Syracuse

Syracuse played its first football game on November 23, 1889, and achieved its first success in the 1890s and 1900s. With the construction of "state-of-the-art" Archbold Stadium in 1907, Syracuse rose to national prominence under College Football Hall of Fame coach Frank "Buck" O'Neill. The 1915 squad garnered a Rose Bowl invitation that the school declined, having already played on the West Coast that season. In 1918, John Barsha (born Abraham Barshofsky) was co‐captain of the 1918 Walter Camp All‐America football team.

The 1920s had continued success with teams featuring two-time All American Doc Alexander and star end Vic Hanson. Vic Hanson was an American football player and coach, basketball player, and baseball player. A three-sport college athlete, he played football, basketball, and baseball at Syracuse in the 1920s, serving as team captain in all three sports. The Watertown, New York native was named a Basketball All-American three times—in 1925, 1926, and 1927—was named the Helms Foundation College Basketball Player of the Year and was a consensus selection to both 1925 and 1926 College Football All-America Teams. Hanson is one of only two individuals who are members (Amos Alonzo Stagg being the other) of both the Basketball Hall of Fame and the College Football Hall of Fame and the only one inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame, the College Basketball Hall of Fame and the College Football Hall of Fame. He later coached the team from 1930 to 1936.

In the 1930s, Syracuse and nearby Cornell University were among the first collegiate football teams to include African-American players as starting backfield players. Wilmeth Sidat-Singh was an African-American basketball star player for DeWitt Clinton High School. He received an offer of a basketball scholarship from Syracuse University and enrolled in 1935. While playing an intramural football game, an assistant football coach noticed his talent and asked him to join the football team. Sidat-Singh starred for Syracuse, playing a position equivalent to modern-day quarterback. In that era, when games were played in Southern segregation states, African-American players from Northern schools were banned from the field. Because of his light complexion and name, Sidat-Singh was sometimes assumed to be a "Hindu" (as people from India were often called by Americans during this time). However. shortly before a game against Maryland, a black sportswriter, Sam Lacy wrote an article in the Baltimore Afro-American, revealing Sidat-Singh's true racial identity. Wilmeth Sidat-Singh was held out of the game and Syracuse lost that game 0–13. Olympic track athlete Marty Glickman, who played football for Syracuse, believed athletic director Lew Andreas was a bigot who occasionally used a disparaging term for Blacks; the 18-year-old Glickman thought Andreas should have stood up for Sidat-Singh (Glickman also faulted himself for not standing up for Sidat-Singh). In a rematch the following year at Syracuse, Sidat-Singh led the Orange to a lopsided victory (53–0) over Maryland. In 2005, Syracuse University honored Wilmeth Sidat-Singh by retiring his basketball jersey number. On Saturday, Nov. 9, 2013, the University of Maryland publicly apologized to surviving relatives from the Webb family at a ceremony during a football game with Syracuse University.

Ossie Solem coached at Syracuse from 1937 to 1945. During his tenure at Syracuse, he tutored a young assistant coach named Bud Wilkinson, who went on to lead the Oklahoma Sooners to win three national championships.

The late 1930s and 1940s had a decline in fortunes that began to reverse when Ben Schwartzwalder took over as head coach in 1949. Syracuse made its first bowl appearance in the 1953 Orange Bowl, followed by appearances in the 1957 Cotton Bowl and the 1959 Orange Bowl.

Jim Brown (a high school standout from Manhasset, New York), considered to be one of the greatest running backs of all time, as well as one of the greatest players in NFL history, was a consensus first-team All-American in 1956, finished fifth in the Heisman Trophy voting and set school records for highest season rush average (6.2) and most rushing touchdowns in a single game (6). In the Cotton Bowl, Brown rushed for 132 yards, scored three touchdowns, and kicked three extra points, but a blocked extra point after Syracuse's third touchdown was the difference as TCU won 28–27.

In 1959, Syracuse earned its first consensus national championship, finishing No. 1 in both the AP and Coaches' Polls, following an undefeated season (11–0) and Cotton Bowl Classic victory over No. 4 Texas. The team featured sophomore running back Ernie Davis of Elmira, New York, who went on to become the first African American to win the Heisman Trophy in 1961, and All-American tackle Ron Luciano, who eventually become a prominent Major League Baseball umpire. Davis was slated to play for the Cleveland Browns in the same backfield as Jim Brown, but died of leukemia before being able to play professionally. Syracuse remained competitive through the 1960s with a series of All-American running backs, including Floyd Little and Larry Csonka (both inductees in the Pro Football Hall of Fame).

Schwartzwalder produced 22 straight years of non-losing football, took the Orange to seven bowls, won the Lambert-Meadowlands Trophy (to recognize the Eastern champion in Division I FBS) four times: 1952, 1956, 1959, 1966; and won the national championship in 1959. He developed some of the most impressive running backs the game has ever seen - Jim Brown, Ernie Davis, Jim Nance, Floyd Little and Larry Csonka. Orange teams outrushed opponents by more than 22,000 yards under Schwartzwalder. He retired as Syracuse's head coach after the 1973 season, which was Syracuse's third consecutive losing season. Schwartzwalder left Syracuse with a 153–91–3 record.

In 1969, a group of nine African American student-athletes boycotted Syracuse University's football program to demand change and promote racial equality. Popularized erroneously in 1970 by the media as the “Syracuse 8,” the nine students behind the boycott were Gregory Allen, Richard Bulls, Dana Harrell, John Godbolt, John Lobon, Clarence “Bucky” McGill, A. Alif Muhammad (then known as Al Newton), Duane Walker, and Ron Womack. The student athletes drafted a list of four demands, three of which were advocating for the betterment for all student athletes at the university, were access to the same academic tutoring as their white teammates; better medical care for all team members; starting assignments based on merit; and racially integrating the coaching staff, which had been all white since 1898.

• RB Ernie Davis,
  first African American to win the Heisman Trophy, played at Syracuse from 1959–1961
• RB Jim Brown,
  Pro Football Hall of Famer, played at Syracuse from 1954–1956
• RB Larry Csonka,
  Pro Football Hall of Famer, played at Syracuse from 1965–1967

Michigan assistant coach Frank Maloney was hired as Schwartzwalder's replacement. Maloney's tenure at Syracuse was marked by inconsistency. The fan base turned on him as the Orange failed to achieve the national status they had enjoyed under Schwartzwalder. Maloney's program was also limited by archaic facilities. Archbold Stadium, Syracuse's home field since 1907, was in need of replacement. Nonetheless, Maloney did recruit a number of future NFL stars such as Joe Morris and Pro Football Hall of Fame member Art Monk.

Maloney was the subject of criticism, not only from the fans and alumni, but also from the 1959 national championship team, members of which started a campaign calling for his ouster. Ironically enough, this call from program alumni came during the 1979 season, Maloney's best at Syracuse, when the Orangemen qualified for the Independence Bowl, beating McNeese State. After coaching the Orangemen for seven seasons and presiding over the opening of a new stadium, the Carrier Dome (renamed in 2022 the JMA Wireless Dome), in 1980, Maloney resigned.

Dick MacPherson was hired as the head coach in 1981 and after several mediocre seasons, fans wanted MacPherson fired, coining the phrase, "Sack Mac".

However, the fans' opinion of Coach MacPherson changed when the program returned suddenly to national prominence in 1987 with an undefeated 11–0 regular season record. The team featured Maxwell Award-winning quarterback Don McPherson and fullback Daryl Johnston. The team missed an opportunity to play for the NCAA Division I-A national football championship, because both Oklahoma and Miami also finished undefeated that year and finished higher in the polls. Instead, the team faced Southeastern Conference champion Auburn University in the Sugar Bowl. The game ended in a 16–16 tie when Auburn kicked a late field goal rather than trying for a game-winning touchdown. MacPherson left Syracuse after the 1990 season to accept the position of head coach for the NFL's New England Patriots.

McPherson is credited with building a strong recruiting pipeline in the northeast area.

Syracuse continued to experience success under MacPherson's successor, Paul Pasqualoni, previously the team's linebackers coach, appearing in 11 bowl games (including three major bowls) and winning 9. The team also captured or shared three Big East football championships during this period.

Prominent players of the period included Donovan McNabb, Marvin Harrison, Dwight Freeney, Keith Bulluck, Rob Moore, Donovin Darius, Qadry Ismail, Kevin Johnson, Rob Konrad, Tebucky Jones, and Marvin Graves. Rivalries shifted in the early 1990s as Penn State ended its series with Syracuse and joined the Big Ten. Syracuse, meanwhile, joined the newly formed Big East football conference with traditional rival West Virginia University, and national power Miami. In 2004, Miami and Virginia Tech left the Big East to join the Atlantic Coast Conference, followed by Boston College in 2005, threatening the stature of the Big East. Syracuse was originally invited to leave the Big East and join the ACC, but under pressure from the Governor of Virginia, the ACC decided to invite Virginia Tech to join the conference, instead. Thus, Syracuse remained in the Big East. Syracuse's streak of winning seasons ended in 2002 when they went 4–8. This was followed by consecutive 6–6 seasons. Although they won a share of the Big East title in 2004 and competed in the Champs Sports Bowl, the teams from 2002 to 2004 were considered mediocre by Syracuse standards. This prompted new athletic director Dr. Daryl Gross to fire Pasqualoni after 14 years at the helm.

In 2005, the university hired Greg Robinson, defensive coordinator for Texas, as head coach. Robinson installed a new West Coast offense scheme, replacing the option run style of offense previously run by Pasqualoni, and new defensive schemes.

The 2005 season started on a high note as Syracuse nearly upset eventual Big East and Sugar Bowl champion West Virginia, forcing five turnovers in the 15–7 loss. They followed it up with a 31–0 thrashing of Buffalo and another near-upset, this time against #25 Virginia, falling 27–24 on a last-second field goal. The squad lost its final eight games of the season. Syracuse finished the year 1–10, the worst on-field season in school history and won only 10 games with Robinson running the program. Robinson's Orange improved to 4–8 in 2006 but fell to 2–10 in 2007. The 2007 season included a road upset of number-18 Louisville. When the struggles continued in 2008, Syracuse fired Robinson following a 3–9 season where the high point was a 24–23 upset of Notre Dame. At the other end of the spectrum, in a game that exemplified the Robinson era, the Orange lost 55–13 to Penn State. Robinson's .213 winning percentage on the field is the worst for a non-interim coach in school history. He has been criticized for abandoning the traditional northeast recruiting pipeline.

In 2015, Syracuse vacated all of its wins from 2005 and 2006 due to ineligible players, dropping Robinson's "official" winning percentage to .119.

On December 12, 2008, Doug Marrone, a Bronx, New York native and former Orange player, was announced as the replacement for Robinson as head coach. Marrone was the first Syracuse alumnus to serve as head football coach since Reaves H. Baysinger in 1948. Reportedly, alumni such as Tim Green and Floyd Little wanted Marrone from the moment the previous coach Greg Robinson was fired, and when interviewed by Green, Marrone was found to have kept a folder of current high-school players in the Syracuse area to get a head start in recruiting.

Improvement throughout the program was noticed immediately, as the Orange, despite only a marginal improvement in their win–loss record, going 4–8 under Marrone for his first year, played many much more closely, including a 28–7 loss at number-seven Penn State. In 2010, the Orange finished the regular season with a winning record for the first time since the 2001 season at 7–5, including road wins against number-19 West Virginia and two-time defending conference champion Cincinnati. The team earned its first bowl bid since 2004 and along with second-ranked Oregon and 10th-ranked Boise State, the five road wins were the best in 2010 of all FBS teams. December 30, 2010, Syracuse defeated Kansas State in the inaugural Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium. The game was televised live on ESPN. Two years later, the Orange defeated West Virginia in the 2012 Pinstripe Bowl. On January 7, 2013, Marrone left Syracuse, accepting the head-coaching position of the NFL's Buffalo Bills.

The day after Marrone's departure, Syracuse promoted defensive coordinator Scott Shafer to head coach. Coach Shafer's first season was marked by inconsistency from the team in spite of the bowl eligibility for the third time in four years. Syracuse capped off the season with a 21–17 victory over Minnesota in the 2013 Texas Bowl to finish the year 7–6. The first season for the Orange in the ACC was 2013. The 2014 season brought about a noticeable drop in quality. Syracuse finished the season a disappointing 3–9. In 2015, after they started the season 3–0, the Orange collapsed, losing 8 of their final 9 games to finish the season 4–8, and on November 23, 2015, it was announced that Shafer would be fired after the last game of the 2015 campaign.

After an extensive coaching search, Syracuse announced the hiring of Bowling Green head coach Dino Babers as the new Orange head football coach. Babers is the first African-American head coach in school history. Babers brought with him an exciting, up-tempo offense he employed both as a head coach and as an assistant coach.

In Babers' first season in charge, Syracuse started the year at 4–4, with the highlight of the first eight games being a 31–17 upset of number-17 Virginia Tech at home. Syracuse kept the momentum from the upset going and beat rival Boston College on the road, 28–20. However, they were blown out 54–0 in their next game by No. 3 Clemson. In the final game of the season, Syracuse lost to ACC rival Pittsburgh by a score of 76–61. The game was the highest scoring in FBS history with a combined score of 137. Syracuse finished 4–8 for the second consecutive year. In 2017, the Orange started 4–3, including a win over No. 2 Clemson, but they lost their final five games to finish 4–8 for the third straight year. In 2018, Syracuse earned its first bowl bid under Babers, going 10–3 with a bowl victory over West Virginia.

In 2022, Syracuse started 6–0, earning a No. 14 ranking in the AP and Coaches' Polls. However, the team squandered a 21–10 halftime lead to Clemson, falling 27–21. The Orange lost their next four games before finishing the season with a win at Boston College to end the year 7–5. Syracuse earned a trip to the Pinstripe Bowl where it lost to Minnesota, 28–20. After a 4–0 start to the 2023 season, Syracuse lost 6 of the next 7 games, leading to Babers' firing with one game remaining in the 2023 season.

On November 28, 2023, Brown was named the 31st head coach in program history. His deep recruiting ties in South Jersey, one of Syracuse's primary recruiting grounds, were cited as a major reason for his hiring. Less than a month later, Fran Brown signed Syracuse's best recruiting class in the "modern era" according to the Syracuse Post-Standard. The class included several high-profile transfers, including five-star recruit Kyle McCord, the starting quarterback from the Ohio State Buckeyes.