Paul Pasqualoni

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Paul Pasqualoni (born August 16, 1949) was the head coach of the Syracuse University (SU) football team from 1991 to 2004. Pasqualoni was an assistant at SU until 1991, when he was promoted to head coach after the position was vacated by Dick MacPherson, who left Syracuse for the NFL to coach the New England Patriots. The Orange (then known as the Orangemen) enjoyed a number of fairly successful years with Pasqualoni at the helm. The team won the Fiesta Bowl over Colorado in 1992 and defeated Clemson 41-0 in Gator Bowl in 1995, Donovan McNabb's freshman year. The team had a 6-3 record in bowl games under Pasqualoni. Pasqualoni's 14-year record with Syracuse was 107-59-1. His only losing season was in 2002 with a 4-8 record, but his fate at the university was seen by many to be sealed after failing to break .500 in 2003 and 2004.

Pasqualoni struggled over his last three seasons as head coach of the Orange, posting a 16-20 record during that span, which was a sharp downturn from his previous Orange campaigns, in which the Orange were a consistent top 25 team. Even in his peak years, however, his teams had a tendency to lose one or two games annually that that they were expected to win, which was one of the main reasons that the Orangemen were never able to compete for a national title during his tenure. Pasqualoni's ultra-conservative coaching and play-calling, reinforced by the similar tendencies of defensive then offensive coordinator George DeLeone, was the aspect of his style that was criticized more than any and which could very well have led to his downfall at Syracuse.

Defenders of Pasqualoni pointed out that after Donovan McNabb went to the Philadelphia Eagles he was unable to recruit an equally gifted quarterback to run an option offense - ironically, Michael Vick, who was heavily scouted by Pasqualoni and was the prototypical perfect fit for the system, chose Virginia Tech over Syracuse because he did not want to be a "second McNabb". This incident was seen from the opposite angle from the coach's detractors, as evidence that his recruiting ability had begun to falter.

Fan unrest grew to the point that in the year 2002, following what many considered to be a hollow 10-3 season, a group of frustrated Orange faithful known as "The Orange Alliance" resurrected the website CoachPMustGo.com, a fan site originally created in the mid to late 1990s, but which unexpectedly and surprisingly disappeared from the web in 2001. This new call for action, and its associated fan movement, put additional pressure on the Syracuse University administration. Eventually, the slip in wins, combined with the loss of fanbase and a 54-14 loss in the 2004 Champs Sports Bowl, led new Athletic Director Daryl Gross to fire Pasqualoni on December 29, 2004. He was replaced by Greg Robinson, who had been serving as the defensive coordinator at the University of Texas. During the 2005 season, the first season in 14 years without Pasqualoni leading the team, the Orange football team posted a record of 1-10 - the worst record in the 117-year history of Syracuse University Football. Many fans questioned the removal of Pasqualoni at this point, all agreeing that "Coach P" would have done much better considering the talent on the roster. The team's abject failure can be attributed to Robinson's switch from the heavily rush-oriented option offense of Pasqualoni to a fast-pace pass-centered West Coast Offense. It seemed to many that the players, who all had been recruited to play in Pasqualoni's system and shared a mediocre talent level at best, were completely unable to adjust. No one is expecting that the situation will improve for the Orange in the 2006 season, especially after graduating 13 of 22 starters from the 1-10 team.

Pasqualoni has since taken a job with the NFL's Dallas Cowboys, where he served as Tight Ends Coach in 2005, and is now Linebackers Coach under Head Coach Bill Parcells.

Pasqualoni is a native of Cheshire, Connecticut and while coach of the Orange recruited many star players from Connecticut high schools, including Bloomfield's Dwight Freeney, New Britain's Tebucky Jones and the McIntosh brothers from Cheshire High School.

Preceded by: Dick MacPherson

Syracuse Head Football Coach 1991– 2004

Succeeded by: Greg Robinson

Syracuse Orange Head Football Coaches
Winston • Galbraith • Wells • Bond • Redington • Wade • Sweetland • Parish • Brown • Hutchins • O'Neill • Jones • Jones • Cummings • Hollenback • Meehan • Reynolds • Andreas • Hanson • Solem • Munn • Baysinger • Schwartzwalder • Maloney • MacPherson • Pasqualoni • Robinson