Spring Fever: Gridders Take the Field
3/23/2009 7:21:33 PM | Football
Head Coach Doug Marrone Transcript | Student-Athlete Interview Transcript
Head coach Doug Marrone led the Orange on the field for the first time this afternoon in the first of 15 Spring practice sessions. The former Syracuse letterwinner returned to his alma mater as the head coach in December after spending the past three seasons as the offensive coordinator for the New Orleans Saints.
“It feels great. It's something I've dreamed about my whole life," Marrone said. "I'm excited about it. I was able to go in there, individually, and work with the offensive line so it felt great to be in there.”
Marrone has specific goals for the Orange moving forward, which include a firm link to the past. He re-introduced the 'Burning of the Shoe' and green and red practice jerseys.
"It's something that was instilled in me as a player and a tradition that Coach Mac (former SU head coach Dick MacPherson) had, but really started early on in the 1930s. We were excited to bring it back," Marrone said. "It's a tremendous tradition, one that I was a part of, and a lot of people were after Coach Mac and later on during Coach Pasqualoni's time. It hasn't been done in a while and I wanted to make sure we brought it back because it was important to me. When you come back to your alma mater and there was such great tradition here, (it is great) to be able to bring some things back that inspired me as a player and others who were after me. It gives us a chance to bring back the red and green jerseys and, as we all know, green means go and red means stop. So, the offense is wearing green, defense is wearing red and those in the white jerseys – you don't touch them."
Junior running back Delone Carter said Marrone's strong belief in the University and the football program is very clear to the team.
“You get the feeling that it means so much to him since he's an alumnus," Carter said. "He played football and he did a lot of things here. You feel his spirit that he has for the school. It's just so hard not to buy in, so we're all in with him. He's a very professional man, so when you first meet him you're a little tense, but you have to relax and realize, he's just a man, and he'll let you know that. He's able to be approached and you can talk to him. You know he's going to be honest and forthcoming with you.”
