That is just flat out stupid.
Marrone inherited a team that had gone 10-37. It was a program with complete end to end incompetence on offense and defense. There isn't one thing they did at even a mediocre level. In Robinson's last two years the defense was every bit as awful as the offense had been for four. That's why I say Marrone took over the worst program in D-1. Add to that a recruiting class that had three kids, one of which was Andy Phillips, that were D-1 level prospects.
Historical incompetence. Rankings in major statistical categories 2005 - 2008, out of 120 teams.
Offense
Pts scored - 4 of 4 years under 102nd (115, 102, 118, 108),
total yds, 4 of 4 under 11oth (117th, 110th,115th, 115th),
yards per play, 4 of 4 under 100th (117th, 113th, 111th, 100th),
first downs 4 of 4 under 106th, (119th, 106th, 117th, 119th),
3rd down conversion, 3 of 4 under 115th (117th, 78th, 117th, 115th),
passing yds, 3 of 4 years under 104th (107th, 104th, 55th, 114th),
completion % 4 of 4 years under 104th (117th, 104th, 109th, 116th),
rushing yds 3 of 4 under 97th (107th, 97, 119th, 55th),
yds per carry 3 of 4 under 100th (105th, 100th, 120th, 39th),
sacks allowed, 4 of 4 years under 98th (109th, 116th, 118th, 98th),
tackles for a loss allowed, 4 of 4 under 90th (116th, 109th, 98th, 90th)
Defense,
Pts allowed, (68th, 72nd, 105th, 102nd)
total yds, (57th, 107th, 112th, 102nd)
ypp, (63rd, 100th, 108th, 94th)
1st Downs, (24th, 104th, 112th, 106th)
3rd down con, (16th, 104th, 109th, 117th)
passing yds, (22nd, 76th, 103rd, 84th)
completion % allowed, (27th, 113th, 117th, 97th)
rushing yds, (98th, 110th, 110th, 102nd),
ypc, (81st, 107th, 99th, 103rd)
sacks, (55th, 19th, 118th, 100th)
tackles for a loss (81st, 69th, 95th, 104th)
The 2007 team might have the worst combined statistical performance ever for a BCS team
By the end of 2012 Marrone had built to the program to the point where it was
55th in scoring, 17th in total yds, 40th in rushing, 29th in passing, 9th in 3rd down conversion, 22nd in sacks allowed on offense.
46th in scoring, 48th in total defense, 43rd in rushing, 62 in pass, 39th on 3rd down, 59th in sacks, and that was after having the 7th ranked defense in 2010 which was half Marrone recruits.
There have been five comparable turnaround jobs recently.
Stanford - was 14-31 prior to Harbaugh, and that is skewed because it appears that Walt Harris had a nervous breakdown based on the team performance his last year. They were 4-7, 4-7, 5-6, and then collapsed to 1-11.
Harbaugh then went 4-8, 5-7, 8-5, 12-1. Four year record of 29-21. He also was coming off of being HC at SD St. and had Andrew Luck at QB his last two years.
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Baylor - was 15-32 the four years before Briles, 3-9, 5-6, 4-8, 3-9. Not a good team but not nearly as historically awful statistically as SU during that time.
Briles first four years, 4-8, 4-8, 7-6, 10-3. Four year record of 25-25, Briles came over from Houston where he was HC and brought Robert Griffin III from his Houston class.
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Washington, - before Sarkisian, went 2-9, 5-7, 4-9, 0-12, 11-37. Other than that last year they were competitive.
Sarkisian went 5-7, 7-6, 7-6, 7-6, for a 26-25 total and had the benefit of having Locker his first two years.
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Duke - was a Syracuse level complete disaster prior to Cutcliffe, 4-42. Cutcliffe went 43-29 at Ole Miss over six full seasons with only one losing season.
He went 4-8, 5-7, 3-9, 3-9 his first four years, 6-7 (with a bowl game) his fifth year. 7 years in he still has a losing record.
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Marrone was the only guy coming from the NFL, three of the other guys already had success and experience as D-1 HC's. Other than Duke he was left with a program in much, much, worse condition than the rest of the turnarounds.
He obviously got SU turned around faster than Cutcliff did with Duke. The others he had very comparable four year performance, and the other three had the benefit of guys that were the #1, #2, and #8 picks to work with at QB.
He did an excellent job doing what he was hired to do, which was rebuild the program, in the time he was here.
But Marrone gets a D according to you. Like I said, flat out stupid.
