The new starting quarterback was blue-eyed, blonde-haired, and not the one that many expected to be chosen to lead the Syracuse football team. He met the media Monday afternoon, as they slid pronunciation guides into their back pockets.

Meet Ryan Nassib (NASS-ib). He has put the clipboard down to reveal an accurate arm and strong leadership ability so far this spring. But how much does his promotion to No. 1 quarterback this spring reveal about his head coach?

Meet Doug Marrone (Mar-OWN). In a few short weeks, he has revived long-lost SU traditions, immersed himself into the community, whipped his team into a disciplinarian frenzy and opened up practices to the public and media. But doesn’t he realize he’s bucking a trend of big-time collegiate football?

Other teams play keep-away with personnel decisions, toying with reporters who try to squeeze the truth from coaches who have perfected their press-conference poker face. Other teams fight hard to feel safe.

Not Marrone. So far, he’s flaunted his team’s accessibility. He’s opened his arms to the community – and sleuth scouts, too. In an age when paranoia runs the decision-making of almost every major program, Marrone throws the spotlight back onto his program’s exposure.

‘It’s a good thing for the fans to see us, how we’re doing, how we’re progressing,’ SU running back Delone Carter said. ‘We’ve got nothing to hide.’

These days, coaches dodge questions, dull answers, guard formations and release nothing, all in the name of game-tactic obsession. Edges are gained (and lost) by how well they secure their plans. As the game on the field becomes more complex, so do the measures taken to hide any schemes.

At Oklahoma, a private security firm was hired to keep intruders away from their fields. At UCLA, walkie-talkies are used to monitor all visitors. In the last few seasons, Georgia, Virginia Tech and Miami have all publicly addressed practice policies as a result of suspicions of spying.

And even under Greg Robinson, Syracuse football practices were kept shut to all outside eyes, save for a 30-minute photo opportunity at the beginning of practice during training camp.

Does the ‘Spygate’ threat not phase Marrone?

‘I love open practices,’ he said Saturday, after the team’s first scrimmage, which drew a few dozen fans to the stands a few yards off the sidelines on the practice fields outside Manley Field House. A minute later, Marrone laughed off a slip of his tongue.

When asked about schematics on offense, Marrone caught himself for a moment after revealing what he’s looking for on ‘flat-curl combinations.’ He paused and smiled.

‘Well, everybody runs those so we should be OK,’ Marrone said. ‘I just always try and watch what I say. But we run some flat-curl combinations.’

If he’s so careful about what he says, why is he so casual about others watching what he does? Maybe Marrone has weighed that cost of community involvement and recognized he needs fans to be included, not prohibited.

‘I think it’s a great thing for everybody to get involved,’ SU running back Averin Collier said. ‘For everybody to see the growth that our team is doing and get involved and watch on a day-to-day basis – it gets the fans involved and makes them feel like they’re a part of this team.’

‘He’s showing you that he’s a Syracuse graduate,’ Carter said, ‘and he’s proud to be back here.’

So the news that Marrone had named a starting quarterback already, before April, shouldn’t surprise Syracuse fans – whether they’ve seen Nassib throw a spiral in practice before or not. The head coach is not one for conventional coyness.

Despite constant probing, Marrone’s predecessor, Greg Robinson, always refrained from revealing who’d be starting where from week to week. Not after the Iowa game in 2006, in which Hawkeyes starting quarterback Drew Tate was a pregame scratch, a revelation that seemed to sting Robinson. From that point on, he was tight-lipped and suspicious.

Not that it did him any good. Marrone seems to have taken the opposite approach. It’s also antithetical to the neurotic traits in college coaches these days, with every hedge in check and rooftop secure around practice facilities across the country.

No secrets here. No need for hesitancy either. It looks like Marrone knows what he wants and what he wants to do, unaware (or unafraid) of who’s watching.

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

Published on March 30, 2009 at 12:00 pm