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As somebody who has loved Syracuse
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football since before I attended
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Syracuse, I attended Syracuse in the
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fall of 97. I graduated in the spring of
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I can remember before I got into campus
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watching games on TV in what then seemed
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to be this incredibly loud, boisterous,
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rockous carrier dome and Marvin Graves
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throwing passes or Marvin Harrison
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catching touchdowns or Kadri Ismile
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returning kickoff returns for
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touchdowns. And I remember thinking,
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"God, that looks bonkers." And then I
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got into campus and realized it is
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because I was there for the final two
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years of Donovan McNab 97 and '98 when
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Syracuse went to the Fiesta Bowl and the
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Orange Bowl. Been a long time since the
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Syracuse Orange men are now now orange
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were in the Orange Bowl. But that was a
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thing winning the Big East going to big-
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time bowl games and taking on big-time
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opponents. Well, Greg Robinson took over
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and lit fire to the program. It was
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starting to descend under Paul
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Pascalone. It was starting to descend
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even when I was there. My senior year,
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fall of 2000, Syracuse did not make a
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bowl game for the first time in a long
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time. But it was still six and six, six
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and five. And then Greg Robinson took
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over and there was a season they went 0
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for the Big East. Come on. They got
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USF passed him. Yukon Yukon football
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passed him. It was a dark time. And I
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can't stand that man cuz he ruined my
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football program. It's taken a long time
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to get back. It's been 15 years since he
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left the Hill. Been a long time. There's
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been brief moments of success. Doug
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Marone had a brief run. You had a Texas
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Bowler, Scott Schaefer. Hey, that
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qualifies. An hour land is a pretty good
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season. And then you had Dino Babers who
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had a 10- win season and you had a few
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decent quarterbacks in there. Ryan
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Nassive was in there. You had a couple
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of of good years, but still
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not had College Game Day back this
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And in terms of 10 win seasons, which
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you know, you can count them on two
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fingers in the last 25 years.
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just nabbed the first five star recruit
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for Syracuse football in a quarter
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century. and what might end up being the
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highest ranked recruit ever for Syracuse
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football, which has had McNab, Marvin
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Harrison, uh Dwight Freeny. Uh you know,
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before recruiting rankings, of course,
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there was Jim Brown and and Ernie Davis
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and Art Monk, etc. But you're talking
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about they've had really good football
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players for a long time, and this would
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be the highest ranked recruit ever. Fran
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Brown not only is pulling his weight on
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the recruiting trail, but Fran Brown's
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pulling his weight within the community.
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There's not a person in Central New York
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that is a bad thing to say about this
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guy that he has talked the talk but also
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And what a difference one man can make.
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A culture bringer, a culture builder, a
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culture restorer. It's been an amazing
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thing to watch. And look, I hope that
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he's with the Syracuse Orange for a long
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time because it's been a long time since
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I've been able to watch SU football on
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Saturdays and be really excited about
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it. But what I am excited about is they
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got a guy that's pulling in talent. They
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got a guy that won 10 games last year.
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They got a guy that went to a
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significant bowl game. They got a guy
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that won some big games on national TV.
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But they also have a guy that behind the
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scenes is doing the things the right way
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amongst people that really care like me
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about football being back. So good on
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Fran Brown. Love to see it. And I hope
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he's around for a long time doing it
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like this. Maybe he won't be. But until
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he's gone, he's got my vote. This dude
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is a changer in every single way, way,
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shape, and form. He is a change agent
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and we needed one badly in Syracuse.