Syracuse, N.Y. — George McDonald's departure from the Syracuse coaching staff seems to be happening as anticipated.

The wide receivers coach has accepted the same position at North Carolina State, according to Sports Illustrated college football writer Thayer Evans. The news was confirmed by Jeff Bertani, the head coach at North Miami Beach High School and a close friend of McDonald's.

Syracuse WRs coach George McDonald has accepted the same position at North Carolina State per source. — Thayer Evans (@ThayerEvansTLA) January 6, 2015

The move means Syracuse will have a new wide receivers coach for the third straight year.

That McDonald was widely regarded as the team's top recruiter with deep ties to South Florida could be even more damaging to the program's effort to climb out of the cellar of the ACC's Atlantic Division. NC State is in the same division.

McDonald was hired to be the offensive coordinator for Syracuse in 2013 before being demoted to wide receivers coach five games into the 2014 season.

Feeling "blindsided" by the move, McDonald said, "if I would've known I was only going to get 18 games to be offensive coordinator ... I would've never came here."

McDonald later apologized and hasn't made any public comments since. It was widely believed he would hit the coaching market and look for other jobs after the season.

Syracuse finished 3-9 (1-7 ACC) and is coming off a dreadful year on offense in which starting quarterback Terrel Hunt missed the final seven games and the unit saw several key injuries to wide receiver and along the offensive line.

McDonald's arrival signaled a desire to run an uptempo offensive system that he hoped matched some of the top offenses in the country, like Texas A&M or Oregon. It never manifested itself on the field, and Tim Lester will now get his chance to install his own system.

Syracuse finished near the bottom of the FBS in several offensive categories. It averaged 17.1 points per game, 118th in the country and second-to-last among major conference schools.

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