Harry Diorio | Syracuse Post-Standard
Paul Pasqualoni
Brought on to coach Syracuse's linebackers in 1987, Pasqualoni took over the Syracuse program when Dick MacPherson headed to the NFL and maintained SU's success into the 2000s.
He is one of at least eight members of the MacPherson coaching tree to become college head coaches. There's an NFL head coach, too. Four have won Super Bowl titles. Combined they own at least 12 Super Bowl titles, four FCS crowns and an FBS title.
Part of the reason for MacPherson's success turning around the SU football program was his ability to attract great football minds and keep them working together. His coaching tree is proof of that.
Our look at MacPherson's coaching tree begins with his successor.
Pasqualoni spent 14 years leading the Syracuse program, then three at the University of Connecticut. He owns a career head coaching record of 151-94-1, with a win in the Fiesta Bowl.
After he was fired from Syracuse following the 2004 season, he went on to coach as a position coach or coordinator with four different NFL teams. He is currently the defensive line coach at Boston College.
Pasqualoni's branch continues with three current head coaches including Boston College's Steve Addazio, LSU's Ed Ogeron and Mississippi State's Dan Mullen.
Associated Press
Ivan Fears
Fears arrived in Syracuse one year before MacPherson did but stayed through his entire tenure. Fears coached wide receivers and, for a brief time, coordinated the team's passing game at SU.
He followed MacPherson to New England and has coached professionally ever since. Fears is in his second, and more successful stint, with New England now. He joined Bill Belichick's version in 2002. He's helped the Pats on their way to five Super Bowl titles.
Gary Blackney
Blackney spent three years at Syracuse coaching defensive backs under MacPherson, working at SU from 1981 to 1983. He moved on to Ohio State and eventually served as the head coach of Bowling Green for a full decade.
During his 10 season from 1991 to 2000, Blackney went 60-50, with a pair of Mid-American Conference titles and bowl victories in his first two seasons at Bowling Green.
Among the coaches who worked under Blackney were former St. Louis Rams head coach and current New York Giants defensive coordinator Spagnuolo. He retired from coaching in 2008.
Associated Press
Randy Edsall
Edsall came on as a part-time assistant in 1982, then went on to coach four different position groups and serve as Syracuse's recruiting coordinator during nine seasons. He stayed until MacPherson did, leaving for Boston College when Paul Pasqualoni took over.
Edsall has spent time in the NFL, served as the head coach at Maryland and is currently in his second stint leading the University of Connecticut. Over the course of 17 seasons as a head coach he is 96-104, having transitioned UConn from FCS to FBS.
His branch includes multiple coaches who have gone on to lead programs at the FCS level.
Associated Press
Dave Campo
Campo spent three years coaching the secondary and defensive backs under MacPherson, serving at Syracuse from 1984 to 1986. He left to join Jimmy Johnson at the University of Miami, then went along with him to the Dallas Cowboys.
Campo won three Super Bowls with the Cowboys as a defensive coach, including one as a coordinator. His performance earned him a three-year stint as Dallas head coach, one of the country's marquee coaching jobs.
Unfortunately for Campo, Troy Aikman's retirement due to concussions followed his first season as the head coach. He finished his Dallas run at 15-33. He last coached as a defensive coordinator with Kansas in 2015.
Associated Press
Kevin Kelly
Kelly spent two years at Syracuse as a graduate assistant under MacPherson in 1986 and 87, then returned later in his career for a short stint as a position coach under Paul Pasqualoni.
Kelly went on to become the head coach of Georgetown for eight years, recruiting Cameron MacPherson, who transferred after he was fired. He went 24-63 during that time from 2006 to 2013.
He is currently the defensive coordinator at Ball State.
Clarence Brooks
Brooks came over with MacPherson from the University of Massachusetts, spending nine years at Syracuse coaching the defensive line. After a short stint at Arizona, he jumped to the NFL. He was on John Harbaugh's staff when the Baltimore Ravens won the Super Bowl in 2013. He died last year from cancer.
Peter Chen | Syracuse Post-Standard
Bill Maxwell
Maxwell arrived at Syracuse with MacPherson and stuck with him throughout his tenure, coaching on the offensive side of the ball. When MacPherson left for the NFL, Maxwell took over the football program at Hobart.
Maxwell went 17-23 over four years, his coaching stint shortened due to cancer.
Given where Hobart started when Maxwell took over, the record was considered impressive and the school still hands out an award in his honor if it believes it has a worthy candidate.
The Bill Maxwell Award is awarded periodically to those connected to the Hobart community who exemplify sportsmanship, courage, teamwork, and/or service to the campus community.
Associated Press
George O'Leary
O'Leary arrived one year before MacPherson and coached six seasons with him, mentoring Syracuse's defensive line through 1986, when he left for Georgia Tech. O'Leary became the head coach of the Yellow Jackets, and later Central Florida. He also spent time in the NFL with both San Diego and Minnesota.
Over 20 years as a head coach he finished 133-101, with a Fiesta Bowl victory.
O'Leary's time as a coach had its share of controversies. He was briefly named head coach of Notre Dame but was forced to resign before coaching a game after it was found he lied on his resume. He resigned from UCF in 2015 after an 0-8 start, during which he was serving as both football coach and interim athletic director.
His coaching branch extends into a pair of current NFL coaches, Doug Marrone and Bill O'Brien, as well as former Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen.
Associated Press
Jim Tressell
MacPherson brought Tressell into the program to coach his quarterbacks in 1981 and 1982, creating the heftiest branch of his coaching tree.
Tressell went on to become an assistant coach at Ohio State, then a head coach at both Youngstown State and Ohio State. He won four FCS national titles at Youngstown, a BCS title at Ohio State and is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame. His record across the two programs is 229-79-2.
He had 12 wins vacated and resigned following the 2010 season after misleading the NCAA during an investigation into players exchanging memorabilia for tattoos. He is currently the president at Youngstown State.
Tressell's coaching tree branches off to include a group of head coaches like Minnesota's P.J. Fleck, Michigan State's Mark Dantonio, Cincinnati's Luke Fickell.
Elise Amendola
Scott Pioli
From 2000 to 2008, Scott Pioli was Bill Belichick's personnel director with the New England Patriots. Considered a shrewd judge of talent and a Draft expert, he and Belichick combined to take Tom Brady in the 2000 Draft, sparking one of the NFL's great dynasties.
Pioli won three Super Bowls alongside Belichick and currently works for the Atlanta Falcons as an assistant general manager. Atlanta lost to New England in the Super Bowl last year. He got his football start working as a lowly graduate assistant for MacPherson in 1988 and 1999.
Associated Press
Jim Hofher
Hofher served as MacPherson's running backs coach in 1987 and 1988, then came back to Syracuse to coach quarterbacks under Pasqualoni in 2000.
He was the head coach at Cornell for eight seasons from 1990 to 1997, and the head coach of Buffalo for five from 2001 to 2005. He went a combined 53-84.
Hofher continues to coach and is currently Iowa State's quaterbacks coach and passing coordinantor.
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