Syracuse football stands 2-6 with a loss to traditional Big East bottom-dweller Temple and a homecoming embarrassment to Pittsburgh. The Orangemen are off to their worst start since 1986.

But rest assured, SU fans. Syracuse Director of Athletics Jake Crouthamel thinks he’s found a savior. He thinks he’s discovered a coach who can rebuild the Syracuse program — and it’s Paul Pasqualoni.

Crouthamel said yesterday that, despite this season full of blunders, Pasqualoni will coach Syracuse next year.

“Absolutely, he will,” Crouthamel said. “We don’t evaluate coaches in a snapshot or a one-year situation. We are very conscious of making sure we don’t just make a knee-jerk reaction with these things.”

Instead, Crouthamel said he carefully evaluates the football program based on past and present performance and future potential.

Crouthamel released a statement yesterday regarding that evaluation process. The statement read:

“The university’s expectations of its football program are at a minimum: 1) finishing in the top three of the Big East; 2) finishing among the Top 25 annually; 3) frequent bowl participation, including BCS (Bowl Championship Series) bowl participation; and 4) a high graduation rate.

“From 1991 to 2002, The SU football program has met the first criteria nine times … ranked in the Top 25 nationally eight times, and have gone to bowl games eight of the past 11 years, two of them at the BCS level. The average graduation rate of our football players during that time is 80 percent, placing SU among the highest in that category.”

Translation: since hiring Pasqualoni in 1991, Crouthamel has been happy with the football program.

Crouthamel’s statement continued:

“There is no question that, to date, this has not been a good year for the SU football program. We should, and do, expect better. We will learn from our mistakes. But one thing we know is that we must look not at the current season alone but at the bigger picture. It remains a positive outlook.

“I’m confident that Coach Pasqualoni and his staff will do what is necessary to meet the criteria stated above.”

Translation: Pasqualoni isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

Still, Crouthamel decided to talk about the coaching situation because of the public response to Syracuse’s poor season.

Earlier in the year, Crouthamel said he receives several angry e-mails from fans each day. Recently, Crouthamel’s experienced some anger in person, too.

After Rutgers blocked a Collin Barber field goal and returned it for a touchdown early in Syracuse’s 45-14 victory Saturday, one fan turned toward Crouthamel’s seat in the press box and launched into a tirade. At one point during the two-minute, cold-stared soliloquy, the fan pointed at Crouthamel and mentioned that he wanted a gun, so he could “show (Crouthamel) how angry” he was.

“That comes with the territory,” Crouthamel said. “This isn’t the first time I’ve been through something like this.”

When Syracuse stumbled to a 0-4 start in 1986, Crouthamel took heat as well. Fans called for both Crouthamel and then-head coach Dick MacPherson to be fired.

“In 1986, the pressure from the fans was probably even a little bit worse than this,” MacPherson said. “The fans want to be satisfied every play.”

Pasqualoni said yesterday he isn’t bothered by the turmoil and feels secure. He said he didn’t need Crouthamel’s vote of confidence.

“Personally, no. I didn’t need that,” Pasqualoni said. “I would say that what we’ve done here is very well-documented. The evaluation (of the coaches) is over the long haul. It’s not just one month. I’m very confident in what we’re doing here.

“If you think my feelings are hurt because (of fan reaction) when we don’t play well, they aren’t. You have to understand how I feel. At some points, I want to wring somebody’s neck, too. But I’m the coach, so I can’t do it.”

Staff writer Adam Kilgore contributed to this story.

Published on October 28, 2002 at 12:00 pm