For weeks he’d been hopping from living room to living room, reciting his sales pitch to parents and prospects willing to be lured in by a scholarship and a smile. Behind the scenes, he was recruiting their coaches, too.

Day trips became weekend excursions, testing the waters in areas where perhaps a connection had not yet been made. An afternoon was sacrificed for a clinic. An extra phone call was made about a highlight tape. And a diner, not a charter jet, would suffice as a meeting spot with a high school coach who wanted to chat.

In all, Doug Marrone’s first recruiting job at Syracuse has the trimmings of a grassroots campaign, laying the foundation for the future – and getting back to the basics with SU’s hometown image. Instead of reeling in one blue-chip prospect, he focused on establishing pipelines to bigger ponds. Instead of snubbing the locals, he made sure they were all on the same page.

‘What’s important for me and our staff is that we are going to be here for quite a long time,’ Marrone said Wednesday. ‘And we cannot do anything in our recruiting bases to have people think that we don’t do things the right way.’

In Piscataway, N.J., excitement brews over a Rutgers recruiting class of 23, with so much fanfare that head coach Greg Schiano’s press conference was televised on SportsNet New York. Across I-90, Buffalo head coach Turner Gill also has 23 incoming freshmen – the largest in his tenure – looking to help the Bulls repeat as Mid-American Conference champions.

According to Rivals.com, it’s the 109th-ranked recruiting class in the nation this year. Syracuse, with 14 commitments, is ranked No. 116.

Eight weeks ago it was lower. It was as low as it possibly could be. It had faded out of relevance.

Syracuse was a laughingstock and an embarrassment, so public recruits couldn’t help but be dismayed by its outlook. Over the summer, one prospect dropped his verbal to commit to Central Michigan. By November, SU had only four recruits in place.

So Marrone started with nothing. In six weeks, he focused on re-establishing a footing, living out of a suitcase and on Red Bulls to squeeze the most out of the opportunity he had. With limited scholarships and time on his side, he poured most of his effort into meet-and-greets with high school coaches, in hopes of getting a head start for next year’s class.

‘We’ve tried to use our time on the road to see how productive we could be,’ Marrone said.

What’s suddenly to like about Syracuse? Maybe a head coach that can talk the talk. Maybe an NFL-backed system that could put serious points on the board. Maybe a homegrown, straight-shooting workhorse that’s right out of SU’s glory days.

Maybe someone that can order at a New York deli counter without making heads turn? It couldn’t hurt the brownie points. In need of an experience check, he whips out his New York Jets creds. In need of a conversation starter, he can begin with the Bronx and the neighborhood he grew up in.

Marrone can speak the language of the Northeast, without the SoCal undertones. Using that, he’s lining up his ducks for the future, and it’s got nothing to do with Rivals rankings.

‘Coach Marrone is making (recruiting in the state) a priority, and he certainly has made the coaches on Long Island feel like it’s important to him,’ said Russ Cellan, head coach at Freeport (N.Y.) High School.

To the naked eye, it looks like a near-bare recruiting class. For the glitzy Web sites and talent experts around the country, there’s hardly anything about Syracuse’s incoming class to trumpet. In the six weeks Marrone and his staff had to compile it, it’s a duct-taped hodgepodge of athletes with skill sets far too meager to fill the holes SU is left with on the field.

But there’s some silver underneath the surface. Marrone’s done his best to recruit both players and coaches, in a double-duty that could mean a re-establishment of Syracuse’s hold on Northeast recruits.

Let Rutgers and Buffalo have their glory now.

In a symbolism that is all too fitting for the rolled-sleeve image Marrone tries to portray, perhaps down the road fans will say Syracuse’s return to glory began in a diner.

Zach Schonbrun is the sports columnist for The Daily Orange, where his columns appear every Wednesday. He can be reached at zschonb@syr.edu

Published on February 4, 2009 at 12:00 pm