 Marrone was the first Syracuse alumnus to serve as head football coach since Reaves H. Baysinger in 1948.Reportedly, alumni such as Tim Green and Floyd Little wanted Marrone from the moment the previous coach Greg Robinson was fired, and when interviewed by Green, Marrone was found to have kept a folder of current high-school players in the Syracuse area to get a head start in recruiting.Improvement throughout the program was noticed immediately, as the Orange, despite only a marginal improvement in their win-loss record, going 4–8 under Marrone for his first year, played many much more closely, including a 28–7 loss at number-seven Penn State.