George McDonald had a day off on Saturday, but he sat in his office analyzing film, not even 24 hours removed from Syracuse’s latest offensive blunder.

The phone rang around 8 p.m. It was Scott Shafer, informing him he was no longer the Orange’s offensive coordinator.

“I wasn’t happy,” McDonald said. “If I would’ve known I was only going to get 18 games to be offensive coordinator, I would’ve stayed at the University of Arkansas. I would’ve never came here.”

When McDonald came out of the first set of doors in the Iocalano-Petty Football Wing of Manley Field House on Tuesday night to speak publicly for the first time since his demotion, he looked to his right at the assembled media members. They had formed a two-person-deep semi-circle outside the door where they’d last seen Tim Lester — the man who holds the job McDonald had four days ago.

“Fair’s judgment. I don’t know if anyone gets a fair shake if they get demoted after five games,” McDonald said.

McDonald walked across the hallway in the football wing and with Lester not available just yet, reporters gathered around him. He discussed his role moving forward, his relationship with Lester and Shafer, and the feeling of being demoted to solely being the Orange’s wide receivers coach.

Early on in his interview, McDonald noted that Syracuse was fourth in the ACC in total offense before losing to Louisville and added that he thought the offense was in a better spot now than it was this time last year. And after defending the job he’d done as offensive coordinator, McDonald detailed how the weekend played out.

After talking with Shafer on Saturday night, McDonald zoned out from his film analysis. He drove home and tried to regroup. He cried. He talked to his mom. He read the Bible. He said he didn’t sleep much that night.

“You wake up and you hope everything was a dream and then you realize it’s not a dream,” he said.

On Sunday, Shafer announced the news to the team and practice went on as usual, McDonald said. The Lester-led SU offense met for the first time and McDonald had to adjust to being the one not talking through the meeting or blowing the whistle to stop plays in practice.

When the Orange takes the field against No. 1 Florida State on Saturday at noon, McDonald will be on the sideline, trading places with a graduate assistant who will chart plays next to Lester up in the booth.

“I’m hurt, I’m angry, I’m frustrated,” McDonald said.

The Syracuse coaches have not discussed McDonald’s recruiting role since the coaching switch, he said. He didn’t speculate on what his future in Syracuse looks like, but didn’t commit to SU beyond this season, either.

“Syracuse doesn’t need George McDonald to be Syracuse,” he said. “I mean, Syracuse was before I got here and it’ll be after whenever it’s time for me to go. They’ll continue to get great players.”

His biggest task now, he said, is to be a “teammate” to Lester and help the new offensive coordinator right the ship.

As the wide receivers coach, McDonald said he can give the unit undivided attention, and said it’s time for him to epitomize how he has taught them to act.

“I can’t leave because I’ve asked them to invest so much in what we were doing,” McDonald said, “and to give me so much, so I can’t — just because I’m not happy — turn my back on these kids because none of them have ever turned their back on me.”

He also said he couldn’t rule anything out. He never thought he’d be in this situation, he said, and added that nothing like this has ever happened to him in his coaching career.

On Monday, McDonald’s players went back to their same classes with their same professors. They started another week. He went to work coaching the same football team, but in a reduced role.

And some time during the day, he said, he cried again.

“The biggest thing that I always tell guys is that if you work really hard and you’re not successful, you can’t be mad because you know you gave everything that you had,” McDonald said. “And I really believe I gave it everything I had.”

Sports editor Jesse Dougherty and asst. copy editor Sam Blum contributed reporting to this article 

Published on October 7, 2014 at 10:14 pm