FORMER SYRACUSE COACH MACPHERSON DIES
Dick MacPherson, who who turned Syracuse football into a solid national program in the
1980s, has died at 86, the school said Tuesday. MacPherson was at Syracuse for 10 seasons, compiling a record of 66-46-4. He also coached at Massachusetts for seven seasons and the New England Patriots for two years. MacPherson was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2009. His best team at Syracuse was the
1987 squad, which went 11-0-1 with the tie coming against Auburn in the Sugar Bowl. That team finished fourth in the final polls, the highest ranking any of his teams hit. He had a record of 3-1-1 in bowl games. In the eight seasons before he arrived in 1981, Syracuse was 34-55. His first head coaching job came at UMass, where he went 45-27-1 and led the team to the NCAA Division II quarterfinal in his final season. He then spent four years coaching linebackers for the Cleveland Browns before going back to college coaching. After winning the Aloha Bowl at Syracuse in 1990, MacPherson took the head coaching position with the Patriots, going 6-10 and 2-14 in two seasons. — Kevin Spain