After a pathetic loss at home to Louisville, the question must be asked: Is this the end of George McDonald as play-caller? There’s no doubt he has more than pulled his weight recruiting. The coach we’ve dubbed “The Mailman” has delivered more than his fair share of talent to the Hill. But the attack continues to sputter, and Friday night was one of the most wretched offensive performances in recent SU memory.
Let’s start with the quarterback: Terrell Hunt is not improving. In fact, it appears even McDonald is losing faith in him. Near the goal line in the third quarter, with the game still within striking distance for the Orange, SU took the ball out of Hunt’s hands at 2nd and Goal from the 4. McDonald called a halfback pass by Prince-Tyson Gulley (which was complete for a TD, but called back on an ineligible man). Then on 2nd and Goal from the 19, a pass from Jarrod West into the end zone that Ben Lewis dropped.
Obviously, it’s not McDonald’s fault a wide open receiver fumbled an easy catch. But it shows how little faith the coaching staff has in Hunt truly running an offense right now. The attack was dismal against Notre Dame. This one wasn’t much better. His stat line: 17-32, 196 yards, 0 TD, 2 INTs. In fact, Hunt has thrown for only one score all season. He has thrown for 0 TDs and 4 INTs in Syracuse’s losing streak. Clearly Hunt can be a threat with his feet. But mastering the aerial attack has been painful to watch.
Does McDonald have all his athletes on the roster yet? No. He’s only had two recruiting classes with the Orange. But this slide does beg the question whether he’s fit for this job. It always felt like the Orange handed McDonald the reigns of the offense in the middle of the post-Marrone scramble merely to add his recruiting prowess.
We’re still only through 18 games of the Shafer/McDonald era. Presumably, there’s plenty of growth to go. One would imagine no matter how many boos, empty seats, or losses, Darryl Gross won’t make coaching changes until year’s end at earliest. But McDonald’s offense seems ill-prepared to battle any team but Central Michigan. And Shafer doesn’t have enough offensive acumen to be able to help fix it.
It’s nice that Shafer continues to sell heart, passion and the will to turn this thing around. Undoubtedly, those intangibles are part of his style. But the Xs and Os on the field? The Orange can’t execute those right now. And with Florida State coming to town, plus Clemson in a couple of weeks, SU will probably look foolish a few more times this month.
Shafer won’t want to step on McDonald’s toes since GMcD is arguably SU’s greatest recruiter. Gross won’t force anything since the goal this season was simply to get six wins and a lower tier bowl. But this offense is officially under the microscope. And there’s a little more than half the season for McDonald to prove he actually deserves the job. And that starts with making sure the quarterback doesn’t look so lost.
Posted: D.A.
26 responses to “DA: Will Syracuse Take Play-Calling Away From George McDonald?”
As a long time season ticket holder this last game reminded me of the GROB years. I like coach Schafer and I think his downfall will be his loyalty to McDonald. There’s no doubt McDonald can recruit but he is a terrible offensive coord. and that’s being nice. A toss sweep out of the shotgun in the end zone is one of the worse play calls I’ve ever seen. Pop warner coaches know not to run that play for god sake. The fact that Terrell hunt has one td pass in five games is embarassing. 1st and goal from inside the run 1 and we run a shotgun. Come on coach , run some power football or even a qb sneak. Your telling me 3 plays and Moore can’t get a yard. McDonald has to step down as offensive coord. And realize he is in over his head. He has only called a few games in two years, ie. central mich. Boston college and maybe bowl game but estime saved us there. It looked like the defensive was getting frustrated with the offensive. Coach Schafer referred to no finger pointing and if someone does he ll put it right back in their chest. We ll I was at the game and that happened a defensive player( I won’t say who) was pointing to the offensive after hunt threw his int after the fumble recovery and coach Schafer put an end to it. The offense is horrendous at this point and I also feel that McDonald is to loyal to his recruits and madrone so recruits are being shafted, ie. Kobena, George Morris etc.
D.A. it’s about time someone in the media said what we the fans figures out long ago that “Terrell Hunt is not improving”. Last night’s game was disgraceful. Using the word PATHETIC to decribe it was being kind to the university. I remember seeing the same thing happening in GROB’s first year as head coach. “It shows how little faith the coaching staff has in Hunt truly running an offense right now”. Some who post on this website have told all of you that Terrel wasn’t the man,and got critized for saying so. Terrel Hunt got injured in the Notre Dame game lastweek and that injury hampered him lastnight. So why didn’t Shafer/McDonald keep him out of the game and put in Wilson? WHY,WHY,WHY??????
So here are some questions that I want to ask and hope that maybe someone will get answers too.
I believe that for the team to be playing like this that there has to be a lot of in house fightting with the players. Is that going on again like it happened with GROB? I losing a lot of respect for Coach Shafer,especially after the Texas Bowl when he told us all that he wasn’t going to anoint Terrel Hunt as the #1 QB and yet Terrel has started ALL 5 GAMES. MISTAKE,MISTAKE,MISTAKE. If Dr. Gross and Shafer got together and decided to take a chance on Terrel and sent him off to Peyton Mannings QB camp for some individual attention,why didn’t they send Wilson and Kimble along with him? We don’t know what either one of those kids can do on the field because the coaching staff won’t put them into the game.
In the end I feel that there is a lot if fighting that is going on and noone is asking or saying anything about it. Dare I say that I feel Shafer has lost the respect of the players and has lost the team because of all the in fighting?
The last paragraph of your post says it all for me.
They’re afraid to make any changes,and that’s the problem. Good ole DR Gross wanted to show us just how tough he could be when he first took over as AD. His was going to fix thing’s overnight when he fired Paul Pasqualoni. Well I for one feel it’s about time he showed us all what kind of a men he is again. He ought to make some changes in the coaching staff now and start paying the new coaches some money. And after he makes the changes he ought to do us all a favor and resign himself because I believe that he doesn’t know what the hell he’s doing and it’s killing our program. Next Saturday we have last years National Champions coming to the dome for a game and I’ve decided that maybe I won’t be there. Can you imagine FSU coming into the dome and the damn place being empty? There will probably be more FSU fans at the game than Syracuse Fans. Looks like a 2-10 season for the Orangemen,doesn’t it?
DA,
After a certain 2-4 start to 2014 facing SU and it’s fans and alumni, I firmly believe that Scott Shafer needs to ALSO pull the plug on Terrel Hunt as starting QB.
By what means should Shafer judge his QB’s performance? How about the same measuring stick that he used to pull Drew Allen last year…
Through 2 1/4 games Allen had just 1 passing TD and was completing only 55% of his passes and the Orange were 2 games below .500 … Insert Terrel Hunt.
Last year, From October 5th – November 23rd, the SU scored a total of 76 points points over 7 games. 10.9 points/game …
The epic BC comeback at home and the Minnesota Bowl game gave fans blind hope that things would improve in 2014.
In 2014 Hunt is still completing only about 56% of his passes and has 1 TD to go with 4 interceptions after 5 games. His overthrows are commonplace and his decision making in the pocket is slow. Sounds to me a lot like Drew Allen and an SU team headed 2 games below .500!
ACC teams like Louisville will not allow Hunt to run around like he did against Central Michigan and Maryland. Tonight he ran 6 times for -2 yards net.
Hunt threw a punch and was thrown himself from the Villanova game. Tonight the SU offense was out of sync and disorganized. Trying to a call non-existent timeout and spiking the ball with 2 seconds remaining cost SU points and was inexcusable.
He is not in control of the offense or this team.
SU’s red zone inefficiency is a joke this year. Hunt is not executing. SU is not scoring points with Terrel Hunt in 2014 and SU didn’t score points with Terrel Hunt in 2013 either.
Where is the silver lining that SU fans are yearning for with Terrel Hunt? There isn’t one. Hunt’s sample size is big enough now to see that he is not improving. SU must get better QB production NOW or changes A LOT bigger than starting QB will be closer to the horizon than any of us want to admit.
What are the alternatives for Shafer? Austin Wilson or AJ Long. Austin has a cannon and A.J. Long was a 4* recruit last year. They certainly cannot be any worse than what we’re seeing now from Hunt.
As far as I know Scott Shafer is only signed through 2015. Shafer is soon to be 9-10 as head coach. SU was 25-25 in the four years he was the Defensive Coordinator… How long do Syracuse fans and alumni have to wait for our program to be “built” ? This is the 7th year of the SU program having Shafer’s stamp on it- daw-gone it!
Dr. Darryl Gross fired Paul Pasquiloni after SU had 3 year run of 16-20 with just 1 bowl appearance.
Greg Robinson would have been gone after 3 years in the world we live in now. The TV and ACC Conference money simply wasn’t available to buy out his contract 7 years ago.
Shafer had 3 years as HC to keep getting better- his opportunity is already half over, daw gone-it! (fist slam on the podium). SU is not near that 6-6 team that Gross coveted this year as a sign of consistency… Again Shafer has been a leader at SU for the last 7 years.
I think Gross will allow for 1 mulligan year, but not 2 in a row… Unfortunately, among Shafer’s next 19 opponents are:
– LSU
– Florida State (2x)
– Clemson (2x)
– NC State (2x)
– Louisville
– BC (2x)
– Pitt (2x)
3 or 4 wins along with 8 or 9 losses is realistically what you can expect from THIS starting team with THIS staff’s current decision making.
So where does that leave SU and Shafer’s record? Likely consecutive 4 or 5 win seasons this year and next. That is GRob territory right there. That’s Coach P territory circa 2002.
Shafer must make a change NOW before things get out of hand. Hunt isn’t going to take Syracuse to a bowl game ever agin. Shafer needs to make this change. SU needs to improve and Shafer should start by benching Hunt and inserting Wilson or Long at QB.
Sincerely,
Devin Downs
Louisville, KY
SU Class of 2002
What a pile of garbage! “our greatest recruiter”
Did you ever hear of Brown, Davis, Little, Mackey, Csonka,McNabb … you want more?
MCD recruited who???
Next chapter.. kids don’t come to play at a place that has bad coaching and worse game time/ sideline management. After this.. watch what we loose in recruits.
It’s time we put Gross the sicophant back up Nancy’s butt and get an AD that will pay to attract quality coaching. The kids that come to Cuse should expect and deserve no less!
It’s time we put Gross, the sicophant
NOEXCUSE;
The last time we talked,you told me that I didn’t understand basic math. So now that w’ve played Maryland,Notre Dame and Louisville and lost. I was wondering what number did you want to use now to improve HUnt’s numbers? Did you want to use your TIMES 2 method or did you want to use a new TIMES 1000 method? Doesn’t really matter because like I toild you then Terrel wasn’t the man for the job and in my opinion has only gotten worse.
in New Jersey! He has done nothing but carry her water.. destroy or sports program.. but we have women’s ice hockey!
Ron
you told them after 4 weeks we’d be talking QB changes. But no.. Hunt is an ” elite” qb.
You and I were haters….
Right on my friend!
Wish we were wrong… your not.. and your math is perfect!
Ron
sorry I missed the tailgate… pulled pork sounded awful good! we’ll do it before seasons end!
This new site is as bad as SUFB team!!
This team is a disaster-period!! It really has no real talent. NFL talent. A few stated before the season started, but after the last 2 games no one shined!!
The coaching sucks too. All sides. But what can they do with mainly 2 star talent. I screamed bloody murder when they sign these 2 star/ NR talent and RON/RUSS still defend it. Well the teams that kicked SU’s ass were made of better talent by far. It showed. And the teams coming in will show that too.
I was at the game and left halfway through the 4th quarter. It was embarrassing. No speed or talent through out the team. RBs suck. PTG jiggles way too much and his back ups are terrible. The OL are high school talent (really help with NJ recruiting didn’t it)!! QB play sucks!! Even Wilson looked scared to death(why I left). WRs don’t scare anyone either.
Defense! The cheerleaders can tackle better than any SU “D” player!! DBs get beat easily(did I already mention cheerleaders). Lbs are too small for a quality run stop D too.
ST!! Field goal kicker and punter looked good. We’ve seen that in past years haven’t we.
Coaching sucks. But mainly because of NO TALENT!! Mark my words!! SU will lose more verbal’s this year from class of 2015!!
Tired of this losing shit!! Damn it I have been bitching about this for 10 years now. How come it never changes??????????????????????????
DO NOT FORGET THE KIDS OFPSABUSEDU!! THE NCAA DID!!
“I looked into the Abyss, it was there I saw the faces and heard the voices of generations of warriors and heroes and men of great courage. It was there, that I found myself and became a man!” WTR‚Ķ‚Ķ.
It is Abyss time for Syracuse Football‚Ķ‚Ķ.”Hardnosed”‚Ķ..I don’t see any evidence of that at all‚ĶFirst and goal at the one‚Ķ..”Hardnosed would be a double tightened set with a tackle playing tight end and and 3 straight dive plays into the end zone‚Ķ‚ĶI don’t know about you, but that would be my definition of hard-nosed‚Ķ..and if we did not score‚Ķ‚Ķ.some players would have some explaining to do! ..Not Coaches‚Ķ..but Players!!!
Interesting observation: Ben Lewis replaced the injured Broyels and Estime…..and played in the slot these last two weeks. He was open a lot against the Ville.
On that long pass that he almost scored on, Hunt hit in in stride and he was off to the races. Lack of foot speed kept him out of the end zone. When Estime is in that position, Hunt can’t seem to hit him at all. Had Estime caught that pass, I have no doubt he would have scored. In order for our “best receivers to be effective, the QB needs to be consistently accurate‚Ķ‚Ķand that does not appear to be Hunt. When Broyld plays the slot, he is never that wide open‚Ķ‚Ķis he attracting more attention than Lewis does? Lewis is slower than Hunt‚Ķ..but was open a lot‚Ķ..any thoughts?
Its clear and obvious that while “The Mailman”can deliver the players he has no idea what to do with them. Hunt isn’t improving at all and has run on his mind too often. This taking away time from finding his primary receiver. There was on play in the second have when the entire defense to his right was not there and he could easily have stretchy out a long gain for the team. Its coming closer to the time that Gross might have to cut the chord with this staff. I thought Shafer was going to be the one to get way past the GROB nightmare. but its not getting any better with better recruits who seem to diminish in their ability once they get on the roster and exposed to these coaches. Ishmael made one of the best catches for a WR in years and then disappears.Where is Cutis who was being given impressive acoladespior to the season OK we lost Estime and Broyld. Its not like we have no optionsWest and Lewis played well except for that drop which I’ve seen in the NFL as well as in pee wee football. It happened and thats over and according to Shafer are suppose to put the game in perspective when compared to the big problems of the world. Ssays the “Secretary of Tough”What a way to dismiss your failure by comparing this to ISIS and EBOLA.Shafer has gone from tough to whimp.
The game was over when Syracuse in it’s own endzone handed the ball to Gulley and was tackled for a safety. That’s when I thought the game was truely over. we lost to a team that stareted a FRESHMAN QUARTERBACK,A DAMN FRESHMAN QUARTERBACK!!!!!!!
Dr. Gross can “talk the talk” but let’s see if he can “WALK THE WALK”. He has to step up and be a man,make decisions that need’s to be made. One can carry friendship only so far before it starts to crumble,and if he hasn’t noticed it yet it’s crumbling all around him.
Terry—it’s nice to see that your still alive and kicking. Glad to see you back. What I’ve always said is “you never judge a book by it’s cover”. We just don’t know what any kid is going to do before they get into a game. Hell Terry,I read every year the articles post on ESPN about some 4* & 5* athletes that don’t make it and either drops out of college or transfer’s to a Div III school. I also said that it seemed awful easy for you to throw somone you’ve never met or talked to and throw him under the bus saying he’s no good. Can you remember Ryan Nassib or Jason Bromley? I can and both were those N/R 2* players that you dislike so much. I’m not one who destroys a person Terry,I may not like a person but I will never destroy him or her as easily as you do.
At times kiddo when your standing on that mountain and delivering your sermon your usually on point. But there are times that you just have to take a step back and come down off that mountain and join the rest of the human race.
To be totally honest ….. the ONLY way to turn the football program around 180* ( which is how far it’s off-course ) , is to hire a BIG NAME COACH ! The good Dr. has ridden Jimmy B’s coattails long enough . Get rid of him and let’s get an AD that understands this , and then the BIG NAME coach will follow ( provided enough $$$ is thrown at him ) , and yes , this is what it takes these days to get just that . Otherwise , we will never return to the 1980’s with the football program . I hate to say this , because I like HCSS , and think he’s great person . So nothing personal there , but that is the way things are in 2014 , in NCAA FB .
Bobby Bowden
If you and I can see the answer that clearly… why can’t Gross?
Simple.. he was brought in here to establish a women’s program. They can’t touch Jimmy but they ran about every men’s coach out of the building. The bitch hated men’s athletics. The Greek system.. all the things misfits like her couldn’t fit into! She was a product of the 70’s. A liberal academic that cared more about her ideology than the University. Gross is her boy!
Newhouse, Jimmy, Maxwell.. the old standards
ignored her. The rest suffered as did our football program.
Get rid of Gross.. Hire a real AD.. tell him to get us a name coach and spend the money required to support it. The ACC is paying us over double the Big East. Any evidence of that extra cash in the football program?
Get rid of GROSS!
Terry, Ron, and Cuse 17,
Where do you think a lll this money for a big time coach is going to come from? Prior to our move to the ACC, we did not have the money to pay a big time coach!!! We got the coaching that we could afford. It is as simple as that.I live in North Carolina. UNC Chapel Hill has a sports booster club(I know Members) that has well over One billion dollars in Endowment funds!!!‚ĶEvery year, they write a check to the University that covers the cost of their entire sports program. They can fund their entire sports program without selling a ticket or a tee shirt. ACC money, ticket sales, shoe contracts etc. are just gravy on top. Texas, Alabama, LSU, Georgia, may have similar and better set ups. Syracuse does not have the money to do what you are all suggesting and if you think they do, then where is the evidence. Proven Coaches can demand Big Pay days‚Ķ.why come to SU? Our best bet is to stumble on a rising talented assistant coach, who will work at a price we can pay‚Ķand hope we catch “lightning in a bottle!!
Dr Bill
are you kidding… if we stopped educating ever poor kid in Syracuse and building buildings we don’t need.. there is more than enough money to fund a respectable team. You just don’t want to believe it… I know something about fund raising at Syracuse. The ACC money is not just gravy and NC boosters don’t have a billion.. is billion like “elite”.. are you kidding.
Do yourself a favor.. the data is publicly available. Every NCAA sports programs revenue.. which teams make or loose money.. where the booster cash goes..
We don’t want to be Alabama.. we want to field a respectable team.
Louisville,Duke, Northwestern… Jimmy wanted the money for his practice facility.. Alumni were asked.. arrived in days.. not weeks!
Nancy and Gross wanted the money for their programs.. it’s that simple!
Dr. Bill
it’s nice that you know all about North Carolina and it’s booster program. How much they donate every year. But let’s get real here. Syracuse University has well over $2 billion dollar’s setting in the bank drawing interest. Nancy went out and raised $1 Billion just before she was forced out of office. It’s reported in the paper on just how much profit Syracuse makes every year. Two years ago,the Syracuse Basketball team alone made a $25.7 million dollar profit. The paper hasn’t printed yet what they made last year. For arguments sake let’s take last years Duke game in the dome. Low end of ticket sales were $1.1 million dollars,doesn’t include what was made at the conceassion stands or novelity stands. Dr. Gross wanted to generate more money so he added 300 seats around court side at a cost of $6000 per seat per season. That generates approximately another $1.8 million dollars a year,and I forgot to add there is a waiting list for people who want those seats.
What the papers won’t print is when Nancy Cantor came to Syracuse she made changes to the Chancellors Mansion at a cost of $1 million dollars. Her salary was over $1 million per year and her husband made approxmately another $250,000 per year. She had what people were calling a “shadow chancellor” that no one wanted to mention at all. I wonder at times what that cost the university. What about Dr. Gross”s salary,I’ll bet you it’s in the $750,000 to $1 million dollar mark. That’s not even talking about the job he gave his wife, Now we have another new chancellor Kent Syverudwho’s spending money faster that what Cantor did. He’s making renovations to the chancellors mansion again and the latest is that he doesn’t like his private box in the dome. He wants to make it bigger with more seats added.
I’m glad that NC has all of those billionaires and that your friends with some of them. But just letting you know Syracuse isn’t as poor as you might think. Using the interest money alone would elevate Syracuse to elite status such as Texas and Alabama. What we need here is the administration to get behing and start supporting this team. The ACC money coming in is just icing on the cake. When hard working(blue Collar)people have extra money they call it piss money that they can do whatever they want with it
I get what you’re saying Ron and I kind of agree. I do believe there is money there for football and I do believe the only quick fix is hiring a big name coach with recruiting chops. BUT, lets step outside of the realm of our fandom and think about what a college’s “Real” core mission is. I put “real” in quotes because we all know its about making money for the school and its administrators, but ofcourse they are supposed to be in the business of educating the future of this country. So in an idealistic world, college sports are very much a secondary consideration. Hell in an idealistic world, we wouldn’t have major tv contracts for broadcasting games and sports would mirror the div 3 level where the stands would be packed with families of players and students.
Therein lies the mini dilemma. We can say that they do have the money to pay a big time coach, but the other side will say is it worth it to spend that much money on a guy whose sole purpose is to coach a sport and offers no other direct tangible benefit to the school. I say there is because successful sports programs make wads of cash for their schools. So paying a coach is an investment with some possible big gains down the line(no guarantees like any investment however.)
For me, I’ve always been the kind of fan that appreciates the struggle and the journey upward. I root for teams who have given me some amazing years. NYG have won all of its titles during my lifetime, as have the Chicago Bulls. The NY Mets won their last title when I was 4 and made the 2000 world series as I was entering college. The St. John’s Red Storm Bball team has had brief flirtations with decent success and the Syracuse Orange football squad had some quality seasons. But all of those teams also gave me many Mylanta moments where it was just plain frustrating. But I always stay glued and never really wanted the quick fix. I might be the ONLY Bulls fan in the world that didn’t want Lebron during the 2010 FA period. I wanted to have to go through Lebron. I like when the NYG are able to find steals like Victor Cruz and get good production from guys like a Kevin Boss and perhaps Larry Donnell. I was proud of that first Steve Lavin St.John’s team that made the NCAA tournament with seniors that went through the steady progression under Norm Roberts. So I don’t mind the fact that SU hasn’t thrown a bunch of money at big name coaches. I believe that a quality SU program can be built from the ground up. But it will definitely take more of a financial investment from the higher ups. It will take patience from us fans as coaches try to scour the nation for guys who might not be as highly regarded as their FSU/Bama/Oregon bound teammate, but who will give us their all and max out on their potential. It will also take coaching that can put the players in the best position to thrive.
I appreciate the struggle, because the successes feel much better as a result. That 2010 Pinstripe Bowl was like the superbowl for me. Yes it was a lower tier bowl game, but A)it was in NYC with football weather B)it was against the damn Mountainers and C)it was a chance for fans to feel like “Hey, we actually won a bowl game” instead of losing 8 games every year.
I wrote a lot(as always). Basically, I feel like Cuse fan definitely do more than they have been doing for football. Fans can attend games more frequently in good faith to show the program that the investment isn’t for naught. But at the same time, I don’t want to necessarily pay out the rear for a big name coach. I want SU to cultivate a guy who becomes the next big name coach due to his ability to elevate SU. I want to get 5 star guys, but I’d love to develop lesser known guys and turn them into draft picks..
DA looks smart predicting this two days out. Nice post. Hope this doesn’t blow up the season. I for one hope Coach Schaf has a long future at Syracuse.
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