Twelve months can change a lot of things and Syracuse football coach Scott Shafer found this out in a big way.   At the end of his first season as the Orange head coach, Shafer was celebrating a Texas Bowl Championship.  One year later, he is answering questions about what went wrong with his team that went 3-9.
Though football does not quite compare to basketball in terms of popularity, Syracuse fans have certain expectations for their football team.  Last season just did not cut it for the Orange faithful.
Not only did the Orange struggle to win games, most of their games were quite frankly, boring.  With the exception of the games against Central Michigan and Wake Forest, the Orange offense was stagnant at best.
The defense played at a very high level and the offense just could not keep up.  The result was an incredibly disappointing season.  Looking towards 2015-16, it is clear changes need to be made. The Orange will have Terrel Hunt back under center and his experience, coupled with a strong recruiting class put more pressure on Shafer.
This is not a team that is going to go out and win every game.  Hunt is not a dominant quarterback who will pick apart defenses.  However, the Orange have enough pieces that there is no reason to think that they should not be threatening for a spot in a bowl game, as Orange fans had become accustomed to.
This season, much of the pressure is on Scott Shafer.  The 2015-16 campaign will be one where people can make a judgment on him as a head coach.  Right now, it is hard to tell if Shafer is the coach who led the Orange to a bowl victory over an historic Big Ten program in Minnesota, or the coach who led the Orange to an abysmal 3-9 season that provided very few exciting moments.
The Orange may not play their first game for over six months, but football season is just around the corner and the pressure is squarely on Scott Shafer’s shoulders.
Posted:  Logan Grossman
4 responses to “2015-16 Season is Crucial for Syracuse and Shafer”
I guess we doidn’t learn a damn thing years ago when we fired Coach Pasqualoni. We listened to and read articles written condemning the program from people like you. Syracuse Football is in the predictament now because of the media writing foolish articles and have no one to blame but themselves for the hiring of Nancy Cantor who hired Daryl Gross.
The above article is nothing but foolishness written by a reported whos’ still in diapers and knows nothing about the coach’s job and what it takes to run a division 1 program.
I would expect an article like this to be written after his fourth year,not after him completeing his second year as a head coach. The team has put together and recruited a nice team that has some great players coming to the hill in 2015. lewt’s give the coaching staff and the kids a chance to prove themselves here. Let’s revisit Coach Shafers accomplishments or failures after his 4th year as head coach of the Orangemen.
I did’t read anything as “condemning the program” or Coach Shafer. Seemed like the writer was saying that there has been one good season and one disappointing season so far. This season, the team will have (mostly) Shafer recruits, so year-end won’t be a bad time to begin to evaluate. You think that the evaluation should wait for another year after that, which means this article (in your mind) is a year too early. Fair enough, but the idea that people will begin to form opinions after his third year doesn’t seem too outlandish.
I think 2015 IS make or break for Shafer. Having been here as DC and succeeding Marrone as HC, he knows the ropes. This aint his first rodeo under the bigtop dome. The MOST telling make/break indicator was his anointing of Lester as OC. He was right to demote McDonald. But Lester should/could have been an interim OC. Instead Shafer named Lester OC and put all his eggs in Lester’s basket. Shafer either saw/knows something or made a terrible mistake. And we’re going to know by week 7..right or wrong.
There is adequate talent to get to a bowl. Shafer and co. have to put the right players in the right places. It’s either a post season bowl or adios hard nose.
I’m looking ahead a little to the upcoming season and I really have some concerns as to how the team will do. One major concern is that after getting injured and setting out last season,Shafer has given the nod to Terrell Hunt as the starting QB for 2015. I just don’t/can’t understand the move. How will he develope AJ Long and Austin Wilson? Will they get some playing time in any of the non-league games?
All of the players that I’ve talked to said that Coach Lester has changed the offense and will be using the tight ends more in the games. I guess as the old saying goes”OLD IS NEW” kind of indicates to me that Syracuse is going back to the basics and getting away from a pro style offense and returning to what they use to do successfully.