. Your opinion is also skewed because you are in the media as my opinion would be if I was commenting on my business. People want to predict doom and gloom to attendance because of stuff like this but it will be the same old same old. First game pretty well attended but not great because of labor day, 1AA poorly attended, Friday games seem to work. Hell, I don't go to labor day weekend games anymore because it's the last weekend at my camp for the most part

Can you please explain what you mean in regards to the section I bolded?

Because if your saying that the time & effort Marrone put in to promoting the program, reaching out to the community for support, and being generally fan friendly the first three years was ineffective, I would really question that.

Not only with simple average attendence statistics:

Pre-Marrone:
2005 avg attendence - 40,252 (down 3,395 or 8% from prior year)
2006 avg attendence - 41,073 (up 821 or 2% from prior year)
2007 avg attendence - 35,009 (down 6,064 or 15% from prior year)
2008 avg attendence - 33,474 (down 1,535 or 4% from prior year)

Marrone first 3 years:
2009 avg attendence - 39,043 (up 5,569 or 17% from prior year)
2010 avg attendence - 40,064 (up 1,021 or 3% from prior year)
2011 avg attendence - 40,504 (up 440 or 1% from prior year)

So the raw data does not support that viewpoint, but there are also many factors that contribute to attendence, not simply the football team's effort to embrace the fans and community, which brings me to my main point, which is:

How do you know that the efforts Doug made his first three years at SU didn't made a big difference? How do you know that, absent of Doug's efforts, attendence would not have continued on the downward trajectory that it was trending in prior to his arrival? You don't. Nobody knows for sure. But I'm willing to bet it didn't hurt, that's for sure.

In fact, it's interesting that the year following the most successful season (2011 season following successful 2010 season), shows the smallest increase in attendence of Doug's three years. Maybe wins and losses isn't the magic silver bullet?

 

[billsin01]

I just don't agree with this assessment.

I think the University understands the state of the Program and the constraints on its development. We do not have the Dr. Gross 2004. He now understands quite well what we have at SU and what we need in terms of development. I think Dr. Cantor understands as well.

I suspect that the University is very happy with the manner in which Marrone has run the Program.

I don't see next year as a make or break season at all.

Yeah, I agree with all this. And I'm not sure the move to the ACC means successors would be lining up at the door for the job either. I'm not saying they wouldn't have interest among solid potential successors if they decided to go that route, but I think sometimes people get caught up thinking they're going to fire Marrone and hire the hottest coaching free agent out there. Doesn't always work that way.

 

[billsin01]

Can you please explain what you mean in regards to the section I bolded?

Because if your saying that the time & effort Marrone put in to promoting the program, reaching out to the community for support, and being generally fan friendly the first three years was ineffective, I would really question that.

Not only with simple average attendence statistics:

Pre-Marrone:
2005 avg attendence - 40,252 (down 3,395 or 8% from prior year)
2006 avg attendence - 41,073 (up 821 or 2% from prior year)
2007 avg attendence - 35,009 (down 6,064 or 15% from prior year)
2008 avg attendence - 33,474 (down 1,535 or 4% from prior year)

Marrone first 3 years:
2009 avg attendence - 39,043 (up 5,569 or 17% from prior year)
2010 avg attendence - 40,064 (up 1,021 or 3% from prior year)
2011 avg attendence - 40,504 (up 440 or 1% from prior year)

So the raw data does not support that viewpoint, but there are also many factors that contribute to attendence, not simply the football team's effort to embrace the fans and community, which brings me to my main point, which is:

How do you know that the efforts Doug made his first three years at SU didn't made a big difference? How do you know that, absent of Doug's efforts, attendence would not have continued on the downward trajectory that it was trending in prior to his arrival? You don't. Nobody knows for sure. But I'm willing to bet it didn't hurt, that's for sure.

In fact, it's interesting that the year following the most successful season (2011 season following successful 2010 season), shows the smallest increase in attendence of Doug's three years. Maybe wins and losses isn't the magic silver bullet?

I tend to agree with IB's general premise, which is that winning generally is what will bring out the fans, at least to some extent. But this is a good post and underscores the importance of at least making outreach efforts. It also probably should be pointed out that the last two years of home games included two FCS games in '10 and an FCS game, Toledo, USF and Cincy in '11 -- not exactly the types of opponents that bring people through the turnstiles.

 

[hungrychuck]

Can you please explain what you mean in regards to the section I bolded?

Because if your saying that the time & effort Marrone put in to promoting the program, reaching out to the community for support, and being generally fan friendly the first three years was ineffective, I would really question that.

Not only with simple average attendence statistics:

Pre-Marrone:
2005 avg attendence - 40,252 (down 3,395 or 8% from prior year)
2006 avg attendence - 41,073 (up 821 or 2% from prior year)
2007 avg attendence - 35,009 (down 6,064 or 15% from prior year)
2008 avg attendence - 33,474 (down 1,535 or 4% from prior year)

Marrone first 3 years:
2009 avg attendence - 39,043 (up 5,569 or 17% from prior year)
2010 avg attendence - 40,064 (up 1,021 or 3% from prior year)
2011 avg attendence - 40,504 (up 440 or 1% from prior year)

So the raw data does not support that viewpoint, but there are also many factors that contribute to attendence, not simply the football team's effort to embrace the fans and community, which brings me to my main point, which is:

How do you know that the efforts Doug made his first three years at SU didn't made a big difference? How do you know that, absent of Doug's efforts, attendence would not have continued on the downward trajectory that it was trending in prior to his arrival? You don't. Nobody knows for sure. But I'm willing to bet it didn't hurt, that's for sure.

In fact, it's interesting that the year following the most successful season (2011 season following successful 2010 season), shows the smallest increase in attendence of Doug's three years. Maybe wins and losses isn't the magic silver bullet?

Nice work. Smart points.

It may also suggest that average attendance of 40K-41K is the ceiling for Syracuse football these days.

 

[ImperialOrange]

What makes sense? I'm OK with him doing it, but what sense is it? The crush of the media watching stretching and asking a few depth chart questions was a reason we were struggling last season. It's all good. I'll take your word for it. Of course, I'd also point out that if I were either of those guys' editor I would not be happy that they were cool with being shut out of practice.

It's probably better for our players confidence to have practices closed and they are free to make mistakes without ridicule vs having to explain why open practices have 50 people there a few of which are focusing on their shortcomings.

 

[orangenirvana]

He's had wide open spring practices for three years, how much good will did that buy?

It bought him this upcoming season to prove that he isn't over his head.

 

[orangenirvana]

I don't see next year as a make or break season at all.

Of course you don't.

 

[GoSU96]

It bought him this upcoming season to prove that he isn't over his head.

Uh, okay. Open spring practices are why he is here this year.

got it.

 

[xc84]

Nice work. Smart points.

It may also suggest that average attendance of 40K-41K is the ceiling for Syracuse football these days.

The team is still not winning consistently so it really makes no sense to suggest the ceiling equates to average attendance for a mediocre team. Does anyone really think that if SU starts to win e.g. 8, 9 or 10 games per year, that there will be no increase in attendance? Really? 41k is the limit? Really?