Syracuse turned to a former team captain to help turn around its football fortunes. Bowling Green wasn’t in such dire straits, but the Falcons made a change anyway – nabbing Tennessee’s former offensive coordinator to perk up a program that had stalled.
With two more coaches hired Friday, Army created another opening, firing Stan Brock after a pair of 3-9 seasons and a blowout loss to Navy.
After four years under former NFL assistant Greg Robinson, the Orange turned again to the pro ranks, hiring New Orleans offensive coordinator Doug Marrone, a three-year letterman at Syracuse under former coach Dick MacPherson in the mid-1980s.
Like most alums, he’s hoping for a quick rebound for the Orange, who haven’t had a winning season since 2001. Robinson was fired in November after going 10-37 in four seasons.
“We need everyone to believe,” Marrone said. “We need the alumni, we need the fans. I love the people here.”
,000 seats were not sold, average attendance fell to a 21-year low in 2007, and attendance numbers again were abysmal in 2008.
“For me to sit here and say that Doug Marrone is the right guy is what I would love to say, but I can’t say that because I don’t know at this point if Doug is the right guy for Syracuse football,” said Tim Green, a close friend of Marrone’s in college who was on the search committee. “This is a daunting task that he’s going to face. It’s one of the most difficult things in the world of sports, to take a college football program that’s down and resurrect it.”
The group that helped select the 44-year-old Marrone included former Syracuse players Art Monk, Don McPherson and Floyd Little, as well as MacPherson.
Bowling Green hadn’t fallen on such hard times – the Falcons went to bowls in three of the past six seasons. But Gregg Brandon was cut loose after going 44-30.
The 41-year-old Dave Clawson is used to more success than that. He led Richmond to the national semifinals in 2007.
After going 3-8 in 2004, the Spiders went 9-4 and made the playoffs the following year. Last season, Richmond was beaten in the semifinals by eventual champion Appalachian State.
“Dave’s experience as a head coach impressed all of us. Not just the winning records, but all aspects of how he ran his programs,” said Bowling Green athletic director Greg Christopher.
al of becoming a head coach even though Tennessee’s offense struggled this season, ranking near the bottom of all major college teams in total offense.
Brock, a former NFL offensive lineman, was Army’s offensive line coach for three years before replacing Bobby Ross in early 2007. He had no previous Division I college coaching experience.
“I was disappointed with the results on the field, with the Rutgers game and the game against Navy,” athletic director Kevin Anderson said. “That was an eye-opening experience. I thought that we had made progress. I thought we had narrowed the gap between the talent levels.”
The Black Knights lost 34-0 to Navy, ending a trying season that included a 30-3 drubbing at the hands of Rutgers.
Brock was 6-18 record in two years, going 3-9 each season. He was told of the decision after a short meeting with Anderson, who did an earlier evaluation, made some recommendations, and gave Brock time to think about them.
“I believe that if we could have come to a common ground, the decision that I made could have been different,” Anderson said. “There were many areas we had a difference of philosophy. I didn’t think we could win.”
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