Scott Shafer Introduces New Assistants: The Beige Five

Scott Shafer officially introduced the new additions to the Syracuse Orange football staff Monday. They include offensive coordinator George McDonald, defensive coordinator Chuck Bullough, quarterback coach Tim Lester, running backs coach DeAndre Smith and linebackers coach Clark Lea. They all also seem to like wearing beige.

Remaining on the staff is wide receivers coach Rob Moore and defensive line coach Tim Daoust.

Shafer is allowed to hire two more coaches that will help fill in the remaining needs for a TE coach, OL coach, DB coach and Special Teams coach.

"The number one trait I was looking for was character," Shafer said. "Sometimes it's hard to really investigate that word. You can talk to people you know that have worked with people and sometimes you have to go that route. I feel like I'm extremely pleased and somewhat blessed to have prior work experience with our coordinators."

The big thing for guys like Smith is the unity and relationships that he already has with some of the coaches.

"Coach McDonald is one of my best friends in the world," Smith said. "I usually get calls when he’s making moves. It’s ironic that a couple of weeks ago it was the move to go to Arkansas. Then it was 4:30 in the morning and it was the move to come to Syracuse, and the next that came out of his mouth was ‘Hey, I need you here with me.’ Obviously, being close to Coach Shafer, it was a no-brainer for me."

McDonald said he would "go recruit Canada with a parka if Scott Shafer asked me to." Great line.

— Michael Cohen (@Michael_Cohen13) January 21, 2013

As for former LB coach Steve Morrison, Shafer said he was leaving the business for take care of family matters.

Monday was also the first time the team met with the new coaches.

"It was a sense of calm for those kids," he said. "They were happy just to see who these guys are."