 During his tenure at Syracuse, he tutored a young assistant coach named Bud Wilkinson, who went on to lead the Oklahoma Sooners to win three national championships.The late 1930s and 1940s had a decline in fortunes that began to reverse when Ben Schwartzwalder took over as coach in 1949.Syracuse made its first bowl appearance in the 1953 Orange Bowl, followed by appearances in the 1957 Cotton Bowl and the 1959 Orange Bowl.