EXPLOSIONS!
GOOFY PUNS!
SWEATY DOUG MARRONE!
You could learn a thing or two from the New York Daily News, Syracuse Post-Standard. This is how you move product.
Seriously though...the fireball over to the left there....WHAT?!?!?!?
The photo is from Rich Cimini's article on new Orange coach Doug Marrone and the Herculean task in front of him.
Four months after being hired to resurrect the school's once-proud football program, Marrone still is settling into his new digs. There hasn't been much time for interior decorating, not with a hectic schedule that began with one month on the road, recruiting. After that, he started barnstorming, traveling the Northeast in an ambassador-like role. The goal is to make Syracuse relevant again.
It's a long article and a must-read, tracing Marrone's roots back to the Bronx and walking the road he took to get here. Couple money quotes in here, the first of which is a bit of open conversation...FINALLY...about the problems that arose during the Greg Robinson Era:
No one will say it publicly, but the team got soft under Robinson, a Pete Carroll disciple whose rah-rah style never clicked in blue-collar Syracuse. Robinson didn't believe in weight-room testing ("That's crazy," Moore says incredulously) and his conditioning program lacked bite, according to William Hicks, the assistant athletic director for athletic performance.
"Now we've got our teeth back again," says Hicks, suggesting that Robinson didn't empower the weight-room staff to impose discipline.
Well, he wasn't a Carroll disciple really, they were more like former co-workers. But Greg certainly tried, and failed, to bring a little West Coast to Upstate New York.
Finally, the money quote from Marrone himself:
"My stakes are higher than anybody else's. I cannot fail."
In Doug We Trust.
Photo: New York Daily News