Alum Marrone named coach at Syracuse
Greg Robinson learned to bleed Orange. New Syracuse coach Doug Marrone already has that part down. "When I went into coaching, I always prepared myself for this," the Bronx-born Marrone said yesterday after being hired to replace Robinson as football coach. "This has been the job I have always wanted."
Greg Robinson learned to bleed Orange. New Syracuse coach Doug Marrone already has that part down.
"When I went into coaching, I always prepared myself for this," the Bronx-born Marrone said yesterday after being hired to replace Robinson as football coach. "This has been the job I have always wanted."
The offensive coordinator for the New Orleans Saints since 2006, Marrone is returning to the school where he played to try to resurrect a program that hasn't had a winning season since 2001. Robinson was fired in November after going 10-37 in four seasons.
"Not a lot of times in your life can you actually accomplish your dream," said Marrone, a 3-year letterman at Syracuse under former coach Dick MacPherson in the mid-1980s. "Today is the greatest day of my life. This is my school and these are my people. You're going to be proud, and we're going to win football games."
Terms of Marrone's contract were not revealed. Robinson had 1 year left on a deal that paid $1.1 million per season.
Noteworthy
* Army coach Stan Brock was fired, 6 days after the Black Knights were soundly beaten by archrival Navy at Lincoln Financial Field, 34-0. The season included a 30-3 drubbing from Rutgers.
Brock was 6-18 record in 2 years, going 3-9 each season.
* Rutgers University will continue with a scaled-back expansion of its football stadium, but will have to borrow the entire amount of the project after private fundraising efforts fell flat. The overall price of the stadium expansion is to remain at the $102 million previously approved. But with higher cost estimates than expected, the school decided to scale back plans.
* The University of North Dakota is giving football coach Chris Mussman a 2-year contract extension through the 2012 season.
* Bowling Green hired former Tennessee offensive coordinator Dave Clawson as its head coach. He and other Tennessee assistants were not retained when new Lane Kiffin was hired as head coach.
* Texas defensive coordinator Will Muschamp, whose name has been mentioned for the Auburn vacancy, insists he's staying with the Longhorns and hasn't interviewed for any other jobs. Muschamp recently was tagged as coach Mack Brown's eventual replacement at Texas.
Muschamp was the defensive coordinator at Auburn in 2007. Tommy Tuberville stepped down last week after 10 seasons as Auburn coach.
Iowa State coach Gene Chizik also is in the running for the Auburn job, Cyclones athletic director Jamie Pollard said. Chizik was the Tigers defensive coordinator from 2002-04.
In a game last night:
* At James Madison, Cole Bergquist threw three touchdown passes and Montana (14-1) beat the Dukes (12-2), 35-27, in a Division I-AA semifinal. *