It has been many years since my last post. But what a time to be back (at least for a short time). Syracuse and AD John Wildhack just knocked the cover off the ball with Fran Brown and team. This program is officially back in business after a 20 year hiatus. Make no mistake - this is a damaged brand due to mediocre performance and malaise - but Fran and team are reversing that narrative immediately in a way that very few coaches would be able to do.
Fran is an incredible talent as a recruiter, player developer, tactician, communicator and motivator. The staff that Fran has compiled (including some names that will soon be revealed) is second to none from a recruiting perspective. Some Syracuse fans (and the many detractors of Syracuse who are not Syracuse fans) used to say it is impossible to land Top 25 classes at Syracuse - - private school, bad weather, limited fan support, limited financial support etc. I always thought that narrative was untrue. But get ready for that to change in a big way. I would not be particularly happy to be a fan of Rutgers, BC, PSU, Pitt or anyone else hunting in the Northeast for talent. I think a top 15/20 class is eventually possible with this staff.
And not only does Syracuse have an elite staff in place. They have the winning pitch for many of these top end players who are being recruited by schools we have no business competing against. You will have a real chance to start here as a true freshman.
I understand the concerns about coaching experience. But just because someone is an “Ace” recruiter does not mean they do not know the Xs and Os. They are not mutually exclusive. Some people are simply good at everything. These guys are excellent technical coaches from what I have been told.
You will undoubtedly see Paul Pasqualoni around more often – go ask Paul what he thinks about Fran Brown. George DeLeone certainly recognized him as an up-and-coming coaching star. Love the pending hire of Nixon as OC and also think people will view the offensive line coaching hire very positively once announced. This staff will compare with any staff in the ACC. The talent will follow and the Cuse will soon be in the running for ACC championships.
A few thoughts on the process and the hire:
AD: Syracuse has an incredible athletic director. Best in the business in my opinion. The diligence conducted on this process was second to none. He is looking to win championships, not run a “hedged strategy” by minimizing downside risk (which was my concern around Chesney + staff). Hats off to this man on a job well done. And what did the process reveal - our biggest issue was not the minutiae of coaching decisions or player development or scheme - - it was TALENT, TALENT and TALENT. We were not even close with the top-level of the ACC based on film. Something that was not going to be solved by most of the coaches in the mix.
Dino: Sincere thanks to Dino for 8 great years. He is a tremendous human being and a true leader of young adults who did things the right way. His ability to establish a positive, winning, family culture is second to none. I was concerned that we would lose some of those strengths with a new hire, but we managed to retain that incredible asset PLUS much more.
Recruiting: Not only will recruiting improve, but our recruiting operations will improve (building a funnel, narrowing to a monitoring pipeline, streamlined evaluation and prioritization). This ultimately leads to the best ability to cover the broader universe and focus efforts. Georgia has the best institutional recruiting system and that is what FB will implement here.
Diligence: Ultimately the diligence finding from the coaching process were all talent related: (a) no pass rushers, (b) no cover corners and (c) no playmakers at WR. Many felt that teams had figured out the 3-3-5, figured out how to eliminate the confusion and free rushers, and we were generally left without any capability to rush the QB from the DL. A huge departure from historical SU under Coach P. The first priority will be to get much bigger and faster at DL.
Offense: Love the return to power running, and being multiple in the run game. This doesn’t mean we will not have a sophisticated passing game, but this program is never going to be successful sitting back and throwing the ball 40x per game.
Defense: The defense will be built from the DL out. Big defensive tackles and explosive pass rushers. The model that FSU used to shut down Louisville which is similar to the general SEC approach.
Going to be great to watch the talent pipeline and coaching pipeline develop, particularly if we are able to win 9 games next year.
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