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Patriots Coach O'Brien in the Mix for 'Cuse O-Coordinator?
I'm hearing whispers among sources that current New England Patriots wide receivers coach Bill O'Brien is being considered by new Syracuse head coach Doug Marrone to be the school's offensive coordinator.
O'Brien served under then coach George O'Leary at Georgia Tech (along with Marrone) from 1995-2002 as an offensive assistant, and as offensive coordinator in his final two years with the Yellow Jackets. He then moved on to short stints at the University of Maryland (running backs coach) and Duke (offensive coordinator / qb's).
The ACC coaching veteran joined the New England Patriots prior to the 2007 season as an offensive assistant. He took on the role of receivers coach this year. He is a native of Andover, MA, having attended Brown University.
If the Bill O'Brien hiring comes to fruition, one can assume two things about Doug Marrone's new staff:
- He holds the George O'Leary coaching tree in high regard
- He values the northeast roots and exposure of his coaching staff (O'Brien - New England / Anselmo - Long Island)
CBS's Dennis Dodd Hates Syracuse
ESPN's Doug Gottlieb and Dick Vitale are used to drawing the ire of Syracuse fans during college basketball season. The Orange faithful may have another name to add to their "$h&t list," albeit for football, in Dennis Dodd. Dodd, a writer/blogger for CBS Sports claims that Syracuse made the worst hire of the year so far in Doug Marrone, amongst all the NCAA Division I-A football hirings (scroll down).
All you need to know about Dennis Dodd is that he considers the hiring of Gene Chizik (5-19 at Iowa State) by Auburn as a better hire than Marrone. WOW!! We're talking about Auburn; a program that could have gone out and hired pretty much anybody they wanted, but instead settled on Chizik.
As far as where I stand with Dodd aka D Squared aka DD, I'm going to keep my powder dry for now. I'll wait to see how next season shakes out for all these coaches he's ranked ahead of Marrone and kindly update him on the validity of his assessment then. But if anyone out there wants to express their own sentiments now, please do: http://www.sportsline.com/columns/writers/dodd.
Tuesday A.M. Links
- Meineke Car Care Bowl Opponents WVU and UNC can both theoretically have a shared beef with Ernie Davis bio pic "The Express"
- North Carolina fails to live up to their high standards for college football
Possibly the dumbest segment I've ever seen, but either way, it gives view of preparations for the St. Pete Bowl at the Trop:
Marrone's Staff Begins to Take Shape
Monday, December 15, 2008
Less than 36 hours after being hired as head football coach at Syracuse University, Doug Marrone has been relieved of his duties with the New Orleans Saints, taken and passed his NCAA recruiting exam, and has officially hired his first coaching assistant. Newsday.com reports that Nassau Community College head coach John Anselmo has been hired to lead Syracuse's secondary. The report goes on to note that Anselmo is currently on his way to Syracuse to concecrate the hiring.
Anselmo is a throwback to Marrone's days on staff at Georgia Tech, where he coached outside linebackers. The veteran community college head coach has tremendous reach in the world of high school football networking in the state of New York and will be relied upon to attract talent for the Orange on Long Island. In-state recruiting is something Marrone desperately needs as he must act quickly in formulating the best recruiting class possible in a short period of time. Anselmo managed to lead his team to 6-4 record this year.
Marrone, will of course continue to form his staff; an important first step to rebuilding a once proud program that has now fallen on hard times. He is widely expected to retain linebackers coach and Syracuse alum Dan Conley. Other speculated staff members include New Orleans Defensive Line Coach Ed Orgeron for Defensive Coordinator, and former Auburn Offensive Coordinator Al Borges as Offensive Coordinator.
Photo Courtesy of Bill Yelverton (C-Club Weblog)
Links; Are We Starting to See a Pattern?
More from B Squared on ESPN's Big East Blog:
And:
- New Jersey will undertake a full audit of the RU Athletics Department (yikes!)
- What has Brown done for UCONN? I guess not enough; he's coming back
- Brian Kelly is looking for room on his mantle for all his "Coach of the Year" awards
And finally; a breakdown of the St. Pete Bowl by ESPN's Todd McShay:
ESPN Big East Blog Links
Here's the latest from Brian Bennett (aka B squared) over at ESPN:
And a breakdown of West Virginia's match-up with UNC for the Meineke Car Care Bowl: