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Report: Marrone Bringing Wheatley, Boeheim, Desko, Gait, Ross With Him to Bills

Orchard Park (AP) - New Buffalo Bills head coach Doug Marrone announced he is bringing in more people he worked with at Syracuse University to work for him as assistant coaches.

Former Oakland Raider and New York Giant Tyrone Wheatley will coach running backs with the Bills. He held that same position with the Syracuse University football team, where he was credited with the development of running backs Jerome Smith, who ran for 1,171 yards last season and Prince-Tyson Gulley, who was named the MVP of the Pinstripe Bowl.

Also joining the Bills is Syracuse men's basketball head coach Jim Boeheim. Marrone explained that Boeheim will work as a special assistant coach. "Jim will be in charge of yelling at officials when calls don't go our way," explained Marrone. "He will also sneer, glare and frown at players when they don't play well. Jim's the best at throwing his arms up in the air in exasperation. He'll be a big help for me because I'm incapable of showing emotion." When asked by a reporter why he would leave college basketball, where he is second all time in men's NCAA Division I and coached the seventh-ranked Orange, Boeheim retorted, "You don't know your business!" After calming down, Boeheim explained that the idea of cutting players who didn't do what they needed to remain eligible and replacing them with street free agents appealed to him.

Former Syracuse men's lacrosse coach John Desko will be the Bills wide receivers coach. The notoriously hard working Desko has already started training his players, according to Bills receivers Stevie Johnson and Donald Jones. "Coach Desko has some unique ideas on training. He's having us start at the 10 yard line. Then we have twenty seconds to run to midfield. Then we have another 10 seconds to run to the 30 yard line. It's unusual, but he must know what he's doing. He comes from a program that's won ten national championships." "Actually," Jones corrected, "I think it's eleven."

Coaching defensive backs will be former Syracuse women's lacrosse coach Gary Gait. "He has experience in quickly turning around a program, so that's why I'm bringing him in," explained Marrone. "He also has a lot of great ideas, although I'm not crazy about his plans to have the defensive backs wear skirts and not touch offensive players when they have the ball." When asked why he would leave the Orange program, which played in the national championship game last year, Gait explained, "Sitting through a meaningless, late December Bills-Jets game can't be any worse than another Northwestern lacrosse game."

Also joining the Bills will be former Syracuse softball coach Leigh Ross, who will coach special teams. "I always wanted to work with Jennifer Aniston," explained Marrone. "She was my favorite Friend. I also loved her in The Good Girl. But she wasn't available, so I got the next best thing.

Wheatley, Boeheim, Desko, Gait and Ross join former Syracuse football offensive co-ordinator Nate Hackett as well as former New York Jets defensive co-ordinator Mike Pettine, whom Marrone retroactively hired as a Syracuse coach.