All of these threads offering suggestions as to why Doug left for the NFL are silly. We were all wondering whether he would leave SU for the job at Univ. of Tennessee a few weeks ago. Univ. of Tennessee has significant problems and is at best a middle of the road SEC team that at present can't compete. Doug left SU for a head coaching gig in the NFL! He is one of 32 head coaches at the highest level he can achieve in this world. The head coaches at the most successful college programs are always tempted to head to the NFL. Chip Kelly, Brian Kelly, Nick Saban. Those guys are the top coaches in college with the top teams in college competing for national championships year in and year out for the next 5-10 years. None of us questioned whether Schiano would leave Rutgers last year for the NFL, because the quality of the opportunity is so much better. If the Head Coach at any other non-elite football team, or hell any other non-top 25 football team, got an NFL offer, such as the head coach at Illinois, Purdue, Arizona State, Colorado, Oklahoma State, NC State, BC, Georgia Tech, etc., we would think they'd be crazy not to take it and we would probably mostly conclude that they didn't want the stress or didn't have the cojones to do it. We certainly can't blame Doug Marrone from taking such an opportunity to go from an unranked team at a private school doing its best to keep up with the top football powers without the same resources to an NFL head coaching gig.
There have been dozens of threads and tons of news stories about the instability that has carried over from the Big East now to the ACC. We are fans of Syracuse which isn't the most stable and successful at the moment program and we will be in the unstable ACC this coming fall. We are coming off 4 years of 25-25 following the worst 4 years in our program's history. For the last 10 years, we haven't sniffed the top 25. The posts about replacing Marrone have generally acknowledged that HC of SU is not an overly desirable position at the moment and we are not getting a big name to come here. If we can't get a big name in here, why would we think a big name should stay here if he's got a chance to go be an NFL head coach? You can quarrel with whether Doug Marrone is a big name and I would, as well, but the head coach of any NFL team is instantly a big name.
Doug came to SU and righted the ship. Prior to his arrival, the program had suffered so much that we had all pretty much given up hope. We had given up hope for being able to win recruiting battles, win football games and win championships. That is the biggest change and the most positive thing Doug brought is that we now have hope again. Living without hope is a life not worth living. It costs teams fans. Certainly the new ones that should be added over time, but even die hards that have been fans for decades leave programs after they lose hope. Well we've got our hope again. If we are able to sustain the drive and maintain continuity by promoting from within or pull in a new coach that has the ability to make this team a top 25 team, we will be able to keep having hope. That's all I want.
