Syracuse fans have spent every moment since the final whistle of Syracuse's debacle in Minnesota debating Doug Marrone's status on the team. Heck, the whole TNIAAM crew got together to podcast this out and sort through this mess. But then, on my high horse talking about Doug Marrone, one of my buddies said "They should just fire Nate Hackett now."
Mind. Blown.
Doug Marrone is obviously taking a lot of heat here but isn't it more likely that after a three or four win finish, with heavy media pressure and DOCTOR Gross looking over his shoulder, Marrone lets someone go? I doubt we'd have a Pasqualoni mess and it makes so much more sense. So with the question of "who would take the fall on the sword of Syracuse football?" I think it's a great time to break down the candidates.
Nate Hackett:
The obvious and most glaring choice is Mr. Hackett. Mr. "Let's run our big back on a sweep on the goal line," or Mr. "I have a high flying offense I'm going to slow down against Stony Brook." I've never been a fan of the guy and I've had a few conversations pre-game and during SU games with disgruntled Jets fans who hated his father and think he inherited the bad coaching. It would make most sense in my small mind that Hackett goes bye bye and Marrone takes over the offense leaving special teams to someone else.
Probability: 85%
Scott Shafer:
Nope. Too dang good of a recruiter to let go of even if the defense isn't getting the job done.
Probability: 0%
Any number of the positional coaches:
This again is looking pretty slim. John Anselmo, Donnie Henderson, Rob Moore, and Greg Adkins are all great recruiters and have not done anything to warrant a firing. From speaking with players about their recruitment, a huge draw to the SU coaching staff is the number of former professionals. That echoes with players who want to play on Sundays. Although, in baseball, it's always the hitting coach that goes first.
Probability: 5%
So this relatively objective post turned into a dump on Nate Hackett fest. Alright let's mix it up. TNIAAM community, if and when does Hackett take the fall?