Coach Pasq - lets get real

[Nors]

I read here tonight he was the worst coach since Gerry Faust. thats wrong!
Was he a coach to take a program to a National Championship? No - but when last did that school do so? Is he the worst coach ever? Nope. I'm with Parcells on this one.

107-59-1 .645 winning %
6-3 bowl record



Paul Pasqualoni joins the Cowboys staff after a 14-year stint as the head coach at Syracuse University. His specific coaching responsibilities with the Dallas staff will be announced at a later time.

As the head coach at Syracuse from 1991 to 2004, Pasqualoni compiled an overall record of 107-59-1 for a .645 winning percentage. His teams had a 6-3 record in nine bowl games, while seven of his clubs finished the season ranked in the Top 25. Pasqualoni's most successful Syracuse season came in 1992 when the Orangemen closed the regular season with a 9-2 record and then defeated Colorado in the Fiesta Bowl to finish No. 6 in the final A.P. poll.

Under Pasqualoni's tutelage, the Orangemen sent future Pro Bowl players such as Olindo Mare, Marvin Harrison, Donovan McNabb and Dwight Freeney to the NFL.

Prior to taking over as head coach at Syracuse in 1991, Pasqualoni was the school's linebackers coach from 1987 to 1990. He was the head coach at Western Connecticut State from 1982-86, compiling a 34-17 record.

A 1972 graduate of Penn State, where he lettered as a linebacker, Pasqualoni (8/16/49) began his coaching career as an assistant at his alma mater Cheshire High School (1972-76) in Connecticut. He then moved on to Southern Connecticut State, where he was the linebackers coach (1976-79) and defensive coordinator (1980-81).

[Roughneck]

That's some good stuff.

[NorthDalal]

As a Syracuse OrangeMAN I've followed his career closely.

He was a very good head coach for the first 1/2 of his time at the 'Cuse and a very solid individual with an extremely high graduation rate(one year all scholarship FB players completed their degree, a pretty amazing stat). His teams degraded as his staff lost their recruiting touch after the graduation of Donovan McNabb.6 straight bowls and 2 BCS appearances in the 90's was a pretty good showing.

He was a defensive specialist as an assistant and after sending Dwight Freeney, Donovan Darius, Tebucky Jones and Keith Bullock to the NFL his teams have had an enviable record of developing defensive stars to go with the Marvin Harrison,Kevin Johnson, Donovan McNabb group.

I favored his replacement, recruiting has been awful since 2000.

[Eddie]

As a Syracuse OrangeMAN I've followed his career closely.

I favored his replacement, recruiting has been awful since 2000.

His coaching has been less than pleasant as well. I don't know why we brought this guy here.

[adbutcher]

His coaching has been less than pleasant as well. I don't know why we brought this guy here.
Care to offer proof? Your all encompassing blanket statement really doesn't accomplish much, imo.

[Eddie]

Care to offer proof? Your all encompassing blanket statement really doesn't accomplish much, imo.

Holy smokes!!! You want proof? How about you go to the SU archives, watch every single game Paul P coached ... and then come back and tell me if I'm wrong???

The list of playcalling disasters by Paul P is about a mile long. Take your pick.

My all encompassing blanket statement summarizes this losers coaching career. Take it or leave it.

If you want more proof, go to Syracuse, NY and ask any SU fan you meet on the street. You'll have your proof.

[Rush 2112]

Who calls the plays in Dallas?

[Eddie]

Who calls the plays in Dallas?

Hopefully, never Paul P.

[TwentyOne]

So what i did understand is:

A) he is a defence specialist
b) he is a very good (assistant) coach
c) he is a not so good head coach


Some people are not made to be Head Coaches. To manage "something" always needs other skills then to be a specialist and care about one certain area. How i understand it Pasq is much more a person for DC or D-assitsent and develope players then to manage a football club.

That talent declined after 2000 doesn't have to be his fault. Was he involved in the scouting process or in the decissions? If he was and - what i think is the most important part - he had the last word in decission making - then that makes me a bit nervous. But if not then from what i have read i am happy to have him around.

Maybe with Pasq it's the same like with other coaches (Campo, and now Bill). If your team starts to lose or things doesn't work out we would love to have them worked out people always tend to find ONE responsible person. IMO there are often different reasons. Maybe:

1) Because it's the easiest way to bring their team back to the top if only ONE is guilty for the failure. Makes teh rebuilding process very easy ;) Of course this is because they lack insight and of course they lack power to change things. That is very frustrating when you love your team and it hurts to see them lose games.
2) You always "hated" this guy and for reasons only you know. And this situation (your team plays bad) it is easy to run him out of town.
3) .......

[Yakuza Rich]

I’m not sure where the proof is in Pasqualoni being a good assistant coach. Syracuse went undefeated in 1987 which was Pasqualoni’s first year as D-Coordinator.

However, the Syracuse record slipped a little bit from 1988-1990 and I remember reading about in high school that they were taking a serious look at why the defense was struggling, especially at blitzing the QB.

The head coach at the time, Dick MacPherson, claimed that they were very close to figuring out the problem with the blitz, then he went onto coach the Pats in 1991 and the problem really never got resolved.

In fact, Pasqualoni’s defenses were never very good in rushing the QB, tackling, and forcing turnovers. Sounds similar to another team’s defense that plenty of us gripe about every day on these very boards. :rolleyes:

Anyway, Pasqualoni’s best seasons were his first two in 1991 & 1992, going 20-4. That was also with players that MacPherson recruited and more importantly, coached.

From 1993-1994 his record slipped quite a bit, even with players that were really coach Mac players, going 13-8-1. Not to mention he was doing this in the Big East a conference that had two teams that didn’t even belong in the D-I ball at the time, Temple and Rutgers. Plus Pittsburgh and Boston College were atrocious during this time. In reality, there was the powerful Miami and the inconsistent West Virginia as their main contenders during this period.

In 1995, he lucked out on McNabb who was a highly rated QB out of high school, but other schools thought he was too much of a scrambling QB and they wanted a pocket passer. McNabb wound up being one of the best and most electrifying QB’s in college football HISTORY and was also a guy that really helped the recruiting process. I’m not going to go through all of the talent that Syracuse had because I don’t have all day. Needless to say, they were STACKED in talent from 1995-1998 and they wound up going 35-14.

HOWEVER, during this time Miami was on the decline due to NCAA violations and they never came close to competing for a National Championship, despite playing in the weak Big East conference.

McNabb wound up going to the pros and Syracuse went 13-10 again when Pasqualoni didn’t have one of the all time great QB’s at the helm. And did I mention that the Big East is a weak conference?

Anyway, in 2001 the Orangemen bounced back going 10-3. However, 2 of those losses were games pretty much lost by Pasqualoni and the success behind the team was 2 factors……the weak Big East conference…..and Dwight Freeney who was the closest thing I’ve seen to a Lawrence Taylor type factor since LT retired. He was literally unblockable and 10 x’s the force that he is now in the NFL. No exagerration.

Once Freeney left for the pros that year, Syracuse went 16-20 from 2002-2004.

I could go on about other things too, like coaching decisions, players that looked poorly coached, and the fact that the punting team had FIVE PUNTS BLOCKED this past season as well.

But, the fact is he was a very overrated and IMHO, a poor coach, who often lucked out by playing in a terrible conference, inheriting great talent from another coach, then stumbling upon one of the greatest QB’s and one of the greatest defensive players to have ever played in college.

In no form or fashion did Pasqualoni EVER show me that he was a good assistant coach in any aspect of the game…..be it defense, offense or special teams. His teams routinely struggled with the fundamentals of blocking, tackling, throwing, and catching.

His record really doesn’t tell the entire story.

Rich……………………
Pasqualoni only defeated ONE top 10 team in his 14 years of coaching at Syracuse. He had a below .500 record against top 25 teams. Enough said.

[Redball Express]

So what i did understand is:

A) he is a defence specialist
b) he is a very good (assistant) coach
c) he is a not so good head coach


Some people are not made to be Head Coaches. To manage "something" always needs other skills then to be a specialist and care about one certain area. How i understand it Pasq is much more a person for DC or D-assitsent and develope players then to manage a football club.

That talent declined after 2000 doesn't have to be his fault. Was he involved in the scouting process or in the decissions? If he was and - what i think is the most important part - he had the last word in decission making - then that makes me a bit nervous. But if not then from what i have read i am happy to have him around.

Maybe with Pasq it's the same like with other coaches (Campo, and now Bill). If your team starts to lose or things doesn't work out we would love to have them worked out people always tend to find ONE responsible person. IMO there are often different reasons. Maybe:

1) Because it's the easiest way to bring their team back to the top if only ONE is guilty for the failure. Makes teh rebuilding process very easy ;) Of course this is because they lack insight and of course they lack power to change things. That is very frustrating when you love your team and it hurts to see them lose games.
2) You always "hated" this guy and for reasons only you know. And this situation (your team plays bad) it is easy to run him out of town.
3) .......

I'm inclined to agree with most of what you say.

Things change. Just like at Notre Dame, UF, UM and dozens of universities around the country.

Gone are the days where a HC is going to stay in his job for decades. The pressure to win at the college level is almost as intense as the pro level. So coaches come in, they get some recruiting initially, they build their programs and they win and try to sustain.

But it finally runs it's course. I think that you always have to consider the quality of the assistant coaches and how they work together as the baseline for success in any football program..pro or college.

Our great years of the 90's were punctuated with excellent assistant coaches under Jimma and when they left, on by one, our team suffered greatly and never has brought in the good assistant coaches coveted by other teams to replace them.

I realize that many here think that the NFL is strictly a talent-driven machine. it is to a point, but more and more I think we see that it is actually talent in coaching that makes the top teams what they are. Without the better HC. assistant coaches and assistant position coaches to get it done, the money is wasted on the talent and things fall apart.

So I'm glad the team is finally addressing the coaching issues that have dogged us for almost a decade.

In seeing Parcells hire a former HC like this for an underdetermined as yet job..it makes me believe that Parcells has a special role he wants to groom him for and whatever it is..it will be Ok as Parcells needs his 'guys' to get the job done in Dallas.

Much as the HC's before him, he's had to endure using coaches that Jerry Jones hired at least on defense and special teams and it's time as we all see, for Parcells to complete the shopping so he can cook the meal.

Later.

:strongarm:

ParcellsWaterBoy

[dbair1967]

I never really understood why so many went off the deepend with this anyway...the guy was hired as a position coach...he isnt running the team, the offense or the defense...so what if he didnt win 10 games a yr as a head coach in college

David

[Yakuza Rich]

I never really understood why so many went off the deepend with this anyway...the guy was hired as a position coach...he isnt running the team, the offense or the defense...so what if he didnt win 10 games a yr as a head coach in college

David

My fear is that he'll somehow move up the ranks. Starts as a position coach, the next thing you know he's the special teams coodinator (I literally cringe at that), then he becomes the D-Coordinator.

Not only that, but he's just never shown me players that looked like they were well coached, especially in the fundamentals of football. So if he were to coach DE's, a very important position for us in the next few years, what's to say that he won't screw that up?

The positives about this is that we have Parcells, who spends a lot of time coaching each position and I think he'll wind up getting a HC job next year in college.

It's not the end of the world by any means, but I'd rather not go anywhere near the Paul Pasqualoni experience again.


Rich.............

[djmajestik]

He is 100% correct in his blanket statement. I am near Syracuse, NY and my buddy follows them religiously.

It would take a long post to give you the PROOF you need, or like he said, just watch the games.

Holy smokes!!! You want proof? How about you go to the SU archives, watch every single game Paul P coached ... and then come back and tell me if I'm wrong???

The list of playcalling disasters by Paul P is about a mile long. Take your pick.

My all encompassing blanket statement summarizes this losers coaching career. Take it or leave it.

If you want more proof, go to Syracuse, NY and ask any SU fan you meet on the street. You'll have your proof.

[Sarge]

I’m not sure where the proof is in Pasqualoni being a good assistant coach. Syracuse went undefeated in 1987 which was Pasqualoni’s first year as D-Coordinator.

However, the Syracuse record slipped a little bit from 1988-1990 and I remember reading about in high school that they were taking a serious look at why the defense was struggling, especially at blitzing the QB.

The head coach at the time, Dick MacPherson, claimed that they were very close to figuring out the problem with the blitz, then he went onto coach the Pats in 1991 and the problem really never got resolved.

In fact, Pasqualoni’s defenses were never very good in rushing the QB, tackling, and forcing turnovers. Sounds similar to another team’s defense that plenty of us gripe about every day on these very boards. :rolleyes:

Anyway, Pasqualoni’s best seasons were his first two in 1991 & 1992, going 20-4. That was also with players that MacPherson recruited and more importantly, coached.

From 1993-1994 his record slipped quite a bit, even with players that were really coach Mac players, going 13-8-1. Not to mention he was doing this in the Big East a conference that had two teams that didn’t even belong in the D-I ball at the time, Temple and Rutgers. Plus Pittsburgh and Boston College were atrocious during this time. In reality, there was the powerful Miami and the inconsistent West Virginia as their main contenders during this period.

In 1995, he lucked out on McNabb who was a highly rated QB out of high school, but other schools thought he was too much of a scrambling QB and they wanted a pocket passer. McNabb wound up being one of the best and most electrifying QB’s in college football HISTORY and was also a guy that really helped the recruiting process. I’m not going to go through all of the talent that Syracuse had because I don’t have all day. Needless to say, they were STACKED in talent from 1995-1998 and they wound up going 35-14.

HOWEVER, during this time Miami was on the decline due to NCAA violations and they never came close to competing for a National Championship, despite playing in the weak Big East conference.

McNabb wound up going to the pros and Syracuse went 13-10 again when Pasqualoni didn’t have one of the all time great QB’s at the helm. And did I mention that the Big East is a weak conference?

Anyway, in 2001 the Orangemen bounced back going 10-3. However, 2 of those losses were games pretty much lost by Pasqualoni and the success behind the team was 2 factors……the weak Big East conference…..and Dwight Freeney who was the closest thing I’ve seen to a Lawrence Taylor type factor since LT retired. He was literally unblockable and 10 x’s the force that he is now in the NFL. No exagerration.

Once Freeney left for the pros that year, Syracuse went 16-20 from 2002-2004.

I could go on about other things too, like coaching decisions, players that looked poorly coached, and the fact that the punting team had FIVE PUNTS BLOCKED this past season as well.

But, the fact is he was a very overrated and IMHO, a poor coach, who often lucked out by playing in a terrible conference, inheriting great talent from another coach, then stumbling upon one of the greatest QB’s and one of the greatest defensive players to have ever played in college.

In no form or fashion did Pasqualoni EVER show me that he was a good assistant coach in any aspect of the game…..be it defense, offense or special teams. His teams routinely struggled with the fundamentals of blocking, tackling, throwing, and catching.

His record really doesn’t tell the entire story.

Rich……………………
Pasqualoni only defeated ONE top 10 team in his 14 years of coaching at Syracuse. He had a below .500 record against top 25 teams. Enough said.


Awesome post YR. I have already beat the Pasqualoni thing to death. People who didn't witness the 80 plus games he coached won't (or refuse to) understand it.

Just be glad it's just as an assistant coach.

I sure as hope that when Bill leaves, Paul is shown the door at the same time.

That is of course, unless he proves us both wrong which I high doubt.

[Yakuza Rich]

That is of course, unless he proves us both wrong which I high doubt.

That's what Pasqualoni apologists could never comprehend. I would LOVE for Pasqualoni to prove me wrong and for me to have to say "I was wrong, I was an idiot and didn't know what I was talking about." I would/will freely do it if it that's the case. But....fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice.....


Rich................