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Dick MacPherson will join Syracuse’s Ring of Honor on Nov. 23 when the football team hosts UConn at the JMA Wireless Dome, SU Athletics announced Wednesday. From 1981 to 1990, MacPherson led the Orange to a 66-46-4 record, three bowl game victories and an unbeaten 1987 season as their head coach. MacPherson will become the ninth member of SU’s Ring of Honor, which was established in 2020.

The Orange went 6-15-1 across MacPherson’s first two years at the helm before notching consecutive 6-5 seasons in 1983-84 and going 7-5 in 1985. SU took a step back in 1986, falling to 5-6, before embarking on one of its best stretches in program history. In 1987, Syracuse corralled its second unbeaten season in program history, finishing the year 11-0-1 after tying Auburn in the Sugar Bowl. That year, SU returned to national polls for the first time since 1971 while MacPherson was a consensus pick for National Coach of the Year.

Syracuse followed up its 1987 campaign by going 10-2, 8-4 and 7-4-2, respectively, in its final three years with MacPherson at the helm. In 1988, SU won its first bowl game in nearly a decade before also notching victories in 1989 and 1990. Following his stint with the Orange, MacPherson became the head coach of the New England Patriots — where he coached from 1991-92 before retiring.

In addition to coaching at Syracuse, he was the head coach at UMass from 1971-77. Throughout his college football career, MacPherson notched a 111–73–5 record as a head coach. MacPherson was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2009. His 66 wins at SU are the third-most in program history behind Paul Pasqualoni (107) and Ben Schwartzwalder (153). MacPherson was 86 when he died on Aug. 8, 2017.