Syracuse (3-8, 1-6 Atlantic Coast) head coach Scott Shafer was fired on Monday after going 13-23 in less than three full seasons as SU’s head coach. Under Shafer, the Orange is 6-17 in conference games.

On Tuesday’s ACC coaches’ teleconference, Shafer’s colleagues were asked their reaction to Monday’s news. Here are their responses:

Dabo Swinney, Clemson

“I reached out to him and just chatted with him a bit yesterday. Just let him know I felt sorry about the situation and wished him nothing but the best. I never like to see anybody lose their job. Coaches are passionate about what they do. I understand it’s part of the business, we’re all held to a standard and what happens on the scoreboard. … It’s a bottom-line business and I think all coaches understand that when they get in this deal.”

Jimbo Fisher, Florida State

“I hate it because I thought Scott was a very good football coach. I thought they had a very good team, I thought they were well-coached, they played hard. I thought they were extremely close in a lot of football games. … That’s another guy in our business that I think does a great job. Unfortunately it’s becoming the norm in the college football world.”

Bobby Petrino, Louisville

“Scott’s a really good guy. I really enjoyed my time getting to know him. I thought he did a really nice job of coaching. He always made things really hard (as an opponent). I just hope the best for him.”

Larry Scott, Miami

“It’s a great profession and sometimes the business gets us a little bit but I always thought he was a very good football coach, a very good person to interact with on the road and in recruiting and different things like that so when those type of things happen, obviously you think about the coach, the person, their families first and foremost.”

Dave Clawson, Wake Forest

“We’ve known each other before he got to Syracuse. I tried to hire him at Bowling Green and I just think he’s a first-class guy and a first-class person. I thought he was doing a really nice job recruiting. They had a very young football team and they unfortunately had some injuries at the quarterback position and other places that really hurt them.”

Paul Johnson, Georgia Tech

“I thought they were getting better. They had a freshman quarterback (Eric Dungey) who I thought was going to end up being a really good player from what I’ve seen on tape. Scott personally seems like a heck of a nice guy and I think he’s probably a pretty good football coach.”

Larry Fedora, North Carolina

“I hate it for Scott. I hate it for his family, I hate it for all the assistants and all their families and everybody whose lives are going to be uprooted and changed with the kids and schools and all those things. I hate it for that staff, I know those guys put their heart and soul into what they’re doing up there. It’s a shame it happened.”

Frank Beamer, Virginia Tech

“I opened up the paper and kind of groaned and (Beamer’s wife) Cheryl said, ‘What’s wrong?’ and I said, ‘Scott got fired.’ … People are not willing to wait anymore. Fortunately for me, way, way back, they did. It’s not one of those things that you come in sometimes and it happens in two years or three years. It takes four years or five years.”

Pat Narduzzi, Pittsburgh

“It’s part of the business. You don’t like it. You not only feel for Scott, but you feel for his staff. With Scott, his children, his wife and all the wives on that staff, you never like to go through that, have to go through that or have a very, very good friend go through that. But it’s the nature of this profession.”

David Cutcliffe, Duke

“I don’t know if there’s a better person in coaching and I was just sick to my stomach … I actually had texted (SU running backs coach) DeAndre Smith, who is a father of one of our players … this last week. I enjoy watching Syracuse in all three phases against opponents because Syracuse is so well-coached, that you really get a good visual of an opponent … I’ve been there before. I’ve been fired before. There are always circumstances none of us are aware of. I don’t judge people. As a football coach, I can judge a well-coached football team, and they were just that.”

Steve Addazio, Boston College

“I hate to see that happen four days before a game where it’s probably senior day up there. I can never understand those types of things. I don’t get it. I always think that the kids just come first and I’m not sure why these things have to go the way they’re going. It appears in our profession people have to jump out and make these changes. I never figured out exactly what the rationale for that is, nor do I understand it and nor do I care to. My heart just goes out to the players, the coaches, Scott, his family, everybody’s family.”

Published on November 24, 2015 at 12:48 pm

Contact Paul: pmschwed@syr.edu | @pschweds