Bills hire 'Cuse's Marrone as coach
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — It’s official: Doug Marrone is the Buffalo Bills’ new coach.
The franchise released the announcement via text message on Monday, and a news conference at the team’s facility followed.
Hired after going 25-25 in four seasons at Syracuse, Marrone agreed to the contract on Sunday. The 48-year-old from the Bronx takes over a week after Chan Gailey was fired following three consecutive losing seasons.
Marrone becomes the Bills’ fifth coach in 12 years, and inherits a franchise that newly promoted team president Russ Brandon described as having a “tarnished” reputation.
“We went through an exhaustive and exhilarating search in hiring the right man to build the future and culture of a winning franchise,” Brandon said, noting that the Bills and Marrone met as many as five times over the past week. “And we believe we just did that.”
Buffalo’s 13-season playoff drought is the NFL’s longest active streak, and the team has not had a winning record since 2004, when it finished 9-7.
