There is never a good time for a good college football coach to leave. Just when Orange fans see the program turning the corner with Doug Marrone, next thing you know he is the HC of the Buffalo Bills.
New Head Coach Scott Shafer has been quite busy building a new staff and trying to keep recruits. The Orange lost top QB recruit Zach Allen to TCU just two days before he was supposed to enroll at Syracuse. The Orange also lost a few other players in transition. Long time SU fans remember Ray Rice decommitted when Paul Pasqualoni was let go – think both teams fortunes changed for a decade after that one? However, the new staff has already attracted a few new recruits with the recently patched together staff including dual threat QB Mitch KImble from Illinois and WR Corey Cooper out of Raleigh, NC. The latter was being recruited by new OC George McDonald who is being counted on to not just lead the offense but to recruit in ACC territory having been with Miami last season.
As part of the move to the ACC the Orange was hoping to go into some new recruiting territoy and now has someone with ties in the conference’s footprint. However, Syracuse has to still recruit the 250 mile radius around its campus successfully. In the 80’s and 90’s they owned the NJ/NYC area – then Greg Schiano and Randy Edsall came along and the Orange have struggled regularly since. Doug Marrone was just making some inroads into the NYC area and had a few asst. coaches who new the area well, but they went with him to the Bills. I’m very encouraged with how the new staff has held things together. The staff isn’t completely filled yet, but as of yet, they don’t have anyone with ties to the metropolitan area and only two verbal commits so far are from NYC and none from NJ. If the ‘Cuse is going to continue the recent upswing as they enter the ACC, they will have to somehow get back into their base recruiting area. Otherwise, it could be a rough start in the ACC next year.
The Confidential 