SWC75
Bored Historian
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I called into Bud and the Manchild, (Bud Poliquin, long time Post Standard columnist and Jim Lersch, who has been a radio guy covering sports in Syracuse for years), to ask them to fill in some of the blanks about the end of the Paul Pasqualoni Era at SU.
I've heard so many things:
-that they wanted to fire Pasqualoni in 2003 after the Rutgers game but the Notre Dame where Walter Reyes scored the 5TDs saved him.
- Crouthamel wanted to fired him then but was overuled.
- Crouthamel would never have fired him. He said no to the people above him.
- The issue was discussed by fans and the media before he was fired but it never came up in the SU power structure until the Champ Sports Bowl.
- Gross wanted to get rid of him when he showed up because a new guy wants his own people in: he couldn't fire Boeheim so bye-bye Pasqualoni.
- Gross didn't want to get rid of him but was forced to after the Champs Sports Bowl by the higher-ups against his will.
- Ray Rice would have come here is we'd kept Coach P
- Ray Rice had already decided not to come here because Schiano was in his ear. The firing didn't matter.
etc. etc.
So I decided to ask Bud and Jim what they know about this. They were pretty much in agreement:
- Crouthamel could be seen in the press box fuming and worse when things went poorly.
- But he never respect for or faith in Coach P and would never have fired him.
- There were people above Crouthamel that wanted out after the Rutgers game in '03 but Jake refused to fire him and the result was the "vote of confidence" which came before the Notre Dame game and when we blew out the Irish, the issue was dead- for the time.
- The book-end blow-outs of 2004, (0-51 to Purdue in the first game and the 14-51 loss to Gerogia Tech, a team averaging 19 points a game) brought the issue back, stronger than ever.
- Gross did not want to fire anybody when he came here. He wanted to observe for a year and thren make his decisions.
- There was another "vote of confidence" by Chancellor Cantor a few weeks before the firing.
- "Votes of confidence" are pretty meaningless. If they mean anything it is that the guy's in trouble.
- Cantor issuing one and then P getting fired was "not a good start" for her.
- Gross was told at half time of the Champs Sports Bowl to get rid of the guy and announce the firing as soon as he got back to Syracuse.
- Firing a coach after a bowl game is stupid. Not only are you in a bowl game but you are too alte in the season to put together a good staff or have a good recruiting year. Most of the coaches on that staff had never done the jobs they were given before.
- Losing Coach P did cost us Ray Rice.
Unless someone with inside knowledge has an issue with any of this, that account is what I'll file in my memory banks about this subject. Whatever you think of Bud and Jim or their show, I think they probably have a pretty good idea what went down.
I've heard so many things:
-that they wanted to fire Pasqualoni in 2003 after the Rutgers game but the Notre Dame where Walter Reyes scored the 5TDs saved him.
- Crouthamel wanted to fired him then but was overuled.
- Crouthamel would never have fired him. He said no to the people above him.
- The issue was discussed by fans and the media before he was fired but it never came up in the SU power structure until the Champ Sports Bowl.
- Gross wanted to get rid of him when he showed up because a new guy wants his own people in: he couldn't fire Boeheim so bye-bye Pasqualoni.
- Gross didn't want to get rid of him but was forced to after the Champs Sports Bowl by the higher-ups against his will.
- Ray Rice would have come here is we'd kept Coach P
- Ray Rice had already decided not to come here because Schiano was in his ear. The firing didn't matter.
etc. etc.
So I decided to ask Bud and Jim what they know about this. They were pretty much in agreement:
- Crouthamel could be seen in the press box fuming and worse when things went poorly.
- But he never respect for or faith in Coach P and would never have fired him.
- There were people above Crouthamel that wanted out after the Rutgers game in '03 but Jake refused to fire him and the result was the "vote of confidence" which came before the Notre Dame game and when we blew out the Irish, the issue was dead- for the time.
- The book-end blow-outs of 2004, (0-51 to Purdue in the first game and the 14-51 loss to Gerogia Tech, a team averaging 19 points a game) brought the issue back, stronger than ever.
- Gross did not want to fire anybody when he came here. He wanted to observe for a year and thren make his decisions.
- There was another "vote of confidence" by Chancellor Cantor a few weeks before the firing.
- "Votes of confidence" are pretty meaningless. If they mean anything it is that the guy's in trouble.
- Cantor issuing one and then P getting fired was "not a good start" for her.
- Gross was told at half time of the Champs Sports Bowl to get rid of the guy and announce the firing as soon as he got back to Syracuse.
- Firing a coach after a bowl game is stupid. Not only are you in a bowl game but you are too alte in the season to put together a good staff or have a good recruiting year. Most of the coaches on that staff had never done the jobs they were given before.
- Losing Coach P did cost us Ray Rice.
Unless someone with inside knowledge has an issue with any of this, that account is what I'll file in my memory banks about this subject. Whatever you think of Bud and Jim or their show, I think they probably have a pretty good idea what went down.