There’s coming out of left field, and there’s this latest report concerning a current coach at the FBS level.
Doug Marrone has been at Syracuse the past four seasons and has guided the Orange to a respectable 25-25 mark, made all the more respectable by the fact that the program had won just 26 games in the seven years prior to his arrival. That said, Marrone hasn’t been an on-the-radar candidate for any of the big-time collegiate jobs that have come open during his time at Syracuse.
The NFL, though, has apparently taken notice.
According to ESPN.com‘s Adam Schefter, at least two NFL clubs have an interest in Marrone. So much so, in fact, that he will interview for the head-coaching vacancy with the Cleveland Browns this week as well as the opening with the Buffalo Bills.
The fact that the Browns would be looking at a coach from the collegiate level is not surprising as that beleaguered organization has been connected to Alabama’s Nick Saban, Oregon’s Chip Kelly and Penn State’s Bill O’Brien over the past several weeks.
While Marrone has been with the Orange the past four years, he does have recent, albeit relatively scant, experience at the NFL level. He was a position coach with the New York Jets from 2002-2005 before being named the offensive coordinator of the New Orleans Saints in 2006. After spending three seasons in that job, Marrone was named as his alma mater’s head coach.