Editor’s note: Syracuse football has six wins in its last 19 games. Facing the struggles of the present, The Daily Orange took a look back at some of hard times of the past in part four of this series.

Flurries of snow pelted the Yankee Stadium grass as Doug Marrone turned to the mass of Syracuse players behind him, his index finger in the air with the 2012 Pinstripe Bowl Trophy at his back.

Some players hoisted their helmets in the air while others donned their new championship hats. Running back Prince-Tyson Gulley raised his right hand to the sky with the MVP trophy at his side. Safety Ritchy Desir, mounted on a teammate’s shoulders, tipped his cap to the crowd. In a moment of bliss, everything was right for the Orange.

A second Pinstripe Bowl win in three years. SU defeating West Virginia, 38-14. Marrone sitting at the interview table postgame, expressing excitement to enter the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2013.

“I thought he was about to try to start a dynasty where he graduated from,” Gulley said Tuesday. “… And I thought that was the original goal.”

But Marrone bolted for the Buffalo Bills’ head coaching job, not telling any players and eventually taking seven Syracuse coaches with him. A team eight days removed from cementing a program turnaround was left searching for answers amid the shock.

Three remaining coaches – Scott Shafer, Rob Moore and Tim Daoust – scrambled to fill out a recruiting class that lost three verbal commits because of the coaching changes. Shafer was hired as head coach three days after Marrone left and delved into his past stops to patch together a staff for the offseason. And though a 2013 Texas Bowl win gave season one a passing grade, an era under Shafer that started with uncertainty still faces questions with Syracuse on a four-game losing streak.

“Everybody kind of thought that it was really going to be similar to what we were already doing,” Gulley said, “but then Coach Shafer switched it … which was a culture shock because obviously they don’t think anything like each other.”

On the morning of Jan. 6, 2013, the chaos began. Among those Syracuse players asleep when ESPN broke that Marrone was headed to Buffalo were center Macky MacPherson, guard Rob Trudo and linebacker Cameron Lynch. MacPherson found out via texts from friends and former coaches. Trudo from about 15 messages in a team group chat. Lynch from his mom.

Former SU safety Jeremi Wilkes, a junior in 2012, tweeted, “Ol boy dipped to the bills aint even shoot us a txt..damn.” Instead, within minutes of the Bills’ announcement that came around noon the next day, returning players and graduating seniors received a 403-word email written by Marrone mixed with apology, reflection and support.

“In terms of how the locker room felt, it was a lot of shock, a lot of disappointment I think,” MacPherson said Wednesday. “… Not at Coach Marrone or anyone involved in the move; I think it was just more understanding that there was going to be a change.”

But some weren’t as understanding. Former tackle Sean Hickey tweeted, “Everything changes. Everything. Have to redo everything that I have worked for the past three years….I’m not happy. #shocked” Former running back Jerome Smith chimed in with, “Loyalty is hard to find smh.”

Reports surfaced of Marrone interviewing with the Bills and Cleveland Browns just two days after the Pinstripe Bowl, but the move still blindsided players. Then, once the unexpected news passed, acknowledgment of reality set in.

“I think we kind of figured that Coach Marrone was going to bring some of the staff with him,” former fullback Clay Cleveland said Tuesday in an email.

That “some” became seven, starting with offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett on Jan. 8. One week later, Marrone reeled in running backs coach Tyrone Wheatley, offensive line coach Greg Adkins, secondary coach Donnie Henderson and defensive quality control coach Jason Rebrovich.

Two days after that, it was assistant head coach John Anselmo and director of strength and conditioning Hal Luther to leave for Buffalo. Linebackers coach Steve Morrison also left SU, but for “personal reasons.”

A staff that coached Syracuse to six wins in its final seven games was now a skeleton of itself, with foundations swept out from under players.

“Obviously, everybody within that running back room had their stories with Coach Wheatley about how they grew with him,” Gulley said. “Mine was pretty crazy because me and Coach Wheatley didn’t see eye-to-eye from day one … and then when he just left, it went deeper than football, it was like, ‘Dang.’”

“I can’t sit here and lie to you and say you know, ‘Oh it was simple to move on from a guy like Coach Adkins,’” MacPherson said, “ … who all of us on the offensive line would’ve run through a brick wall for.”

“Uh oh, Coach Marrone gone…Hope Coach Ad(kins) doesn’t leave…,” Trudo tweeted the morning of Jan. 6. “The two biggest reasons why I came to Syracuse.”

What remained was Shafer, with his wide receivers coach and defensive line coach. By Jan. 22, he almost had a whole staff, hiring coaches for the offense, defense, quarterbacks, running backs and linebackers. But the widespread change trickled into recruiting.

Texas quarterback Zach Allen flipped to TCU. Prized in-state running back Augustus Edwards decommitted and Florida linebacker/defensive end Malik Brown did the same. Syracuse, after losing its starting wide receivers and Allen, grabbed wideout Corey Cooper Jan. 27 and QB Mitch Kimble the next day. Neither are still with the program.

“Just looking back at it,” Shafer said, “it was a little bit of a flurry.”

Almost three years later, Syracuse needs to win three out of its final five games to avoid missing two straight postseasons. The 2012 team started 3-4, but finished 8-5. The 2015 team is 3-4, facing the same uphill battle.

Five coaches that came on after the mass exodus and nine current starters that were recruited by Marrone remain. They’re left to pick up the pieces of an era under fire by some, and an era started because of a coach who, just more than a week after facing his team with a finger to the sky, turned his back and left.

Published on October 28, 2015 at 10:01 pm

Contact Matt: [email protected] | @matt_schneidman