Really?

[13mike13]

http://www.syracuse.com/orangefootball/index.ssf/2013/11/george_mcdonald_on_syracuse_wi.html

This article makes me nuts. I have been involved in sports all my life, and IMO, the hallmark of any good coach is praise in public, criticize in private. McDonald calling Kobena out in public to a reporter, and then half-way trying to backpedal, troubles me. These things seem to keep happening, and this latest one reveals an inherent lack of judgment and reliability with this guy. Is McDonald "coming to work" every day. Some would argue not, especially when we are more than half-way through our schedule and our kids still are still frequently confused about where to line up pre-snap, the kids cannot consistently execute in his system, and we have virtually no apparent offensive identity. I knew members of the old staff who consistently praised Kobena as an exceptionally hard worker, and one of their favorite kids. I 'm at a complete loss as to how McDonald calling the kid out to a reporter helps the kid or the program. Can you imagine Kobena having to read this article today? Many things--from Shafer (apparently losing his mind) and screaming profanity across the field on national TV at an opposing coach, to the penalties, to the kids dancing around during an official's review when down 30 to Clemson, etc.--leave me feeling afraid of where this whole thing is heading. I hope my gut is wrong on this, because I think we have really good hard working kids in this program.

 

[Scooch]

I have been involved in sports all my life, and IMO, the hallmark of any good coach is praise in public, criticize in private.

You must hate Jim Boeheim.

 

[IthacaBarrel]

I have no issue with any of that. He's 100% right. Kid will either work harder or fold like a house of cards. Is what it is, kid is a year away from the real world, what else should GMC say?

Lots of coaches out there doing the same thing. I would like to know what the deal with Funderburke is as well

 

[TexanMark]

Not sure I agree with the OP...maybe GMac2 is trying to motivate Kobena.

Every guy responds to different things.

 

[PhatOrange]

They've called out Funderburke a little bit in the press. I think at this point they're doing whatever they can to motivate. It's now or never.

 

[N.Y. Orangeman]

I couldn't agree more with the original post. McDonald is a buffoon and a caricature of a real leader. We've gone from a disciplined, well-prepared program to one that reacts on emotion with no core, systemic or otherwise. Is it a wonder other coaches are now calling us "dirty" (I heard this on Saturday)?

You hire MAC buddies, this is what you should expect.

 

[OrangeXtreme]

Shocking. It's a Cohen article.

 

[KaiserUEO]

seems like kobena worked last year, and earlier this year...then stopped.

so he got benched.

cohen still doesnt know how to report/write for a big time program.

 

[N.Y. Orangeman]

seems like kobena worked last year, and earlier this year...then stopped.

so he got benched.

cohen still doesnt know how to report/write for a big time program.

This staff hasn't earned the benefit of the doubt from my perspective on this one. I think it is much more plausible that the ridiculous inconsistencies in setting up an offense and an OC who is in over his head may have more to do with Kobena's current state than his work ethic.

 

[spo023]

I couldn't agree more with the original post. McDonald is a buffoon and a caricature of a real leader. We've gone from a disciplined, well-prepared program to one that reacts on emotion with no core, systemic or otherwise. Is it a wonder other coaches are now calling us "dirty" (I heard this on Saturday)?

You hire MAC buddies, this is what you should expect.

You do realize we weren't disciplined under Marrone, both on and off the field? We had so many dumb penalties under Marrone, not to mention guys stealing from other players. Boy how you have forgotten a lot in just a year

 

[OttoinGrotto]

You do realize we weren't disciplined under Marrone, both on and off the field? We had so many dumb penalties under Marrone, not to mention guys stealing from other players. Boy how you have forgotten a lot in just a year

It's part of the Marrone mythology.

 

[Dnyr85]

I think 13mike is jumping the gun a little bit on this one.

I am sure that what was said in the report was what was said to Kobena himself in private before this hit the paper.

Cohen articles are seemingly always negative anyway, try to stay away from them. Works for me.

 

[N.Y. Orangeman]

You do realize we weren't disciplined under Marrone, both on and off the field? We had so many dumb penalties under Marrone, not to mention guys stealing from other players. Boy how you have forgotten a lot in just a year

Sure, but those were the kids, not the coaches. Big difference.

 

[storange]

Its knowing your players, Different players respond to different types of motivation...Boeheim knows this better then anyone.

 

[OrangeMojo]

Shocking. It's a Cohen article.

thanks for posting this - saved me from actually clicking through and giving his article an additional 'hit'

 

[FAL]

Thanks for making me read a Cohen article. Ugh!

Now having said that, I don't see where McDonald was dumping on Kobena. Asked a direct question as to why Kobena didn't play, he basically said that West and Broyld practiced like starting WR's, and thus should be the starting receivers come game time. He never said Kobena was in the doghouse--sure, he implied as much but did not go out of his way to be critical. I can't see how you can fault McDonald on his response to such a pointed, negatively-slanted question by the King of Negativity. He deserves a break on this one, IMO.

 

[OrangePA]

I couldn't agree more with the original post. McDonald is a buffoon and a caricature of a real leader. We've gone from a disciplined, well-prepared program to one that reacts on emotion with no core, systemic or otherwise. Is it a wonder other coaches are now calling us "dirty" (I heard this on Saturday)?

You hire MAC buddies, this is what you should expect.

McDonald came from Miami of the ACC and Arkansas of the SEC.

He also worked at Minnesota of the Big Ten.

Say what you will, but the guy has credentials.

Also, recall that Urban Meyer coached in the MAC.

 

[NKR1978]

It's part of the Marrone mythology.

I thought Doug did an amazing job here given where he inherited the program and is an excellent football coach; but you're right in that his myth has grown by leaps and bounds over the past 10 months. A year ago at this time we were 4-5 and our offense had that awesome stretch where it put up 10 against Minnesota, 14 against Pitt and 15 against Rutgers. And that was with Pugh, Nassib and Lemon!

 

[PhatOrange]

Is it a wonder other coaches are now calling us "dirty" (I heard this on Saturday)?

Give us a break, dirty? really? How about backing up your claim.

As far as hiring MAC buddies, you do realize McDonald was at Miami and then on the Arkansas staff before coming to Syracuse right?

Yes they worked together once before in the MAC but it's not like he hired him away from the MAC.

But even if he did, nothing exactly wrong with that. Lots of talented coaches come from the MAC.

 

[IthacaBarrel]

McDonald came from Miami of the ACC and Arkansas of the SEC.

He also worked at Minnesota of the Big Ten.

Say what you will, but the guy has credentials.

Also, recall that Urban Meyer coached in the MAC.

There are countless examples of coaches doing this stuff, some are great coaches, some aren't, some right in the middle. It's not a determining factor on what type of coach he will be. None at all, people can like or dislike

 

[IthacaBarrel]

McDonald came from Miami of the ACC and Arkansas of the SEC.

He also worked at Minnesota of the Big Ten.

Say what you will, but the guy has credentials.

Also, recall that Urban Meyer coached in the MAC.

There are countless examples of coaches doing this stuff, some are great coaches, some aren't, some right in the middle. It's not a determining factor on what type of coach he will be. None at all, people can like or dislike

 

[IthacaBarrel]

McDonald came from Miami of the ACC and Arkansas of the SEC.

He also worked at Minnesota of the Big Ten.

Say what you will, but the guy has credentials.

Also, recall that Urban Meyer coached in the MAC.

So did Brian Kelly, Butch Jones, etc. Some of the best players and coaches out there came from the MAC,

 

[xc84]

I don't find McDonald's take all that bad. He was not specific but gave us information that the kid wasn't working hard. I don't have a problem with that. I have more of an issue when I hear about someone "he doesn't have a grasp of the playbook" in the public forum. That type of thing should stay within the team.

However, if he gets a question about why Kobena is not playing. If he declined to answer it, we'd have people here howling about how he is being secretive like Marrone. Instead, he responded that the loss of playing time is a product of both Kobena's habits and the habits of those around him. That's not overly critical.

 

[All4SU]

So did Brian Kelly, Butch Jones, etc. Some of the best players and coaches out there came from the MAC,

GRob however, did not come from the MAC.

 

[PhatOrange]

The article read fine to me. His initial comment I thought big deal when followed up by the other comments. What I took from the article, Kobena works hard but so are the other kids. If things are even you need to elevate your game further - there's no seniority or past PT being given preference.

Frankly if Kobena dropped one pass in practice and Cornelius dropped zero well then Cornelius gets the nod. I have no issues with that.

Kobena has had his share of stone hands drops before and has chickened out over the middle (USC).