Talking Heads Say SU Can Never Land A Big Name Coach

[Full_Rebar]

If SU is so deficient when it comes to raising money, why isn't Gross hiring more people in that area, or being forced to hire more?

 

[Chip]

They raised $40m with donations and suites. Think they are still working on the rest.

Amazing that school could raise $40M for its football program. They must have convinced people to donate the money they save by never attending their Paul Brown games. And then keep scheduling more games there.

 

[JoeSU]

Cincinnati is spending 80 million on a sick stadium upgrade.

Why were the Bearcats playing in the Bengals stadium the other night? The stands looked really empty.
Note: announced attendance was 19K.

 

[Dmcnabbrules]

Why were the Bearcats playing in the Bengals stadium the other night? The stands looked really empty.
Note: announced attendance was 19K.

Their stadium won't be ready till next season. I don't know if there is anywhere else they could play.

 

[SU68]

Cincinnati cares about its football program. Which is why they have better facilities, a better staff, more wins, and better incoming class even as an American Athletic member.

I don't understand your assertion that Cin. has a "better incoming class even as an American Athletic member".

I just checked with Rivals' SU and Cin. commit lists. I understand that star ratings are subjective and are a snapshot, but SU has 9 *** and 13 ** while Cin. has 8 *** and 11**. The classes seem pretty even to me.

 

[Geode]

Dumb programs hire "big names". Smart programs hire "good coaches". Buzz fades quickly. Winning sustains.

I like it but we struggle with both and cannot sustain winning. However, we are good at fading the buzz.

 

[orangeinohio]

Amazing that school could raise $40M for its football program. They must have convinced people to donate the money they save by never attending their Paul Brown games. And then keep scheduling more games there.

They've generated a ton of goodwill with the fans and alumni recently - something like 72 wins since 2007; successful head coaches - Brian Kelly, Butch Jones, even Tuberville; 7 bowl games in the last 8 years.
I'm surprised their recruiting isn't delivering more highly-ranked recruits this year. I guess being in the AAC isn't helping. Still, it's a football-rich area.
Fans have every reason to expect them to be consistently successful so a big recruiting drive isn't a really hard sell.
Goodwill and a little hope opens checkbooks.

 

[SWC75]

Cincinnati is spending 80 million on a sick stadium upgrade.

Why would they want to rebuild a stadium in Seattle?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sick's_Stadium

 

[SWC75]

I hear the talking heads on sports radio laugh at the callers every time they say SU should hire a big name coach to create a buzz in town about the football program. Well I hope they are watching ESPN2 tonight. Maybe they can explain to their listeners how the University of Cincinnati Bearcats were able to hire someone like Tommy Tuberville last season even though they are in the AAC but Syracuse fans should never expect someone of his caliber to come here. Tuberville's offense put up over 400 yards in offense on ECU in the first half and he has a 14-7 record in year # 2 with the Bearcats.

1) We've never brought a big-name coach in in our history. Ossie Solem was the only guy who'd even been a coach at a major college school before and he was not exactly legendary at the time.

2) Empty stands and a state that produces single digit major college recruits aren't the sort of thing famous coaches find attractive.

3) You have to pay famous coaches several times what we play head coaches, even our famous basketball coach.

4) What we would pay a famous coach would come out of the rest of the budget, including what we would pay assistants.

5) The famous coaches usually became famous at schools that gave them much more to work with than they'd have here.

6) There are usually reasons why famous coaches are 'available' and we'd find out what they are when they got here.

Famous coaches don't come to a place like Syracuse. Coach become famous at a place like Syracuse.

 

[TexanMark]

Cincy has a bunch of corporate HQs...that makes fundraising incredibly easy compared to SU's situation.

 

[DoubleDee]

If we paid 100 million dollars for Saban, and had his whole staff with him, when we were say 5-7 in his first year, half the "fans" in this town would be signing the same song.

 

[FortyFourCT]

We are making money in the ACC that was completely unimaginable 5 years ago and we still pay our football coaches peanuts. If the school was really serious about winning, they would reinvest some of that money. Maybe they are doing that but with things besides coaching, IDK the inner workings of the athletic department. However, from where I sit we are making triple now and spending the same (and we were not exactly broke before), so who is pocketing all that $$$?

Edited to add something somewhat related: I aggravates me to no end that pretty much every northeast school hires conservative, mostly defensive coaches, as their head coaches.

 

[Janner]

We are making money in the ACC that was completely unimaginable 5 years ago and we still pay our football coaches peanuts. If the school was really serious about winning, they would reinvest some of that money. Maybe they are doing that but with things besides coaching, IDK the inner workings of the athletic department. However, from where I sit we are making triple now and spending the same (and we were not exactly broke before), so who is pocketing all that $$$?


Edited to add something somewhat related: I aggravates me to no end that pretty much every northeast school hires conservative, mostly defensive coaches, as their head coaches.

I too would love to know where this money is going? There might be a very justifiable explaination but as I had mentioned in earlier posts we have the lowest paid coaching staff in the ACC and are now making over $20 mill more than in previous years (when we were in the Big East)? Also, I believe a few weeks back there was a thread ranking Athletics revenue which pointed out that Syracuse will be top 30 (?) in the country when its all said and done? So why are we not investing in what has the biggest potential as a revenue generator for the Athletic Department (as it is in most P5 AD's across the country), the football program? Maybe I am missing something, I honestly mean that, or do not have all the facts but I would love to hear some thoughts/opinions on this matter.

 

[GoSU96]

We are making money in the ACC that was completely unimaginable 5 years ago and we still pay our football coaches peanuts. If the school was really serious about winning, they would reinvest some of that money. Maybe they are doing that but with things besides coaching, IDK the inner workings of the athletic department. However, from where I sit we are making triple now and spending the same (and we were not exactly broke before), so who is pocketing all that $$$?

Edited to add something somewhat related: I aggravates me to no end that pretty much every northeast school hires conservative, mostly defensive coaches, as their head coaches.

Are you saying we should pay the current staff more just for appearances?

If and when guys start leaving because of pay then it will be an issue. That hasn't happened since the late 90's.

If you are talking about opening the aperture as spots come open, no problem.

 

[GoSU96]

I too would love to know where this money is going? There might be a very justifiable explaination but as I had mentioned in earlier posts we have the lowest paid coaching staff in the ACC and are now making over $20 mill more than in previous years (when we were in the Big East)? Also, I believe a few weeks back there was a thread ranking Athletics revenue which pointed out that Syracuse will be top 30 (?) in the country when its all said and done? So why are we not investing in what has the biggest potential as a revenue generator for the Athletic Department (as it is in most P5 AD's across the country), the football program? Maybe I am missing something, I honestly mean that, or do not have all the facts but I would love to hear some thoughts/opinions on this matter.

What has the current staff done to justify a pay raise?

 

[DoubleDee]

Because the BBall team wins, Boehiem being severely underpaid doesn't seem to bother anyone.

 

[GoSU96]

Because the BBall team wins, Boehiem being severely underpaid doesn't seem to bother anyone.

There is only one person that should bother and it doesn't seem to.

 

[Full_Rebar]

Because the BBall team wins, Boehiem being severely underpaid doesn't seem to bother anyone.

If Boeheim is happy with his contract, then why should it bother anyone? If SU went out and hired a 1st-time HC for hoops (not named Hopkins) and paid that HC at the bottom of the ACC, I would imagine the complaints would be a lot louder.

 

[PhatOrange]

Syracuse can hire a big name if they open the checkbook. At the end of the day everything is about money.

 

[nzm136]

Syracuse can hire a big name if they open the checkbook. At the end of the day everything is about money.

Some places would have to pay more than others, but I generally agree. We just need to be committed to winning.

 

[tep624]

I don't understand your assertion that Cin. has a "better incoming class even as an American Athletic member".

I just checked with Rivals' SU and Cin. commit lists. I understand that star ratings are subjective and are a snapshot, but SU has 9 *** and 13 ** while Cin. has 8 *** and 11**. The classes seem pretty even to me.

Why bring facts into the discussion when you can just mindlessly pile on? If reality doesn't fit your agenda, you just tweak reality so that it does and hope that no one notices.

 

[anomander]

Are you saying we should pay the current staff more just for appearances?

If and when guys start leaving because of pay then it will be an issue. That hasn't happened since the late 90's.

If you are talking about opening the aperture as spots come open, no problem.

Perles left for more money.

 

[GoSU96]

Perles left for more money.

He left here to go to the CFL! for more money?

And then he didn't take the job for "personal reasons"

He is now a scout for the Bucs.

He was out of work the year before he came here.

I have a feeling there is more to the story.

 

[SUbear]

I believe I mentioned Petrino for SU and got shouted down by the self righteous on this board. The only reason I'm not a fan of Tressel is that his brand of football is Boring. Not sure what kind of recruiter he would be, he's never really had to do it at the FBS level. At OSU you don't recruit, you select.

At this point I just want winning football, to me that is not boring, ever. I have nothing against Tressel, if he can deliver wins. That is open to debate, but he at least would be an experienced head coach with a large aquaintance pool to draw assistants from.
Pretty sure Shafer will be here a while yet though, and I really hope he can pull the act together because coaching stability would be desirable.

 

[Janner]

What has the current staff done to justify a pay raise?

Nothing, and they should not receive one. My point is that this university has never spent any money on the salary for this program. Ho w that affects the program at this point in time... there should be more than enough money to A) keep McDonald at his pay level despite to demotion if they feel he helps at that position and/or via recruiting B) conduct an offensive coordinator search with a salary base that is competitive with in the ACC if they so choose. As far as the future is concerned, if this staff doesn't pan out, and I hope they do, but if they don't there should not be any excuse to not be competitive in salary with our peers. That excuse should not exist going forward, unles this administration is not interested in investing in this program, which is my worry.