McDonald

[dinosaurbbq]

The other knock against McDonald I havent seen mentioned is that he has put our playmakers in position where they have gotten hurt- mainly the ridiculous mismatch bubble screens and using Hunt like a battering ram against MD. We dont have a dearth of playmakers to take their place so you need to use them in ways to keep them fresh and out of injury situations. We are having to use inferior players now less than halfway through the season because the guy doesn't know how to call plays to keep guys out of trouble.

I don't think you know what "dearth" means.

 

[dinosaurbbq]

says the guy who has no problem chastising me. btw, you don't know me or how I handle anything. I'll take the high road and say that I get what you're saying and I think there is nothing good about the situation at all.

Not for nothing here, but I think pretty much if you say "I'll take the high road", you aren't taking the high road. Its kind of like saying, "I could point out what a dips*it you are, but I won't."

 

[dinosaurbbq]

Maryland isn't a conference game Lou Holtz! lol

Wow. I love the dude incorrectly correcting the guy who was right to begin with. Lookin' stellar!

 

[dinosaurbbq]

Were you watching the same offensive displays on the field that I was? It was absolutely the right choice. It could have stayed behind closed doors but I am betting that McD opened his mouth and blabbed it himself based on his comments to the media yesterday.

Believe it or not, it happens during the season. It just remains internal and nobody knows until after the season or ever.

This was McF*($ IT's stuff show.

agree.

 

[dinosaurbbq]

It's insane that SU let McDonald hold a media session yesterday. Insane.

Yes, Yes. Should have locked him up somewhere. You can't stop people who don't care about the repercussions from speaking to the press. He was emotional and didn't care about or recognized how crappy it made him look. SU was powerless to stop him from doing that.

 

[dinosaurbbq]

Again McDonald does have a handle on a spread offense, he can recruit well. Problem is all of that works at a SEC School with SEC Players. And while we may have gotten there sometime, he was trying to fit the round peg in the square hole. And apparently wouldn't compromise off that principal.


If the new chancellor after having been here for a minute. Fires gross and shafer and "cleans" house. I would never attend another SU event

You would if they win. On another note, if they go on from here to win, there won't be any more criticism of HCSS either.

 

[dinosaurbbq]

Well there is that, two pretty good coaches, working down a level, Browning can coach OL, Fridge at OC. Went on the road and beat WSU, not an easy trip by any means. Easier to get to Alaska than Pullman, WA. Scheduling any PAC 12 isn't scheduling down, he's 5-1 dude. The Rutgers hate here is just dumb. He will get 7-8 wins. Not bad.

His team is playing cohesively, stands are full. He's done a good job over there so far this year.

Flood/Rutgers has beaten: Washington State, Howard, Navy, Tulane and Michigan.
They lost to Penn State.
They can't compete with @Ohio State, @Nebraska, Wisconsin, Michigan State.
They may or may not beat Indiana and Maryland. I'm guessing 1-1. That means 6 wins and a crappy bowl with that kind of finish.

Schedule crap OOC and start off 5-1. Not that hard. Then comes the nose dive once B1G schedule hits. It is virtually impossible for him to get 8 wins. Rutgers is not a good team. Better than ours right now, but not a good team.

 

[dinosaurbbq]

They tried to run him out of town last year so he upgraded his staff with 2 professionals. Big boy coaches on offense and that's where their improvement is.

WSU was a good OOC opponent. Much like us playing Maryland. 1 is just right. 2 is to many. I'm only saying they baked in 3 other wins. We only baked in 2. Scheduling down OOC in any way is the way to go though. Non fans dont care who you've played they only see the W/L column.

They paid Fridge $500,000. Just a guess here since SU doesn't release the info, but I'm guessing GMD isn't making that. SU isn't investing that much in assistant coaches. I hope that changes, but we couldn't have gotten Fridge for what we were willing/Shafer was able to pay for the position. A big part of the reason GMD was named OC/Assoc. HC/WR coach is so that we could justify his pay, which again I'm guessing was less than what Fridge is making. I'd love for SU to invest more cash for assistant coaches so we can get an upgrade over what we have, but I doubt it happens.

 

[dinosaurbbq]

You can certainly call it what you like, but as I say, IMO demoted/fired in this case is a distinction without a difference.

In fact there is a significant difference.

Fired means you are a useless piece of garbage now leave the premises and we'll put the crap in your office in boxes and bring it to you.

Demoted means your strengths are not in accordance with your current job duties, so we are giving you lesser duties where your skills can be useful but you are still here and part of this big old family of a program of ours.

There is a further significant difference in simply saying -- we need to shake things up and the only duty we are transferring away from you is play calling, but you will retain your titles and pay and other job duties.

 

[dinosaurbbq]

I thought about that as well, maybe the old "run game" vs. "passing game" coordinators. But then which one would you give McDonald? And it sounds like Lester would have to call plays regardless, given the report about freezing-up in the booth.

It's possible that the playbook is sound, but the way it was being used was the problem. Eager to see what Lester does in the next few games.

Aside: I hope that in the offseason, whomever is our OC for next year decides to visit other college teams to study their schemes, and not NFL teams. Don't think the mindset of an NFL coordinator is going to help much at Syracuse right now.

I hope our OC for next year goes to Washington State and learns from Leach since our recruits are roughly equivalent to theirs and not to Auburn or Alabama or Texas aTm or some other top 10 school. You couple that offense with our defense, oooooohh brother!

 

[Jamesvillecuse]

wow did you just wake up from a coma and had to catch up by posting like 20 in a row...lol

 

[IthacaBarrel]

Flood/Rutgers has beaten: Washington State, Howard, Navy, Tulane and Michigan.
They lost to Penn State.
They can't compete with @Ohio State, @Nebraska, Wisconsin, Michigan State.
They may or may not beat Indiana and Maryland. I'm guessing 1-1. That means 6 wins and a crappy bowl with that kind of finish.

Schedule crap OOC and start off 5-1. Not that hard. Then comes the nose dive once B1G schedule hits. It is virtually impossible for him to get 8 wins. Rutgers is not a good team. Better than ours right now, but not a good team.

Your reaching here, northwestern beat Wisconsin by 14 last week. Let's revisit in a few weeks. I still think they get 7-8 wins

 

[OburgOrange]

They paid Fridge $500,000. Just a guess here since SU doesn't release the info, but I'm guessing GMD isn't making that. SU isn't investing that much in assistant coaches. I hope that changes, but we couldn't have gotten Fridge for what we were willing/Shafer was able to pay for the position. A big part of the reason GMD was named OC/Assoc. HC/WR coach is so that we could justify his pay, which again I'm guessing was less than what Fridge is making. I'd love for SU to invest more cash for assistant coaches so we can get an upgrade over what we have, but I doubt it happens.

Someone said on here that our OC and DC are making 650K

 

[qdawgg]

Admins... please rename "page 12" to "dinosaurbbq"

 

[Statesman1]

And what is Hunt simply isn't capable of understanding that calling a sweep there is disastrous? I am of that belief based on his play to date this year.

That may be, all the more reason to protect your player from this criticism.

 

[Ozcuse]

I don't think you know what "dearth" means.

I do. The word don't was supposed to be edited out. Glad that's what you got out of your 3 am posting binge.

 

[Full_Rebar]

Yes, Yes. Should have locked him up somewhere. You can't stop people who don't care about the repercussions from speaking to the press. He was emotional and didn't care about or recognized how crappy it made him look. SU was powerless to stop him from doing that.

McDonald didn't call the media from his home. He held a scheduled media session in the football facility- of course SU could have stopped that.

 

[javadoc]

This a joke?!?! How about, "You're being recruited by McDonald?! He's not even going to be in Syracuse next year."

Oh, OK. From the context in the original post, I thought the problem was that people could use a "character" type of argument against him, since the things mentioned (popping off to the press, etc.) pointed in that direction. Didn't think that angle had any legs.

Do you think he will be here next year? I don't think it's clear cut either way. Reasonable arguments for and against.

 

[Millhouse]

They paid Fridge $500,000. Just a guess here since SU doesn't release the info, but I'm guessing GMD isn't making that. SU isn't investing that much in assistant coaches. I hope that changes, but we couldn't have gotten Fridge for what we were willing/Shafer was able to pay for the position. A big part of the reason GMD was named OC/Assoc. HC/WR coach is so that we could justify his pay, which again I'm guessing was less than what Fridge is making. I'd love for SU to invest more cash for assistant coaches so we can get an upgrade over what we have, but I doubt it happens.

we talk a lot about investments and i shrug because the numbers aren't really out there to evaluate (their prerogative, that's fine)

but that 500,000 on Fridge seems to be money very well spent. the difference in their offense is unbelievable. from a wins perspective, it will be hard for tens of millions on facilities to have the same proportional impact. it's impossible to isolate all the effects, i know - rutgers spends money on things other than fridge

now how many Fridge's are there out there? you run the risk of throwing half a million at a bum like McF***It. but holy cow 500k for that kind of offensive upgrade seems like quite a bargain

 

[phil77]

Nick Saban couldn't control GMD .

Nick Saban is smart enough not to hire him in the first place. Nick Saban would never hire anyone he couldn't control. It is his program he controls everything.

 

[Orangepace]

Oh, OK. From the context in the original post, I thought the problem was that people could use a "character" type of argument against him, since the things mentioned (popping off to the press, etc.) pointed in that direction. Didn't think that angle had any legs.

Do you think he will be here next year? I don't think it's clear cut either way. Reasonable arguments for and against.

Fair enough on that angle... either way though, it's tough to let him recruit at this point unless you're 100% certain he will stay next year. Risk v. Reward. We aren't all of a sudden going to start knocking on some doors of 4*+ 2015 recruits anyway, so there is absolutely no reason you need him on the recruiting trail alone. I could see Shafer sending him with Lester hand-in-hand to the recruits he was primarily responsible for purely for the reason of "handing off" the recruits and assisting Lester in building a deeper relationship with those recruits. That I would be all for. Try it out and if he makes one misstep, you cut bait because his intentions are known to be detrimental to the program.

I do not think he will be here next year. I'd probably give it a 20% chance he's on the staff. My initial reaction to the response from Shafer about his interview is that Shafer would likely have him back if McDonald is willing. If not he would have just cut bait then. I believe McDonald will initiate the separation himself though by finding work at another program as long as there is a willing P5 suitor.

 

[eddie in nc]

Nick Saban is smart enough not to hire him in the first place. Nick Saban would never hire anyone he couldn't control. It is his program he controls everything.

Well, they have not faced any adversity yet and they possibly never will. But when Kiffin gets to being unhappy we could see some fireworks down there as well.

 

[Ydnabronn]

I do not think he will be here next year. I'd probably give it a 20% chance he's on the staff. My initial reaction to the response from Shafer about his interview is that Shafer would likely have him back if McDonald is willing. If not he would have just cut bait then. I believe McDonald will initiate the separation himself though by finding work at another program as long as there is a willing P5 suitor.

My thought when he was orginally hired and all the hype on his recruiting power was that SU would have him for 3 years. If the team did well, he would be in demand and go somewhere else. The other side of the coin is what is happening now. The guy has had 9 jobs in 14 years, hopefully the recruits are bright enough to see that.

 

[A Clockwork Orange]

Yep. He should have not said anything but as usual the media, I'm the interest of making news, spin it out of control. Now others both here and at other media outlets have jumped all over the tweet snippets that contain no context. People are stupid to give interviews to people who tweet news.

How are they spinning it out of control? They're reporting what he said, which was stupid and unique. Most demoted people don't go out in public and say those things. It's worth being reported on.

How in the world did we expect this team to have discipline, when it's obvious at least one coordinator has no discipline of his own?

 

[A Clockwork Orange]

Yes, I think we are demonstrating a classless reaction and acting like a bunch of juveniles on syracuse.com.

Some don't like him - so what? The guys just had a friend pulls the rug out from him. Whether justified or not that is not something anything is taught to handle. Perhaps posters should just SFU. He was one of us, our guy and he just got crushed. Do you have any sense of understanding or empathy at all? Is it so freaking important to crucify the guy because he got ambushed by the press? If he had said no comment he would have been crucified for that.

YOU have no idea how you would have handled it - none at all.

I do know how I would have handled it. I wouldn't have sounded like a little b*tch in public. You don't do that at this level. It was stupid. What I find amazing is people on here are actually trying to minimize what he said. Words have meaning. You say you wish you had stayed at Arkansas... that's serious. That's not smart, and as AN ADULT, you don't go off the deep end in public in an interview with 15 people in the press. He handled it like a 17 year old would.

What is more damning in my mind, is that somehow he actually doesn't think he was poor at his job. Sure, the talent isn't at the highest level, but good offensive coordinators put their guys in position to succeed. We have enough talent to score points. His schemes didn't work. Execution and discipline is something the players failed at. I'm not surprised given the fact that their leader is undisciplined himself. You can't teach what you don't know, and he obviously wasn't teaching that part of the game to our players.