Report: McDonald to WolfPack

[CuseLegacy]

Some of you really need to read up on the type of kids that are committing to Cuse. For a majority of them academics are as important as FB. No offense to State, they have a great Vet school, but they are no Duke, Carolina or Syracuse.

Additionally the requirements for qualification are going to increase next year. It's going to get a little more difficult for everyone to recruit kids that will qualify...even George McDonald.

 

[boog7]

Pure speculation on your part.

Not really. If you've watched the games, you can clearly see what a poor coach Shafer is.

Now can he get better? Sure he can. And as SU fans, we better hope he does. But what I saw from him this season was very GRob-esque so I don't have much faith in his ability to turn things around. Hope I'm wrong.

 

[SUbear]

Good head coaches coach up their coaches. McD lead the same offense to 8 wins his first year as OC. If he was experiencing some type of sophomore slump, Shafer should've diligently worked with him to correct whatever problems he was having. Or maybe he could've brought in a retired coach to "consult" and mentor McD. But pulling the plug and demoting him was, imo, the worse choice in terms of the big picture. While McD certainly takes a share of the blame for the problems on offense, they weren't all on him as Lester proved when he took over and was even less productive.

He was actually relieved of duties last year too. Lester took over primary play calling in that "8" win season.
As to your comment for bringing in someone to mentor him, that would be a violation of NCAA rules, coaching staff is limited to a certain number, so who do you get rid of to bring in a mentor. Also why would you not just hire that person as OC, assuming the mentor is better.
Shafer rolled the dice hiring McD as OC, and he just did not work out, it was time to fish or cut bait.

 

[wfschrec]

Never said Lester was any better. Don't know at this point.

The statement I made that you quoted was not typical from me, but, I'm sick of listening to everybody and their sky is falling crap. Something came to fruition that's been coming down the pike for months and you'd of thought we got hit with a 3 year bowl ban today directly attributable to Shafer.

And don't write off this staff just yet, otherwise, you might as well bury your head in the sand until 2016.

People tend to forget that Lester took over at the end of last year to save the BC and Bowl game ... but hey lets just casually dump that for now since apparently titles mean everything.

 

[anomander]

Ok, why I'm annoyed at Micky D's, it's not that he's leavings it's the timing. I just find the announcement odd. I thought these things were annouced after signing day as a courtesy to the Previous employer. hopefully he has some integrity and doesn't poach committed recruits.

In fairness to McDonald I think the plan was to keep it under wraps until after NSD, but SI guys found out and did their job and reported it.

It's part of it. When McDonald was demoted and we began to speculate about his future, there was a thread of opinion about how losing his recruiting efforts would not be a big problem, because he wasn't, in fact, a great recruiter. The measure was that he hadn't brought in any high end blue chippers for us. Sure, he had a top-25 class at Minnesota, but what has he done for us?

What I think people will see is that it is damn near impossible for anyone to bring in high end blue chippers for us right now. Watch what McDonald does at NC State the next few years. I think he did a very good job for us, and brought a level of connectedness in South Florida, and general recruiting panache, that we had not seen in a long long time. There are other good recruiters out there (see: Acosta), so if Shafer does his homework we can get rolling again pretty quickly. But whoever the new guy is, he will not be bringing blue chippers along with him in a briefcase.

It is hard to recruit at Syracuse right now, and the fact that we have had the classes we did the last two years is a testament to the hard work the staff has done. Still not satisfied? I think some perspective is desperately needed.

I totally agree with this. I was probably one of the more vocal ones about McDonald's recruiting prowess while here at Syracuse. I never said, nor think, he is a bad recruiter, but I did say his recruiting efforts while at Syracuse have been completely over rated. Almost everyone wanted to disagree with me. I still don't see anyone other then Ishmael that we normally couldn't get. The kids he brought in have been good, not great. I don't totally blame McDonald, there are obviously huge obstacles trying to recruit to Syracuse, but a lot of people were making him out to be Lamar Thomas, while in fact he was a whole lot closer to Scott Shafer in regards to recruiting the area. With that said I fully expect him to knock it out of the park at NCST. Proximity, weather, academic standards, facilities, and perception should be an easier sell for him at NCST, then it was at Syracuse.

 

[SUbear]

I have no problem being alone in my opinion. Majority can be just as wrong as any individual.Too many people seek "group affirmation" before being confident about what they think.

Yes but individuals can be just as wrong and it happens much more often.

 

[PhatOrange]

florida would not have wanted any of MacDs kids but nit state will.

 

[boog7]

He was actually relieved of duties last year too. Lester took over primary play calling in that "8" win season.
As to your comment for bringing in someone to mentor him, that would be a violation of NCAA rules, coaching staff is limited to a certain number, so who do you get rid of to bring in a mentor. Also why would you not just hire that person as OC, assuming the mentor is better.
Shafer rolled the dice hiring McD as OC, and he just did not work out, it was time to fish or cut bait.

The mentor part was just an alternative suggestion but obviously if that's against the rules then that wasn't an option. But not demoting McD mid-season was, and I believe that would've been the better option.

But as to Lester relieving him of his duties last year, do we know that to be a fact? I've heard some say that was just speculation, not a confirmed fact b/c I just watched the Texas Bowl the other day (needed a + SU fix) and McD was shown in the booth calling plays during that game.

 

[Dr. Bill]

You being the only one says a lot does it not.

Sure does...I don't follow the herd.

 

[Upstate]

NC State 2014: 8-5 [3-5 ACC], ended the season w/ a 3 game winning streak incl. a bowl win. Doeren arrow pointing up.

Syracuse 2014: 3-9 [1-7 ACC], ended the season w/ a 5 game losing streak, no bowl. Shafer arrow pointing down.

Overall career wins are not nearly as important as the current direction of the program. Doeren has his program moving in the right direction and has a history of doing that.

Shafer does not.

Doeren will likely be coaching in the ACC in 2016, 2017.

Shafer will likely not be.

Zero context in this post. 3rd & 4th string QBs saw action in the game between the two, who gave up the game-winning pick 6 for NCSU. Team is very different and bowling with TH at the helm. And did you see NCSU's OOC schedule? Woof.

 

[Orangejet]

We all knew this when he was demoted. It is too bad that he is going to the ACC but it is what it is. Scott needs to take this as an opportunity to hire the very best recruiter that he can find. Someone with great connections in south florida that will bring it. Im not sure if RC is the correct hire or not but we need to hit a home run with this hire.

Any coaches other than RC come to mind and please no more from Elmhurst College.

 

[IHeartSUFball]

syracuse coaches have to be able to coach up the talent we aren't going to ever bring in top 25 classes. 30's and 40's hopefully but were are going to have to coach these kids up and develop. We can win there are many teams around the country that win their fair share of games with less than stellar classes.

 

[Noexcuse]

Shafer, Lester, McDonald, Doreen, and NC State's OC are all good friends (well maybe not Shafer and McDonald, but you get the idea)...

If this is the case, I would be surprised in any of this year's recruits are poached. The real problem would be 2016 and beyond and losing the contacts and affiliations McDonald had forged on behalf of SU.

 

[dinosaurbbq]

Ok, why I'm annoyed at Micky D's, it's not that he's leavings it's the timing. I just find the announcement odd. I thought these things were annouced after signing day as a courtesy to the Previous employer. hopefully he has some integrity and doesn't poach committed recruits.

It isn't just that McD announced it before NLI day, it is that he announced it purposefully on HCSS's Birthday. That's McD being really mad.

 

[TheCusian]

Not really. If you've watched the games, you can clearly see what a poor coach Shafer is. Now can he get better? Sure he can. And as SU fans, we better hope he does. But what I saw from him this season was very GRob-esque so I don't have much faith in his ability to turn things around. Hope I'm wrong.

Yeah, clearly.

One less win than your on the rise and safe NC State coach.

There's no use arguing with you - but when people look back on this past season it will be about injuries, freshman QB's, and a mid-season OC switch.

 

[TheCusian]

It isn't just that McD announced it before NLI day, it is that he announced it purposefully on HCSS's Birthday. That's McD being really mad.

He didn't announce it. It got reported from si.

 

[Crusty]

My guess is that GM will be very successful as a recruiter for NC State and that it will have little if any effect on us.

 

[SUbear]

Sure does...I don't follow the herd.

Not following the herd is okay, but your facts are wrong, which leads to your conclusions being wrong.

 

[Marroniac]

If any of these kids decide to decommit and attend 4-5 years of college somewhere else solely because George McDonald is now currently their WR coach, do we really want them Orange anyways?

 

[longtimefan]

Yeah this guy turned out to be pretty good too, name might just ring a bell -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Saban

And Meyer was HC at Bowling Green.

And, of course, Miami (O) is The Cradle of Coaches.

 

[Chris02M]

Shafer had to know about this as a possibility and has to have a short list of potential replacement options

 

[Noexcuse]

I wonder who floated the "McDonald to Gators" rumor. Sure sped up the process of him getting the NCST gig.

 

[Dr. Bill]

Not following the herd is okay, but your facts are wrong, which leads to your conclusions being wrong.

What facts are you referring to? All I said was that I had no problem with McDonald voicing how he felt about being demoted to the press. I disagreed with Shafer's handling of the midseason demotion as opposed to having McDonald keep the OC coordinator title, but let Lester call plays and deal with the position after the season. that's what I said and I stand by it. The point about what came first…Mcdonald leaking to the press or Shafer announcing the change first….it looks like Brent Axe in today's Post Standard agrees with what I said:
George McDonald's fate as a member of the Syracuse University football staff was officially sealed on October 6, 2014 when he was demoted from the position of offensive coordinator by head coach Scott Shafer.

The clock started ticking on McDonald's exit to N.C. State when that bit of news came out, especially after he threw about 10 gallons of gasoline on that fire with a jaw-dropping media session in reaction to that demotion a day later,

 

[orange79]

What facts are you referring to? All I said was that I had no problem with McDonald voicing how he felt about being demoted to the press. I disagreed with Shafer's handling of the midseason demotion as opposed to having McDonald keep the OC coordinator title, but let Lester call plays and deal with the position after the season. that's what I said and I stand by it. The point about what came first…Mcdonald leaking to the press or Shafer announcing the change first….it looks like Brent Axe in today's Post Standard agrees with what I said:
George McDonald's fate as a member of the Syracuse University football staff was officially sealed on October 6, 2014 when he was demoted from the position of offensive coordinator by head coach Scott Shafer.

The clock started ticking on McDonald's exit to N.C. State when that bit of news came out, especially after he threw about 10 gallons of gasoline on that fire with a jaw-dropping media session in reaction to that demotion a day later,

Unless I am misinterpreting your point, these two things (what came first - leak or announce - and his fate being sealed) have absolutely nothing to do with one another. MCD started bitching on Twitter and then to the PS. THEN Shafer talked about it. It was not Shafer's choice to go public with it. I'm not quite sure what you don't get about that.

If you have a problem with Shafer demoting him in the middle of the season, fine. I have no problem with that opinion. I don't agree with it, but I have no problem with it. But to continually ignore what is the truth... I don't know what to say.

 

[anomander]

Zero context in this post. 3rd & 4th string QBs saw action in the game between the two, who gave up the game-winning pick 6 for NCSU. Team is very different and bowling with TH at the helm. And did you see NCSU's OOC schedule? Woof.

Not trying to get into the who's better Shafer, or Doeren, that will works itself out. But AJ Long wasn't 4th string, he was 2nd string. He was listed as 4th string just because we planned on redshirting him. As soon as we knew Hunt was done for the year it was AJ's job.