SWC75
Bored Historian
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The coach’s show is on TK99, (FM 99.5) in the Syracuse area and can also be heard through Orange All-Access on the SU Athletic website. This year it’s 7PM Thursdays- or two days before each game, when they are not on Saturday. They have a link to their “Radio Mailbox” for submitting E-Mail questions on the SU Athletic website. You also can call in questions at 1-888-746-2873 or locally at 315-424-8599. You can also tweet them at hash tag CDMS. The show is broadcast from the Red Robin in Fayetteville.
It can take a while but pod casts of the show are eventually posted here:
http://www.suathletics.com/podcasts.aspx
MY QUESTIONS/COMMENTS
"Coach, your team has given us much to give thanks for- exciting games, come from behind wins and a bowl game. The team has improved through the season, as many recent Syracuse teams did not, shoring up the kick return defense, avoiding the dreaded turnovers, finding a running game, etc. It’s also improved within games, making adjustments not just at half-time but while the game was being played. It looked as if we couldn’t stop Missouri on those first two possessions but they didn’t get another touchdown until the fourth quarter. When things change like that during the course of play, how much of it is a change of strategy designed on the sidelines or in the booth and how much of it is the players simply executing the pre-game strategy better?"
COACH MARRONE
This show was pre-recorded last weekend and broadcast tonight, (with no prior announcement that I would find anywhere: I just tuned in at 7PM to see if it was being broadcast tonight). Matt Park interviewed Nathaniel Hackett, the offensive coordinator, Scott Shafer, the defensive coordinator, Greg Adkins, the offensive live coach and recruiting coordinator and then Coach Marrone himself. At the end of the show Matt asked Coach Marrone a few questions that had been e-mailed in, including mine. It was the last show of the season.
Matt asked COACH HACKETT how he would characterize this season. “Improvement. Nobody will ever understand what this team did to change the offense just before the season started. They made critical mistakes and finally realized they were the only ones stopping themselves and then they became unstoppable. You can’t stop everything- decide to stop Lemon & Sales and the offensive line and Smith and Gulley kick it into gear. When they try to stop the run Alec and Marcus get going.
Matt made reference to Jerome’s misplay vs. Northwestern where he, (and the rest of the team), failed to fall on the ball after a backwards pass against Northwestern. OCNH: “Jerome is more of a runner, not a guy we’d make a living passing the ball to. But he stood out as a leader on this team, even being a captain for a couple of games as a junior.“
Ryan Nassib had a big year because “the options, the weapons around him and the offensive live are the best in years. Ryan has never put his head down, always held it up high. Nobody will ever know how good he is.” He said that if he were in charge of drafting for an NFL team, “I would draft him as early as possible. He’s a true professional on and off the field. I look forward to seeing him play on Sunday.”
Matt asked what would be done with the 15 extra practices. “Ryan and the top wide receivers are leaving. It will be exciting to see who will be the next quarterback. It’s almost like another spring ball.”
Matt asked COACH SHAFER to describe his defense this season. “The biggest thing is that they kept fighting, fighting with persistence, fighting to make adjustments, fighting to get plays made. People are running offenses that get you spread out and individuals have to make plays. 2-3 backs in a backfield are a dying breed and easier to prepare for. It’s been about good fundamentals and will and the will side has been at a high level when we’ve needed it to be- when we’ve had our backs to the wall. “
Matt suggested that without Chandler Jones, the defense didn’t have a “stud” who could dominate games and so it had to be a team concept with everyone contributing a bit more. DCSS: “We lost two guys we expected back and had to play team defense. We were inconsistent but came through at the end.”
Matt asked about creating turnovers. When we had a poor turnover margin at mid-season we’d only created 4 turnovers. By the last game, we forced for of them vs. Temple. “We made some good plays. Brandon Sharpe had a nice strip along the sideline. Pressure caused a couple of interceptions. It’s all about blocking and tackling and turnovers. In all my years there have always been stretches where turnovers were hard to come by for a while.”
Matt also asked Coach Shafer what the additional 15 practices meant. “Getting healthy and working on individual techniques and fundamentals. When we learn who we are going to play we’ll begin scheming.”
COACH ADKINS was asked about the development of the line. He said that Lou Alexander and Ivan Foy deserve a lot of credit but a big change was when “we were able to get Justin back and move Sean over. Wherever I’ve been it’s been all about continuity. Justin has a lot of pride in the way he performs and had a little extra when the bowl was on the line. His family will always stick out to me. I’ve gotten to know them well.”
Matt asked if it was an advantage to not be playing this weekend while other teams still have games to play before their coaching staffs can get out and recruit. Adkins agreed. “We start contacting critical guys we haven’t been able to get in front of yet, trying to get official visits.” Matt asked how recruiting in southern states was going. “We’ve been recruiting in Florida and Georgia since we got here but we’ve made inroads in other places like Texas and California and North Carolina.”
Matt asked what approach Coach Adkins takes in recruiting and how all the stories about changes in conference affiliation impact recruiting. “It’s whatever is best for the kid and his family. Each case is different. It’s not always about conference or location. We will play to what they want.“
Matt asked about the “shiny” new football building. “It’s a tribute to what ahs happened here and the impact of the football program. The kids still know who Jim brown is- most of them- and what #44 means.”
Matt told COACH MARRONE that “Winning has everyone here in a great mood.” HCDM: “You see enthusiasm based on what the players have done. It’s a tight group with good morale. We wanted to do well in November and we did. A lot of years we didn’t. Coach Mac’s teams were famous for finishing strong. Now we feel good even though we don’t yet know where we are going.” Matt noted that Coach Mac used to say “You remember those wins in November.”
Matt said that the season “could have gone south but it didn’t” and that the coach had said in his last news conference how proud he was of the team. Matt suggested he needed “time for reflection” before he could say that. Coach: “It wasn’t so much needing time for reflection as it was making sure the words were correct. I have the feelings of pride and I wanted to make sure they were expressed correctly. The team started working hard last December. The Fort Drum experience was outstanding.”
Matt asked what Coach felt was the outstanding accomplishment for this team. Coach: “The character of the team and of the coaches. All the other things we could talk about couldn’t have been accomplished without it. And I don’t see that changing.
Matt asked about the offense. “We looked at what other teams were doing to generate explosive plays. It’s not a new system. It’s a package that grew until the system became a part of the package.” (?!?) “it’s a little different than what other teams are doing. I’m excited about the potential moving forward. Recruits can now visualize themselves making big plays in this system.”
Matt asked about the 15 extra practices. “It’s about getting healthy after playing or eight straight weeks of games and getting the academics in shape. We will be working with the younger player’s skills and keeping the older players going. We will map out the schedule when we learn where we are going and who we are playing.”
Matt asked if the coach had a bowl preference. He said there were good things about each possible bowl. The Russell Bowl was in Orlando. The Pinstripe Bowl is in New York. The Belk Bowl is in ACC territory. Coach: I find it difficult to see what is a bad bowl. I’ve always had a great experience at bowl games. The players are excited to go to any bowl.”
Matt read some E-mails, beginning with my question about in-game adjustments. “It’s both. If the other team hasn’t changed what they are doing, it would be players executing better. There’s normally some kind of change by the other team and adjustments after a series or at half-time. On the road there’s an initial ‘Ugghhh’, (that’s the closest I could come to the sigh he let out). The emotions are high on senior day and when bowl eligibility is an issue.”
Another E-mail asked what their plans were for Ashton Broyld, Terrell Hunt and John Kinder next season. Could they be shifted to other positions? “They’ll get a lot of work. We’ve seen a lot of T. Hunt and John Kinder on the scout teams. We’ll have to see where Ashton can help us the most. He’s very unselfish. He’ll go wherever we need him to go.”
Matt noted that freshmen don’t play a lot for Doug. “They have to learn to practice more and to play more games at the college level than they normally do in high school. They also have to deal with the academics. Even in the NFL, where they don’t have to deal with the academics, they have to learn to deal with the long season. Justin Pugh said after his first year here, ‘Coach, now I know what I have to do to play consistently throughout the year.’”
Dave In Queens told the coach that he hopes he will be the “next Coach Boeheim for the long haul”. He wanted to know what we are going to do to replace our key offensive linemen and linebackers. “I actually like our younger kids in the offensive line but we are looking for more. We definitely need to recruit some help at linebacker. We’ve already got a couple. We need to recruit at the back end, too.”
Jonathan in Brooklyn has read Mike Leach’s book about passing where he said that arm strength is only the fourth thing he looks for in a quarterback. What does Coach Marrone look for? “Accuracy is #1. I want to see how his mind and eyes work, reading things downfield. Increasingly, we look for how athletic he is: how much of a running threat will he be? Arm strength is really important if you are an outdoor-type team. Also: does he have big hands to grip a wet ball?”
It can take a while but pod casts of the show are eventually posted here:
http://www.suathletics.com/podcasts.aspx
MY QUESTIONS/COMMENTS
"Coach, your team has given us much to give thanks for- exciting games, come from behind wins and a bowl game. The team has improved through the season, as many recent Syracuse teams did not, shoring up the kick return defense, avoiding the dreaded turnovers, finding a running game, etc. It’s also improved within games, making adjustments not just at half-time but while the game was being played. It looked as if we couldn’t stop Missouri on those first two possessions but they didn’t get another touchdown until the fourth quarter. When things change like that during the course of play, how much of it is a change of strategy designed on the sidelines or in the booth and how much of it is the players simply executing the pre-game strategy better?"
COACH MARRONE
This show was pre-recorded last weekend and broadcast tonight, (with no prior announcement that I would find anywhere: I just tuned in at 7PM to see if it was being broadcast tonight). Matt Park interviewed Nathaniel Hackett, the offensive coordinator, Scott Shafer, the defensive coordinator, Greg Adkins, the offensive live coach and recruiting coordinator and then Coach Marrone himself. At the end of the show Matt asked Coach Marrone a few questions that had been e-mailed in, including mine. It was the last show of the season.
Matt asked COACH HACKETT how he would characterize this season. “Improvement. Nobody will ever understand what this team did to change the offense just before the season started. They made critical mistakes and finally realized they were the only ones stopping themselves and then they became unstoppable. You can’t stop everything- decide to stop Lemon & Sales and the offensive line and Smith and Gulley kick it into gear. When they try to stop the run Alec and Marcus get going.
Matt made reference to Jerome’s misplay vs. Northwestern where he, (and the rest of the team), failed to fall on the ball after a backwards pass against Northwestern. OCNH: “Jerome is more of a runner, not a guy we’d make a living passing the ball to. But he stood out as a leader on this team, even being a captain for a couple of games as a junior.“
Ryan Nassib had a big year because “the options, the weapons around him and the offensive live are the best in years. Ryan has never put his head down, always held it up high. Nobody will ever know how good he is.” He said that if he were in charge of drafting for an NFL team, “I would draft him as early as possible. He’s a true professional on and off the field. I look forward to seeing him play on Sunday.”
Matt asked what would be done with the 15 extra practices. “Ryan and the top wide receivers are leaving. It will be exciting to see who will be the next quarterback. It’s almost like another spring ball.”
Matt asked COACH SHAFER to describe his defense this season. “The biggest thing is that they kept fighting, fighting with persistence, fighting to make adjustments, fighting to get plays made. People are running offenses that get you spread out and individuals have to make plays. 2-3 backs in a backfield are a dying breed and easier to prepare for. It’s been about good fundamentals and will and the will side has been at a high level when we’ve needed it to be- when we’ve had our backs to the wall. “
Matt suggested that without Chandler Jones, the defense didn’t have a “stud” who could dominate games and so it had to be a team concept with everyone contributing a bit more. DCSS: “We lost two guys we expected back and had to play team defense. We were inconsistent but came through at the end.”
Matt asked about creating turnovers. When we had a poor turnover margin at mid-season we’d only created 4 turnovers. By the last game, we forced for of them vs. Temple. “We made some good plays. Brandon Sharpe had a nice strip along the sideline. Pressure caused a couple of interceptions. It’s all about blocking and tackling and turnovers. In all my years there have always been stretches where turnovers were hard to come by for a while.”
Matt also asked Coach Shafer what the additional 15 practices meant. “Getting healthy and working on individual techniques and fundamentals. When we learn who we are going to play we’ll begin scheming.”
COACH ADKINS was asked about the development of the line. He said that Lou Alexander and Ivan Foy deserve a lot of credit but a big change was when “we were able to get Justin back and move Sean over. Wherever I’ve been it’s been all about continuity. Justin has a lot of pride in the way he performs and had a little extra when the bowl was on the line. His family will always stick out to me. I’ve gotten to know them well.”
Matt asked if it was an advantage to not be playing this weekend while other teams still have games to play before their coaching staffs can get out and recruit. Adkins agreed. “We start contacting critical guys we haven’t been able to get in front of yet, trying to get official visits.” Matt asked how recruiting in southern states was going. “We’ve been recruiting in Florida and Georgia since we got here but we’ve made inroads in other places like Texas and California and North Carolina.”
Matt asked what approach Coach Adkins takes in recruiting and how all the stories about changes in conference affiliation impact recruiting. “It’s whatever is best for the kid and his family. Each case is different. It’s not always about conference or location. We will play to what they want.“
Matt asked about the “shiny” new football building. “It’s a tribute to what ahs happened here and the impact of the football program. The kids still know who Jim brown is- most of them- and what #44 means.”
Matt told COACH MARRONE that “Winning has everyone here in a great mood.” HCDM: “You see enthusiasm based on what the players have done. It’s a tight group with good morale. We wanted to do well in November and we did. A lot of years we didn’t. Coach Mac’s teams were famous for finishing strong. Now we feel good even though we don’t yet know where we are going.” Matt noted that Coach Mac used to say “You remember those wins in November.”
Matt said that the season “could have gone south but it didn’t” and that the coach had said in his last news conference how proud he was of the team. Matt suggested he needed “time for reflection” before he could say that. Coach: “It wasn’t so much needing time for reflection as it was making sure the words were correct. I have the feelings of pride and I wanted to make sure they were expressed correctly. The team started working hard last December. The Fort Drum experience was outstanding.”
Matt asked what Coach felt was the outstanding accomplishment for this team. Coach: “The character of the team and of the coaches. All the other things we could talk about couldn’t have been accomplished without it. And I don’t see that changing.
Matt asked about the offense. “We looked at what other teams were doing to generate explosive plays. It’s not a new system. It’s a package that grew until the system became a part of the package.” (?!?) “it’s a little different than what other teams are doing. I’m excited about the potential moving forward. Recruits can now visualize themselves making big plays in this system.”
Matt asked about the 15 extra practices. “It’s about getting healthy after playing or eight straight weeks of games and getting the academics in shape. We will be working with the younger player’s skills and keeping the older players going. We will map out the schedule when we learn where we are going and who we are playing.”
Matt asked if the coach had a bowl preference. He said there were good things about each possible bowl. The Russell Bowl was in Orlando. The Pinstripe Bowl is in New York. The Belk Bowl is in ACC territory. Coach: I find it difficult to see what is a bad bowl. I’ve always had a great experience at bowl games. The players are excited to go to any bowl.”
Matt read some E-mails, beginning with my question about in-game adjustments. “It’s both. If the other team hasn’t changed what they are doing, it would be players executing better. There’s normally some kind of change by the other team and adjustments after a series or at half-time. On the road there’s an initial ‘Ugghhh’, (that’s the closest I could come to the sigh he let out). The emotions are high on senior day and when bowl eligibility is an issue.”
Another E-mail asked what their plans were for Ashton Broyld, Terrell Hunt and John Kinder next season. Could they be shifted to other positions? “They’ll get a lot of work. We’ve seen a lot of T. Hunt and John Kinder on the scout teams. We’ll have to see where Ashton can help us the most. He’s very unselfish. He’ll go wherever we need him to go.”
Matt noted that freshmen don’t play a lot for Doug. “They have to learn to practice more and to play more games at the college level than they normally do in high school. They also have to deal with the academics. Even in the NFL, where they don’t have to deal with the academics, they have to learn to deal with the long season. Justin Pugh said after his first year here, ‘Coach, now I know what I have to do to play consistently throughout the year.’”
Dave In Queens told the coach that he hopes he will be the “next Coach Boeheim for the long haul”. He wanted to know what we are going to do to replace our key offensive linemen and linebackers. “I actually like our younger kids in the offensive line but we are looking for more. We definitely need to recruit some help at linebacker. We’ve already got a couple. We need to recruit at the back end, too.”
Jonathan in Brooklyn has read Mike Leach’s book about passing where he said that arm strength is only the fourth thing he looks for in a quarterback. What does Coach Marrone look for? “Accuracy is #1. I want to see how his mind and eyes work, reading things downfield. Increasingly, we look for how athletic he is: how much of a running threat will he be? Arm strength is really important if you are an outdoor-type team. Also: does he have big hands to grip a wet ball?”
