Baseball Guru
11-18-2004, 08:26 PM
http://www.syracuse.com/orangefootball/poststandard/index.ssf?/base/sports-1/110078655135680.xml
Thursday, November 18, 2004
By Donnie Webb
Staff writer
Paul Pasqualoni's security blanket was ripped off on Wednesday with the announcement that athletic director Jake Crouthamel is retiring at the end of the school year.
Syracuse University Chancellor Nancy Cantor said Wednesday that the school is seeking to hire a replacement "ASAP" for Crouthamel, who hired Pasqualoni in 1991 and has been one of the coach's biggest champions.
Following Crouthamel's news conference on Wednesday, Pasqualoni said he and the athletic director had not discussed whether he will be retained after the 2004 season. He acknowledged that a change of athletic directors could mean a change of football coaches.
"I think, you know, I think there's always, certainly, always that possibility," Pasqualoni said. "But at the same time, I think the university will hire the best person available for this job. I'm sure that person will very objectively evaluate what's going on. Hey, that's that."
Crouthamel made it clear that as long as the decision about Pasqualoni falls on his watch as athletic director, he'll make a recommendation to Cantor, who will make the final decision.
He still plans to evaluate Pasqualoni sometime following the team's regular-season finale at Boston College on Nov. 27. However, he said if a new athletic director is put in place quickly, his successor will make the call.
Joseph Lampe, chair emeritus of the school's board of trustees, said he does not believe Crouthamel or Cantor have made up their minds about Pasqualoni.
Lampe also said he believes Pasqualoni will not survive another season at Syracuse, especially with a new athletic director almost certainly wanting to bring in his or her own head football coach.
Lampe, who attended the football team's loss at Temple on Saturday, said he suspects Pasqualoni is about to coach his
final game.
"Do I know? The answer is no," said Lampe, who said Pasqualoni has one year left on his contract. "Do I believe it will happen? Yes. A lot of people would like to see it happening. My only gut reaction is they're pounding poor Paul. It's a shame. Paul is a terrific human being."
Pasqualoni is completing his 14th season as Syracuse head football coach. His overall record is 106-58-1. Since 1999, the Orange is 31-27. Over the last three seasons, the team is 15-19.
A loss to Boston College will give Syracuse its second losing record in three seasons. A victory would make Syracuse eligible for a bowl. And, should Pittsburgh upset West Virginia, the Orange might still win a share of the Big East Conference title.
This year's team is 5-5 and coming off a 34-24 upset loss at Temple, a team that has won three games in two seasons.
Cantor, Crouthamel and SU senior vice president Louis Marcoccia made the decision to announce Crouthamel's retirement on Monday, two days after the loss to Temple.
"Any time during this past year we could have had an announcement," Marcoccia said. "It was just decided that this was the right time."
In the midst of toasting Crouthamel, Cantor acknowledged that another issue hovered over the event, even though no SU official mentioned Pasqualoni by name during the news conference.
"Now I know the future of the football program is very much on all of your minds," said Cantor. "I want to reiterate, as Jake outlined at the end of last football season, that he will closely review the program's progress at the conclusion of this season. Following the Boston College game, Jake will make a recommendation to me about how he believes we should go forward."
Asked after the news conference if this was a prelude to a coaching change, Cantor said: "You heard what we had to say."
The national letter-of-intent signing day for high school seniors and junior-college players is Feb. 2, 2005. That's a date schools typically work backward from when there's a turnover in head football coaches. The quicker new coaches can be hired, the sooner they can pick up the pieces with recruiting.
Whether the Orange can pull off getting a new athletic director and changing head coaches with time to spare before Feb. 2 remains to be seen. One Syracuse official pointed out that a lot of coaching candidates will be working through bowl games or into the second half of the NFL season.
Lampe said that if Syracuse changes coaches, the school will have to open up its bank account and pay today's rates. Lampe said there's no way SU will ever be able to pay coaches like LSU's Nick Saban, who earns $3 million a year. On the other hand, he said paying for big-ticket coaches usually translates into higher ticket prices.
Pasqualoni, who earned $412,881 for the fiscal year ending in June and $724,364 the year before, said he felt no more pressure now than ever. He said it would be great to give Crouthamel a going-away present with a victory at Boston College, and added that he has put no thought into his own future beyond the next game.
"I was late coming to the press conference because I'm trying to figure out what BC's doing over there," Pasqualoni said. "Our focus is going to be on BC, going up there and playing a good game, trying to finish the season with a winning season, see what happens, you know, see what happens with the bowl thing, see what happens with the whole picture, the post-season evaluation we have every year. So we do that, that's expected, and we'll just see what happens next week, two weeks."
Thursday, November 18, 2004
By Donnie Webb
Staff writer
Paul Pasqualoni's security blanket was ripped off on Wednesday with the announcement that athletic director Jake Crouthamel is retiring at the end of the school year.
Syracuse University Chancellor Nancy Cantor said Wednesday that the school is seeking to hire a replacement "ASAP" for Crouthamel, who hired Pasqualoni in 1991 and has been one of the coach's biggest champions.
Following Crouthamel's news conference on Wednesday, Pasqualoni said he and the athletic director had not discussed whether he will be retained after the 2004 season. He acknowledged that a change of athletic directors could mean a change of football coaches.
"I think, you know, I think there's always, certainly, always that possibility," Pasqualoni said. "But at the same time, I think the university will hire the best person available for this job. I'm sure that person will very objectively evaluate what's going on. Hey, that's that."
Crouthamel made it clear that as long as the decision about Pasqualoni falls on his watch as athletic director, he'll make a recommendation to Cantor, who will make the final decision.
He still plans to evaluate Pasqualoni sometime following the team's regular-season finale at Boston College on Nov. 27. However, he said if a new athletic director is put in place quickly, his successor will make the call.
Joseph Lampe, chair emeritus of the school's board of trustees, said he does not believe Crouthamel or Cantor have made up their minds about Pasqualoni.
Lampe also said he believes Pasqualoni will not survive another season at Syracuse, especially with a new athletic director almost certainly wanting to bring in his or her own head football coach.
Lampe, who attended the football team's loss at Temple on Saturday, said he suspects Pasqualoni is about to coach his
final game.
"Do I know? The answer is no," said Lampe, who said Pasqualoni has one year left on his contract. "Do I believe it will happen? Yes. A lot of people would like to see it happening. My only gut reaction is they're pounding poor Paul. It's a shame. Paul is a terrific human being."
Pasqualoni is completing his 14th season as Syracuse head football coach. His overall record is 106-58-1. Since 1999, the Orange is 31-27. Over the last three seasons, the team is 15-19.
A loss to Boston College will give Syracuse its second losing record in three seasons. A victory would make Syracuse eligible for a bowl. And, should Pittsburgh upset West Virginia, the Orange might still win a share of the Big East Conference title.
This year's team is 5-5 and coming off a 34-24 upset loss at Temple, a team that has won three games in two seasons.
Cantor, Crouthamel and SU senior vice president Louis Marcoccia made the decision to announce Crouthamel's retirement on Monday, two days after the loss to Temple.
"Any time during this past year we could have had an announcement," Marcoccia said. "It was just decided that this was the right time."
In the midst of toasting Crouthamel, Cantor acknowledged that another issue hovered over the event, even though no SU official mentioned Pasqualoni by name during the news conference.
"Now I know the future of the football program is very much on all of your minds," said Cantor. "I want to reiterate, as Jake outlined at the end of last football season, that he will closely review the program's progress at the conclusion of this season. Following the Boston College game, Jake will make a recommendation to me about how he believes we should go forward."
Asked after the news conference if this was a prelude to a coaching change, Cantor said: "You heard what we had to say."
The national letter-of-intent signing day for high school seniors and junior-college players is Feb. 2, 2005. That's a date schools typically work backward from when there's a turnover in head football coaches. The quicker new coaches can be hired, the sooner they can pick up the pieces with recruiting.
Whether the Orange can pull off getting a new athletic director and changing head coaches with time to spare before Feb. 2 remains to be seen. One Syracuse official pointed out that a lot of coaching candidates will be working through bowl games or into the second half of the NFL season.
Lampe said that if Syracuse changes coaches, the school will have to open up its bank account and pay today's rates. Lampe said there's no way SU will ever be able to pay coaches like LSU's Nick Saban, who earns $3 million a year. On the other hand, he said paying for big-ticket coaches usually translates into higher ticket prices.
Pasqualoni, who earned $412,881 for the fiscal year ending in June and $724,364 the year before, said he felt no more pressure now than ever. He said it would be great to give Crouthamel a going-away present with a victory at Boston College, and added that he has put no thought into his own future beyond the next game.
"I was late coming to the press conference because I'm trying to figure out what BC's doing over there," Pasqualoni said. "Our focus is going to be on BC, going up there and playing a good game, trying to finish the season with a winning season, see what happens, you know, see what happens with the bowl thing, see what happens with the whole picture, the post-season evaluation we have every year. So we do that, that's expected, and we'll just see what happens next week, two weeks."