Doug Marrone tries to reconnect with Syracuse fans
Published: May 19, 2009
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Linda Morgan / Staff Photographer Doug Marrone throws out the first pitch at PNC Field on Monday.
MOOSIC - In throwing out the first pitch at Monday's Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees game, Syracuse football coach Doug Marrone also made his pitch to Northeastern Pennsylvania.
"I'm just basically going around and reaching out to former alumni and fans," Marrone said. "Trying to reestablish the foundations from when we were going to Bowl games and winning football games, in the areas where people supported the team."
Hired in December, Marrone was a offensive linemen with the Orangemen in 1985 when they began a stretch of seven bowl berths in eight years. The Orangemen went 19-15 in Marrone's three years as a starter and he was drafted into the NFL in 1986, a year before Syracuse went undefeated to earn a trip to the Sugar Bowl.
He has been the offensive coordinator with the New Orleans Saints since 2006, and has come back to a Syracuse program that hasn't had winning record since 2001.
In the past three weeks, Marrone has been from Boston to Binghamton to Buffalo, making stops at other minor league baseball games and various speaking engagements, trying to reconnect with fans who remember the better days of the Syracuse program.
He's trusting that some of those fans live right here in the Scranton area.
"This was a big area when I played," Marrone said. "We had a couple of players from the Scranton area, including Fred DeRiggi (West Scranton). And obviously in the other sports at Syracuse we've had great success with Gerry McNamara and the people in this area have always come up to support the players and the program. It's basically getting out around the people who have close ties to the area."
NCAA rules prohibit Marrone from actively recruiting players at this time, but he said his assistants are active in recruitment and have been looking at players in Northeastern Pennsylvania.
"We've been out in this area quite a bit since I've taken over the job," he said. "This is an area that we've focused on. It's always been a good area, a lot of good high school football coaches in this area."
As he begins to rebuild the program, Marrone is also looking to reestablish the foundation that made Syracuse successful in another decade.
"It's going well, I'm excited about it," he said. "I've been on the road quite a bit going around doing a lot of speaking engagements trying to get people back involved in the program."
Contact the writer: cjennings@timesshamrock.com
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