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Longtime former Syracuse assistant coach George DeLeone died Tuesday night. He was 73 years old. 

DeLeone coached for 50 years, spending 17 of them at SU as an assistant under head coaches Dick MacPherson and Paul Pasqualoni.

After stints at Rutgers and Holy Cross in the early 1980s, MacPherson hired DeLeone to be his offensive line coach in 1985. Two years later, DeLeone added offensive coordinator to his duties, and he helped bring in the freeze option to the Orange’s offense, propelling them to an undefeated season in 1987 behind quarterback Don McPherson. 

After one year with the San Diego Chargers in 1997, DeLeone returned to Syracuse as an associate head coach, and he led both the offense and defense before Pasqualoni was fired after the 2004 season. 

DeLeone spent time with several college and NFL teams after leaving SU, including a stint as the Cleveland Browns offensive line coach in 2015. DeLeone reunited with Pasqualoni as an assistant at Connecticut from 2011-13. 

The New Jersey High School Football Coaches Association tweeted on Sunday that DeLeone, who had been battling cancer, was being moved to hospice care. DeLeone last coached at Baylor as an offensive line coach in 2017, and he also worked with the Bears as a consultant. The Baylor program confirmed his death Tuesday night in a tweet. 

George DeLeone, who spent 17 years at Syracuse as an assistant died on Tuesday night. He coached under head coaches Dick MacPherson and Paul Pasqualoni. Courtesy of UConn Athletics

DeLeone was well known for his recruiting efforts, particularly in New Jersey. DeLeone, Pasqualoni and other Syracuse coaches frequently ran clinics in the state, as well as around the northeast, developing strong relationships with area high school coaches in the process. 

“It was the work of, I believe, DeLeone and Pasqualoni doing clinics … in high schools in the northeast that really helped the pipeline of players coming to Syracuse,” McPherson told The D.O. last summer. 

DeLeone was also the lead recruiter on quarterback Donavan McNabb, who won three Big East championships at Syracuse and was drafted No. 2 in the 1999 NFL Draft. The Orange enjoyed a stretch from 1987-2000 where they won double-digit games five times and made 13 bowl game appearances while consistently playing in a sold-out Carrier Dome. 

“It was a golden time,” DeLeone told The D.O. in July when speaking about his time at SU. “We had great players that worked their tail off. We had a great culture. I haven’t been around anywhere — and I’ve coached in a lot of places all over this country — where there was that strong a football culture of kids that wanted to be good and kids that wanted to work.”

Published on March 2, 2022 at 1:37 pm

Contact Connor: csmith49@syr.edu | @csmith17_