In the midst of the is he leaving or is he not leaving, I do think we have the right to have some emotions as fans.
Whether it is right or wrong, we as Syracuse University fans, consider ourselves to be different than other schools based off our history. Our major sports have not had a coach leave for the pros since the New England experiment, and outside of the Greg Robinson disaster, we have never had a coach that seemed to be an outsider. Our basketball program has had a loyal coach in waiting for 5 plus years. We're all basketball fans too, and if Mike Hopkins can remain loyal as an assistant coach waiting forever for Jim Boeheim to retire, its not unreasonable for us to think that a coach that said that everything he did in his coaching career leading up to becoming the Head Coach at Syracuse University who leaves for the NFL is somewhat a slap in the face to what we believe in. My feeling is that if Hop left for another coaching job this offseason, we'd all understand it. He's given the program so much while he waits, and its been any year now for years.
Back when Doug Marrone was selected for the job, the main reason why we felt better about him being selected over say Skip Holtz, was for this exact moment. We never expected to be in this moment. We thought we sacrificed the sexy name for the guy that stated that this was where he wanted to be, and knowing that we're a Northeast program that doesn't have prime football talent, the continuity of having a coach that would build forever would be the best path towards getting back towards being a top 25 team again like we were in the 90's. We all know that our football program is different than basketball...the talent in the area is different for those sports.
Outside of that, one could also take this back to Marrone's performance itself. Most of us wouldn't say that they feel he accomplished what we expected. I think we are all excited about the program versus where it was four years ago if he stays, because we think its building. But it isn't anywhere near where anyone should expect. If two Pinstripe Bowl wins and a .500 record are acceptable to us, thats great, but I celebrated those as building blocks, not reasons to celebrate and rebuild on. Shoot, if I'm an NFL GM, I hope they watched the tape of the SU team penalizing themselves and losing games this year they should have won by not doing the little things.
Summary of all this is that I think we do as fans have the right to be upset if Doug Marrone leaves. If he uses this for an extension or facilities upgrades, then we all benefit. But if anyone thinks that if the Doug Marrone ends tomorrow and we should all kiss his ass, I think differently. We could have hired a part time coach four years ago that could have won two what I will call measly Pinstripe Bowls and moved on himself. I just expected more from Doug Marrone.
All in all, my opinion can also be summarized by this... I have a Doug Marrone 2010 Pinstripe Bowl autographed Steiner picture hanging...it comes down if he leaves.
Whether it is right or wrong, we as Syracuse University fans, consider ourselves to be different than other schools based off our history. Our major sports have not had a coach leave for the pros since the New England experiment, and outside of the Greg Robinson disaster, we have never had a coach that seemed to be an outsider. Our basketball program has had a loyal coach in waiting for 5 plus years. We're all basketball fans too, and if Mike Hopkins can remain loyal as an assistant coach waiting forever for Jim Boeheim to retire, its not unreasonable for us to think that a coach that said that everything he did in his coaching career leading up to becoming the Head Coach at Syracuse University who leaves for the NFL is somewhat a slap in the face to what we believe in. My feeling is that if Hop left for another coaching job this offseason, we'd all understand it. He's given the program so much while he waits, and its been any year now for years.
Back when Doug Marrone was selected for the job, the main reason why we felt better about him being selected over say Skip Holtz, was for this exact moment. We never expected to be in this moment. We thought we sacrificed the sexy name for the guy that stated that this was where he wanted to be, and knowing that we're a Northeast program that doesn't have prime football talent, the continuity of having a coach that would build forever would be the best path towards getting back towards being a top 25 team again like we were in the 90's. We all know that our football program is different than basketball...the talent in the area is different for those sports.
Outside of that, one could also take this back to Marrone's performance itself. Most of us wouldn't say that they feel he accomplished what we expected. I think we are all excited about the program versus where it was four years ago if he stays, because we think its building. But it isn't anywhere near where anyone should expect. If two Pinstripe Bowl wins and a .500 record are acceptable to us, thats great, but I celebrated those as building blocks, not reasons to celebrate and rebuild on. Shoot, if I'm an NFL GM, I hope they watched the tape of the SU team penalizing themselves and losing games this year they should have won by not doing the little things.
Summary of all this is that I think we do as fans have the right to be upset if Doug Marrone leaves. If he uses this for an extension or facilities upgrades, then we all benefit. But if anyone thinks that if the Doug Marrone ends tomorrow and we should all kiss his ass, I think differently. We could have hired a part time coach four years ago that could have won two what I will call measly Pinstripe Bowls and moved on himself. I just expected more from Doug Marrone.
All in all, my opinion can also be summarized by this... I have a Doug Marrone 2010 Pinstripe Bowl autographed Steiner picture hanging...it comes down if he leaves.
