With a new name in Syracuse's Ring of Honor coming, here's who should be next

Two of Syracuse's five all-time lacrosse coaches will soon be represented when John Desko's name is added to the Dome's wall next month.

May 25, 2013; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Syracuse Orange head coach John Desko reacts to an officials call against the Denver Pioneers during the fourth quarter of the 2013 NCAA Division I Men's Lacrosse Semifinals at Lincoln Financial Field. Syracuse won the game 9-8. Mandatory Credit: Rich Barnes-Imagn Images | Rich Barnes-Imagn Images

When you think about it, with Roy Simmons Jr. immortalized in 2022 and Desko's honor first announced in January and occurring April 11th at halftime of the Virginia game, the three other all-time Syracuse lacrosse coaches in the 110-seasons the university has played the sport, would seemingly be eventual candidates to have their names adorned as part of the "Ring" as well.

There are currently nine (with Desko) members of the Ring of honor, which now has expanded to the south side wall after Dave Bing's name was added in 2024.

Syracuse lacrosse coaching and the Hall of Fame go hand-in-hand

The lax program's founder, Laurie Cox, introduced the sport to the university in 1916, served 16 years transforming the competition to full-time, won or shared four national championships, and was inducted into the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 1957.

Cox's successor, Roy Simmons Sr., was quite simply one of the greatest athletes not only of his era, but in SU athletics history. In both the 1924-25 national championship seasons, Simmons Sr. played every minute of every lax game. He then went on to coach 40 seasons, including the undefeated 1957 team, and was inducted into the Lax Hall in 1964.

Current Orange coach Gary Gait has already had his famous jersey No. 22 raised high above the Dome with by virtue of his Hall of Fame playing career, and is in the midst of firmly establishing his coaching career at Syracuse after directing first the women's team and now the men's program since 2007.

Time to also add Paul Pasqualoni's name to the Ring of Honor

We have long maintained Pasqualoni deserves induction in the college football Hall of Fame after building upon the foundation built by Dick MacPherson in the 1980s at SU, and his longtime accomplishments as a coach in the sport of many levels of competition.

Over 14 seasons after replacing Coach Mac, Pasqualoni, who was not even well-known to Orange fans after serving as the linebackers coach from 1987-90 when he took over the job in 1991, and all he did was win 107 of the 167 games (nearly 65%) he coached on The Hill.

Coach P had the Orange contending as a Top 10 team in 1992-93, oversaw the four great years of the Donovan McNabb era, and even competed back with a goal to beat SU as the opposing coach at UConn in 2011-13, and as an assistant at BC in 2016-17. But we will not hold that against him.

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