The Dark Ages of Syracuse Football

Syracuse football fans haven't had much to cheer about recently, aside from a Pinstripe Bowl victory, over a middle of the pack Big 12 team in December 2010.  There really has been nothing to cheer about since the days of Dwight Freeney and the master game manager, R.J. Anderson.  Many Syracuse fans, myself included, had grown tired of the P and D show of the late '90's and early '00's.  Those teams had a lot of talent, but seemed to under-perform on an annual basis.  In 1998 Syracuse had enough talent to be a top 10 team yet lost four games, despite winning the Big East.

When Dr. Daryl Gross was hired as the new Athletic Director at Syracuse University he immediately told fans to "get a life," oh wait that wasn't him...  Dr. Gross instead was very noncommittal about the future of Coach Paul Pasqualoni.  After a few weeks Dr. Gross fired Coach P and made a "splash" and hired the highly sought after Greg Robinson (this is sarcasm).  Despite the relatively lukewarm feeling about Robinson, Syracuse fans became excited because the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence and Robinson looked like Kentucky Bluegrass.

This was beginning of the Dark Ages of Syracuse football.  We went from a 6-6 bowl team (granted we got smoked in the Champs Bowl by Georgia Tech) to a 1-10 team the very next season.  ONE AND TEN!!!  Are you kidding me?  A blind, tailless monkey could have led that team to more than ONE win!  We weren't swimming in talent, but we had enough talent to win three or four games if managed correctly.  For some reason a lot of Syracuse fans gave Robinson a pass.  "It takes a while to get your own type of players on the team."  "It takes a while to teach the players a new system."  "It takes a while for the incredibly inexperienced assistant coaches he hired to understand their new jobs."

Greg Robinson followed up his stellar 1-10 first season with seasons of 4 wins, 2 wins and 3 wins.  Robinson may very well have been able to recruit higher rated high school players (at least according to the "experts" at Rivals and Scout), but he didn't know how to coach these higher rated players.  He didn't know how to develop these guys using discipline and teaching.  His laissez-faire methods of running a program rarely held players responsible for their actions on or off the field.  To call Robinson's time at Syracuse a disaster is being kind to disasters.  His time at Syracuse was like the Titanic sinking or the Hindenburg burning.  It should be noted that as a high school coach I had the opportunity to meet and chat with Coach Robinson on multiple occasions and he seemed like a really nice guy. 

During these Dark Ages our fired Coach Paul Pasqualoni was instrumental in the development of several All Pro players while coaching for the Dallas Cowboys.  Coach P may have had trouble recruiting top level talent and may have run a boring offense, but he did know how to use players and take advantage of their individual talents most of the time. 

Dr. Gross and Coach Doug Marrone are now trying to rebuild something that was torn down the moment Paul Pasqualoni was fired and Greg Robinson was hired.  Would Syracuse have won only ten games from 2005-08 if Coach P was retained?  Would Doug Marrone be stuck trying to fight the perception of Syracuse as a lower tier team in the worst BCS conference?  Would fans be getting excited about every three star recruit?  I tend to believe Ray Rice who was committed to Syracuse at the time of Coach P's firing would have had a big impact on our program.  

I have really liked most of Dr. Gross's decisions.  He has helped build the athletic facilities and really helped build some of the programs that were ignored.  Softball, field hockey and women's basketball have had a great deal of success under Dr. Gross.  However, with one rash decision (the firing of Coach Pasqualoni) he knocked the football program down quite a few notches.  Considering football is the cash cow and basically runs athletic programs, I bet that Dr. Gross looks back on his first big move at Syracuse and questions what could have been.  Coach Pasqualoni may have needed to go, but there should have been a better replacement plan in place.

NBA Draft: Looking at the Syracuse Years

In the 2012 NBA Draft three Syracuse basketball players were drafted.  Dion Waiters exceeded most expectations of fans and experts and was selected fourth overall by the Cleveland Cavaliers.  Fab Melo and Kris Joseph were selected later in the draft by the Boston Celtics.  Had Scoop Jardine not injured his foot last week there was an outside chance that the Orange would have had four players drafted.  I still suspect a team will give Scoop a "look," whether or not he can make an NBA team remains to be seen.  I think it is a good time to look back on the Syracuse career of the three drafted players.

Both Dion Waiters and Fab Melo made huge gains from their freshman seasons to their sophomore seasons.  These were different types of gains, but gains nonetheless.  Dion Waiters had all of the talent in the world coming out of high school, but Dion did not always act maturely.  As a freshman Dion pouted frequently on the court and on the bench.  Dion was also not the best team player, instead looking to make himself look good not the team.  To be successful at Syracuse Dion needed to come back for year two with a new attitude.  To the excitement, and probably surprise, of most Syracuse fans Dion came back as a sophomore with a completely new attitude.  Dion did improve his game on the court, but most importantly for his own and team success he improved his game off the court.  Dion accepted and excelled in his role and proved to be one of the most valuable members of the team.

Dion Waiters

When Dion decided to enter the draft many fans weren't sure it was the best idea.  Some saw him falling to the end of the first round like Donte Greene a few years ago or Percy Jones this year.  More realistic fans realized that the NBA Draft is a complete crapshoot.  Despite promises and back room dealings, no one every really knows who is going to be drafted and when.  One thing is sure Dion had the type of season both on and off the court that got teams to notice him.  Had he returned for his junior season he may have seen his future start to melt away like Jared Sullinger.  Sullinger would have been a Top 5 pick after his freshman season.  He decided to stay for his sophomore season and ended up getting picked 21st and suddenly become known as being injury prone.  Dion made a great decision and regardless of how his NBA career turns out can be financially set for years to come (if he is smart with his money).

Fab Melo

Fab Melo came to Syracuse as a project.  As a freshman he started almost every game, but had limited production in most games.  In the offseason he got into better shape and worked at many of the fundamental skills an NCAA player needs to be successful.  Melo had one of the greatest one year improvements that I can remember in Syracuse history.  I believe Melo has just begun to scratch the surface of his true potential.  Given the time to develop Melo can be a very good NBA center, if he continues to work hard.  Melo is much more athletic than all but a few players his size.  If he can harness that athleticism he can have a long and successful NBA career.  If only Melo had shown the same dedication and work ethic consistently in the classroom the Syracuse fan base would be still be celebrating their second championship.

Kris Joseph

Kris Joseph had an excellent career at Syracuse.  When he is on his game he has the athleticism, work ethic and skills to be a very good NBA player.  Unfortunately, while at Syracuse Kris disappeared for long stretches during games.  He did not consistently step up when his team needed him.  When and if Kris can add consistency to his game and avoid disappearing he can be an excellent professional.  As a Syracuse fan and fan of what Kris meant to the SU program, I hope he uses his skills to have a long career.

I believe all three of these guys have the tools necessary to be NBA players.  I don't know the NBA game well enough to predict their success, but they have earned the chance to show their new teams what they can do.