Leading off today: Not surprisingly, the fallout has started following reports Sunday morning that the Buffalo Bills are on the verge of introducing Syracuse University's Doug Marrone as their new football coach.
Tottenville running back Augustus Edwards, one of two New York high school seniors who've verbally committed to signing letters of intent with Syracuse, tweeted Sunday that he will take official visits to Miami, Rutgers and Florida State. It was not immediately known if Brighton linebacker Devan Carter, whose senior season was cut short by an injury, will also reopen recruiting.
The news about Marrone was not surprising since his name had been linked to several teams since seven NFL teams fired their coaches Monday. It leaves the Orange scrambling for a replacement for Marrone, whose 25-25 record in four seasons erased much of the stench of a 10-37 performance under Greg Robinson.
The bad news for Syracuse (beyond the fact Marrone is leaving) is that National Letter of Intent day for football is less than a month away. The good news is that, unless he was completely asleep on the job, Orange AD Darryl Gross has already had at least a week to presumably place discreet calls to find out who's available now that the first wave of openings has already been filled in the annual game of collegiate musical chairs. In addition, more than 100 NFL assistants suddenly became available Monday.
Gross' first experience with the football hiring process also began late after the debacle of the Paul Pasqualoni firing (weeks after outgoing AD Jake Crouthamel had committed to keeping Coach P for one more season), and Syracuse ended up with Robinson. Four years ago, he had the luxury of knowing by midseason that Robinson wouldn't be retained.
With several junior-college players -- who are less likely to stay committed during uncertainty -- in the recruiting class, time is of the essence. So it says here that Syracuse will be introducing its new coach in time for the noon news on Friday.
I have no idea if he'd be interested, but Central Florida's George O'Leary, with well-known connections to Central New York, will likely be mentioned in the first 24 hours. If there's mutual interest, it comes down to money (as always) and whether O'Leary wants to pass up the opportunity to perhaps knock down nine- and 10-win seasons in a rapidly declining Big East (assuming UCF doesn't end up somewhere else) in order to move back to the ACC without the luxury of inheriting enough ACC talent.
Don't be surprised to hear the name of Ball State's Pete Lembo floated, too, though it's believed he's declined to look at schools in better situations than SU in the last month.
U-E Duals, Day 1: Wantagh, top-ranked in the first state wrestling rankings of the season, will meet Islip and No. 3 Sachem East meets Shenendehowa on Sunday in the semifinals of the Union-Endicott Duals. Islip and Shenendehowa are tied for 10th in the rankings.
NewYorkWrestlingNews.com is blogging the semifinals and the 2 p.m. final.
