SPORTS
TUESDAY
january 29, 2013
Brain
trust Syracuse's revamped coaching staff reflects Shafer's history, football philosophies
W
hen Doug Marrone left for the Buffalo Bills, he took a total of seven coaches from Syracuse with him. After Scott Shafer was promoted from defensive coordinator to head coach, he reached into his coaching past to build the Orange’s new staff. Syracuse’s new coaches not only have vast coaching experienced, but also have strong recruiting backgrounds. The Daily Orange broke down Shafer’s staff, and looks at their backgrounds in football. —Compiled by The Daily Orange sports staff
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QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Thirty years from now I don’t think it will be in existence.”
Bernard Pollard
BALTIMORE RAVENS SAFET Y ON THE FUTURE OF THE NFL TO CBS SPORTS
SCOTT SHAFER Head coach
Doug Marrone left Syracuse for the Buffalo Bills after going 25-25 in four years. With an 8-5 season and a Pinstripe Bowl win, the Orange has momentum heading into the Atlantic Coast Conference. Now Shafer, Syracuse’s defensive coordinator for the past four years, takes over. Shafer’s promotion gives the program stability, and helps keep the program moving without forcing the players to get to know a new coach. This is Shafer’s first head coaching job, but his familiarity with the program and players makes him a logical choice. Shafer showed the attitude he will instill in his team at his fiery introductory press conference, talking about the hard-nosed team Syracuse will be. Said Shafer: “We want to put the fear of God into the opposing football player that happens to have the ball underneath his arm.”
TIM LESTER
PAGE 20
the daily orange
GEORGE MCDONALD Offensive coordinator
Syracuse ran a no-huddle, hurry-up offense this season that McDonald plans to continue. “My vision for the offense is that it’s going to be an up-tempo, exciting offense,” McDonald said at his introductory press conference. “But the thing everyone needs to know is that it’s going to be a physical offense.” He worked with former Orange offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett at Stanford, and the two share similar offensive philosophies. McDonald was the wide receivers coach at Miami for the last two seasons. He left in December to work at Arkansas in the same role, but within a month he joined Scott Shafer at Syracuse. McDonald also spent time as the wide receivers coach at Minnesota, where he mentored Denver Broncos standout receiver Eric Decker. In addition to his strong coaching background, McDonald is also known as one of the country’s top recruiters. He knows the South Florida area well from his time at Miami, and that’s an area the Orange has excelled in recruiting-wise in recent seasons.
Quarterbacks
The new quarterbacks coach comes to Syracuse from Division-III Elmurst (Ill.) College thanks to his relationship with head coach Scott Shafer. Lester was the quarterbacks coach at Western Michigan in 2005 and 2006 when Shafer was the Broncos’ defensive coordinator. Lester will replace Nathaniel Hackett, who was the quarterbacks coach in addition to Syracuse’s offensive coordinator a year ago, then left with Doug Marrone to the Buffalo Bills earlier this month. Lester’s already-tough job of developing Ryan Nassib’s replacement under center got a bit tougher this month when quarterback recruit Zach Allen flipped his commitment from the Orange to Texas Christian. Charley Loeb, Terrel Hunt, John Kinder, running back Ashton Broyld and incoming freshmen Austin Wilson and Mitch Kimble all figure to be in the mix as SU’s starter.
CHUCK BULLOUGH
Defensive coordinator
One of Scott Shafer’s closest friends, Bullough brings a tough attitude to SU as the team’s new defensive coordinator. A former linebacker at Michigan State, he worked with Shafer at Western Michigan in 2005. They’ve remained close for the last eight years, and Shafer’s first move as head coach was to bring Bullough aboard. Bullough was a defensive assistant for the Cleveland Browns the last two seasons, but worked as UCL A’s defensive coordinator in 2009. Like Shafer, Bullough will run a 4 -3 defense with the Orange. “Obviously going into the ACC, we’re going to have our work cut out for us,” Bullough said, “but we’re going to be ready for that.” Many of Bullough’s former players say he’s a defensive guru, and that he’ll make sure Syracuse’s defense is extremely rugged and physical.
CLARK LEA Linebackers
When former linebackers coach Steve Morrison resigned earlier this month, it left Syracuse with a void. Lea, who held the same role at Bowling Green a year ago, stepped in. He was the linebackers coach at UCL A for three years prior to the season he spent with Bowling Green, during which time he worked with Chuck Bullough. The linebacker position should be a strength for the Orange as Marquis Spruill, Dyshawn Davis and Cameron Lynch return.
See COACHING STAFF on page 19 for more. AT A GLANCE For full recruiting reports, see page 18.
@ 75 TWEET OF THE DAY @ColbyLiemer
Losing DaJuan Coleman for any amount of time is going to take a hard toll on ‘Cuse. Frontcourt depth is already very thin as we saw vs. Nova
STAT OF THE DAY With his win at the Farm-
ers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines in San Diego, Calif., Tiger Woods sits in second place for all-time PGA Tour wins behind Sam Snead, who has 82.