We talkin' practice

[Scooch]

There's maybe, maybe, a dozen schools with the comparable financial resources and fan base size of Ohio State. Why people here constantly compare SU to those schools is beyond me. SU is fully capable of producing a very competitive program. It takes great coaching and competitive facilities. We're a small market program, which means we need to be smart and efficient. Lately we've been mostly neither. But just as the Royals can win a pennant, so can SU win some games and beat a top tier team in a bowl game.

I'm not convinced our current staff can do it, but I know that some staff can.

We certainly shouldn't be giving up because we're not Ohio State. Get a grip, people.

 

[dinosaurbbq]

But we cannot compete with most of the SEC, nor with Texas, Oklahoma, Ohio State and Michigan. That's a whole different world.

We could have competed with Michigan this past year. Texas wasn't far ahead and Oklahoma disappointed their fans significantly, as well. It is all cyclical. Texas, Oklahoma and Michigan are all down right now. I don't think they will be for long, because they have invested big money in very good coaches.

This program needs a more significant financial commitment from the Administration than it is currently getting. The football team is bringing in far more than it is spending. I am glad we built the IPF. A small commitment of additional dollars for coaching salaries would help a lot. It really is small to add say $3 million in salary dollars, when the return on that should be a couple to several additional wins per year, which would get us to a bowl as a starting point and possibly to a very good bowl. Lesser bowls may be financial losers short term, but they allow you to build or maintain a program and hopefully make the football program more profitable and the school applicant pool larger. It obviously has to be spent intelligently and we also have to get lucky to some degree, but if you aren't going to invest the money to take that chance, you can't expect your team to win consistently. If it doesn't win consistently, recruits don't come, fans don't come and applicants don't come.

HCSS went in house for OC with Tim Lester. If it works to great success and the offense progresses this year to average and after that to above average, then salaries will need to be increased to keep the O coaches here. If it doesn't work, HCSS won't be here. Either way, we will need to increase coaching salary dollars to get better results.

 

[dinosaurbbq]

There's maybe, maybe, a dozen schools with the comparable financial resources and fan base size of Ohio State. Why people here constantly compare SU to those schools is beyond me. SU is fully capable of producing a very competitive program. It takes great coaching and competitive facilities. We're a small market program, which means we need to be smart and efficient. Lately we've been mostly neither. But just as the Royals can win a pennant, so can SU win some games and beat a top tier team in a bowl game.

I'm not convinced our current staff can do it, but I know that some staff can.

We certainly shouldn't be giving up because we're not Ohio State. Get a grip, people.

Agree totally.
Also, Ohio State wasn't Ohio State until Urban came.

 

[longtimefan]

Agree totally.
Also, Ohio State wasn't Ohio State until Urban came.

Yeah, Tressel only won about 6 Big Ten championships and a BCS championship.

 

[ORANGEsPHK]

Ok so building an IPF on par with most of our peers we haven't invested like other programs? We have literally had athletes and parents of said athletes say we are on par with most with the exception of one or two ... so I'm at a loss for words ... we can compete with most programs and should be able to ... 9 or 10 wins is not impossible and no one here is saying win an NC ... but there is no reason based on what resources we currently now have that we can't be a very competitive program. Again we played Clemson very tough in Death Valley, the same Clemson team that dismantled OU ... for people to just throw their hands in the air and say "Oh well I won't expect much" just astonishes me.

I don't know if you are calling me out with that last sentence but my expectations of any SU sports program is to be successful and that definition depends entirely on what is a realistic expectation. Its great that we have nice IPF after all these years - I'm stoked for it. However, if you look across the board of our current coaching staff, marketing teams, etc, we fall short of what the "big" programs invest in. I don't expect SU to spend $2-3 million/year just for a HC - if they do, great, but its not my expectation. As you point out your expectation is that SU will not compete for NC anytime soon - that is the expectation and I agree with it. I also agree that there is no reason that we can't win 9/10 games a year.

SWC's post compared SU to OSU and my reply was based on that original post; I do not expect SU to invest as heavily in its football program as OSU does, and therefore, be as consistently competitive on the national scene. This doesn't diminish that progress has been made, nor does it diminish my excitement to see how our staff and players will improve over the years. I'm still here rooting for the team because its MY team, but I don't expect us to compete with programs like OSU based on the investment SU has made - that was my point and you can disagree with it but it does not make me one those "people" who throw their hands up and say "I won't expect much" - that was a reach in interpreting my response.

 

[kcsu]

Syracuse should always be a top 35 program. We are in the ACC and have plenty of capital to compete. The Dome will be refurbished and from what i have heard it will be well done. The new IPF and the pending ACC network all work in our favor. I hope that this staff makes it to a bowl this year as i believe they have the the right approach to recruiting. What they pulled off this year after the on field results is pretty amazing. Are we going to be a OSU no can we be relavent yes. I truly see us coming back and believe that it is starting now.

 

[SWC75]

Great point made!

Major college football is like the heavyweight division in boxing. It used to be that heavyweights were 18-0-190 pounds. Joe Louis was considered big at 6-1, 200 pounds. Now the Kitchkos are 6-7, 250. It's a different division. We're 180 pounds when we're bad, 190 pounds most of the time and 200 pounds when we're good. We're heavyweights. Ohio State, Florida State, Alabama, etc. are superheavyweights.

 

[HtownOrange]

+2

+3 O.K., It won't end my interest, but it will relegate my interest to below P5 football.

 

[HtownOrange]

The college football landscape has changed so much since 1992. It's not even close to the same world, if you think those days are coming back they aren't.

Army used to be a football power at one point. I guess they are waiting for that "cyclical" thing to come back around. It's not happening.

Respectfully, using the Academies as a reference in an argument regarding relevance is like comparing apples and oranges. 1) The Academies have very high academic standards, most kids simply cannot get in. 2) The Academies are very rigid and most kids want some freedom even though they commit to a physically demanding program. They don't have the rigid rules on how to eat, when to eat, how to march, when to march, appearance, uniforms, behaviors, manners, drill, training for other than sports, etc. 3) The Academies carry an extra commitment to serve beyond the academic years. 4) If a kid is good enough for the NFL or close enough to get a reasonable shot at it, they are more likely to take the gamble with state or private school. The NFL window is short and fickle, any player would want to better his odds if he has a reasonable shot at the NFL.

Perhaps you might look at Duke. They were good once, then stunk. They are good again. Or maybe Rutgers, they were co-champions once, stunk for 150 years and have winning record over the last several years.

tOSU stunk from the Woody Hayes era (OK, John Cooper won lots of games but beat Michigan once and won two bowls* - but they played a Rutersesque schedule) until the Vest brought them back to winning and he had to cheat to do so. Urban Meyer won at lower levels before getting the Florida job so winning can happen.

 

[jr4750]

Yeah, Tressel only won about 6 Big Ten championships and a BCS championship.

was gonna say something similar. Urban is a big time coach, but OSU was fine before him and will be after him as well!

 

[wfschrec]

Respectfully, using the Academies as a reference in an argument regarding relevance is like comparing apples and oranges. 1) The Academies have very high academic standards, most kids simply cannot get in. 2) The Academies are very rigid and most kids want some freedom even though they commit to a physically demanding program. They don't have the rigid rules on how to eat, when to eat, how to march, when to march, appearance, uniforms, behaviors, manners, drill, training for other than sports, etc. 3) The Academies carry an extra commitment to serve beyond the academic years. 4) If a kid is good enough for the NFL or close enough to get a reasonable shot at it, they are more likely to take the gamble with state or private school. The NFL window is short and fickle, any player would want to better his odds if he has a reasonable shot at the NFL.

Perhaps you might look at Duke. They were good once, then stunk. They are good again. Or maybe Rutgers, they were co-champions once, stunk for 150 years and have winning record over the last several years.

tOSU stunk from the Woody Hayes era (OK, John Cooper won lots of games but beat Michigan once and won two bowls* - but they played a Rutersesque schedule) until the Vest brought them back to winning and he had to cheat to do so. Urban Meyer won at lower levels before getting the Florida job so winning can happen.

See Napoleon McCallum ... but honestly you need to stop, logic is not welcome here.