Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim said he thinks the perception surrounding Mark Coyle is that he’s coming in only to help the football program, and that isn’t true.

The 39-year Orange head men’s basketball coach said he was impressed by Coyle speaking in terms of all of SU’s D-I sports, and used the occasion to support his colleague, football head coach Scott Shafer.

“Everybody out here, everyone standing right here with a microphone or sitting here thinks football is the only thing that he’s gonna do. That’s one thing. And I don’t care who you bring in, you can bring Vince Lombardi and you might not get it done, you don’t know what’s gonna happen with coaching and coaches and how things work,” Boeheim said. “And to hold somebody responsible for a coach, that’s been going on here for a number of years. And it’s the most ridiculous thing that I’ve ever heard of.

“It’s very hard, coaching is very hard at this level. And you have to work really hard. Coach Shafer works as hard as anybody as I’ve ever met around, and I think, obviously, it takes some time. I think (former SU head football) coach (Dick) MacPherson was here four years and he had a losing record, I believe. But everyone out here thinks that they should win this year or we need a new football coach. And that’s the most ridiculous way to think that I’ve ever heard in my life. Everyone standing right here thinks that, and that’s ridiculous. You’ve got to give coaches a chance to get things going.”

Coyle said he spoke with every head coach this past weekend — most of whom were at his introductory press conference on Monday morning — after getting hired as the new athletic director on Friday evening. He said he plans to focus on every student-athlete that wears the Syracuse jersey, but made a point of saying he’ll “take a look” at the football program.

“It’s just to realize what we are, where we are, where we want to be,” Shafer said of his working relationship with Coyle. “Embrace who we are and understand that we’re trying to fight our way up to be competitive in this conference. It takes change agents … It’s about the people that are playing the game, and he understands that.”

Shafer was happy that Coyle has a background as a college football player and the two shared a mutual friend and colleague in Mike Sanford, who coached at Stanford with Shafer. The changes that Coyle brings will happen both quickly, and over time Shafer said, noting Coyle’s successful track record.

Other SU head coaches shared praise of Coyle as he takes over as SU’s athletic director.

Women’s basketball coach Quentin Hillsman

“He was very knowledgeable. He talked about our success in the recent years. He talked about how our program has grown with wins and with recruiting. He was very knowledgable about our situation.”

Men’s lacrosse coach John Desko

“I thought he did a great job today. It was fun for me to listen to … I’m looking forward to work with him and give him some input as far as what we need to stay competitive here. And he’s going to be all ears.”

Published on June 22, 2015 at 1:04 pm

Contact Sam: sblum@syr.edu | @SamBlum3