It's about damn time.

DOCTOR Daryl Gross fires head coach Greg Robinson.

The Consultant Roundabout

I wasn't paying much attention to the internet and the goings on of Daryl Gross last night as I was watching Game 1 of the World Series (Go Phils!). In my absence, The New York Times dropped a bomb on their website regarding the coaching situation at Syracuse. The Times reported that DOCTOR Daryl Gross has hired former Big Eight commissioner Chuck Neinas as a consultant on the search for a new head football coach at Syracuse. Neinas was commissioner of the Big Eight from 1971 to 1980. During his tenure, Nebraska (1971) and Oklahoma (1974, 1975) won National Championships in football.

DOCTOR Daryl Gross was quick to deny any such involvement in a supposed coaching search to the Syracuse Post-Standard last night.

"No, it's absolutely not true," Gross told The Post-Standard. "The reality is . . . I haven't hired anyone and the university hasn't hired anyone. It's speculation and it would be inappropriate for me to hire someone (a consulting firm or search firm) at this point."

Asked if someone else may have hired Neinas on behalf of Syracuse University, Gross said, "no, it would be inappropriate."

Are you fucking kidding me? It would be inappropriate to hire someone at this point? How can you even imagine that it would be inappropriate to hire a consultant to look for a replacement for a coach that EVERYONE knows is going to be gone at the end of the season? I mean the guy has a record of 8-34. The only team he has beat this year is a FCS team that is currently 2-5. Yeah, they have a better record than we do!

And you seriously think it would be inappropriate to hire a consultant to look for a new head coach? The only thing that is inappropriate at this point is the fact that you can't get over your ego and fire the head coach that you personally picked. Greg Robinson can not coach. Your refusal to remove him shows that you are an incapable Athletic Director. Get off your damn high horse and actually show the people who are fans of this team that you plan on doing something to ensure that Syracuse Football is worth something again.

One thing that I would like to note about the situation is that I caught an interview this morning that Gomez and Dave of TK-99 were doing with the Voice of the Orange, Matt Park. The only reason I was listening to TK-99 was because I heard that he was going to be on discussing Big East(Basketball) Media Day and I wanted hear what he had to say regarding the team for the coming year. The guys asked Matt what the word was regarding the article and Matt really danced around the topic. There was one line in particular that he said which was really interesting. He said something to the effect of, "I don't know the what is legal to say and what isn't." To me, it sounded like a guy who had a little inside information and because he works for the Athletics Department, didn't want to reveal any information. Hence why he danced around the topic and why he wouldn't comment on the entire situation other than saying that it was a "tough situation".

So perhaps there is more to it. Perhaps the University has hired someone and Daryl Gross is just trying to be PC and doesn't want to make any sort of move until he can actually say that he has hired someone. Although at this point, I don't think we are going to see the dismissal of Greg Robinson until after the season. And quite frankly, that is bullshit.

If you thought the boo birds were bad at half-time of the Penn State game, I can't wait to hear how bad it is at Midnight Madness when Daryl Gross gets up there to give his rah rah speech. If it is anything like last year, we are in for some fun.

DGTII - Week 8

A Tale of Two Halves. I didn't watch the game this weekend so I can't get into the nuances of where we played well and where we played awful. If you are looking for detailed information like that you are better off checking in with The Axeman who sat inside and watched the entire game. Instead of being inside watching what I knew was going to be a pathetic loss to a good South Florida team, I attended the 40 Below Summit.

For those of you who do not know about 40 Below, it is essentially a community engagement organization that strives to make Central New York a much more vibrant and exciting place to live. They are working to remove the defeatist attitude that is pervasive in the community and they are working to get young people involved in the community. It is a good organization and you should definitely check it out.

While attending the 40 Below Summit I took a look at my blackberry to get the score for the game as I was riding a Connective Corridor bus downtown. What I saw was a Syracuse team that was only down 21-13 in the 3rd Quarter. I had no idea how we had looked in the first half or what we had done, but I knew that we were only down by 8 against a team that we had no business playing with. I thought for a moment that maybe we were turning a corner since we have looked decent at times in our recent losses to Pittsburgh and West Virginia.

About an hour later, I looked at my blackberry again and the score was 38-13. So much for the good feelings. Thank you 40 Below for the after party and the beer.

Based on these second half stats alone (0 first downs, 18 plays, 9 total yards, 1-10 passing, 6:40 time of possession), I am pretty sure you know what the team gets for the weekly DGTII:

Daryl Gross thinks Nike is extraordinary

Extraordinary. It is a word that isn't often used these days. It might be used to describe some yuppie restaurant or dessert bar but it isn't something that I would use in a day to day conversation. I think that most people in the blue collar town that is Syracuse would tend to use words such as "great" or "awesome" as opposed to extraordinary regardless of the fact that some of our local towns sound like they come from England where I imagine them using extraordinary to describe their tea and crumpets.

DOCTOR Daryl Gross would actually prefer if you start using the word extraordinary in regular conversation. In fact, it is his mission that Syracuse Athletics and the word extraordinary are used so often in the same sentence that he has named the new magazine of Syracuse University Athletics, "bE".

I appreciate that the Athletic Department has started a new magazine to keep us updated on what is going on with their programs however the presentation is once again just another piece in the DOCTOR Daryl Gross self-promotion machine. It all starts with a picture on the cover of the bad DOCTOR holding what looks like a 3-D rendering of the Carmelo Center.

Inside you will find a letter from DOCTOR Daryl Gross explaining the new magazine and talking about some of the features you will see in the magazine including a word from all of our great coaches. Noticeably absent from the coaches listing was swimming and diving coach Lou Walker. No bother though, I'll just tell the kids that are still competing in NCAA events for the Syracuse swimming and diving team that they are irrelevant.

The one positive thing I will say about this magazine is that it really is not like most magazines or really anything you would expect out of the Athletics Department. There were no advertisements in the entire thing. I was shocked as I was flipping through the pages to not find Billy Fucillo next to a picture of Patrick Shadle from last year saying "It's HUUUUUUUUGE!" Hell, even the "Heavy Hitters" of Alexander and Catalano are conspicuously absent. (Anyone remember when their slogan was "We're two, for you"? no homo.)

I was impressed. That is, until I got to the feature on Nike. Like most other Syracuse related material these days, there was a big old Nike Swoosh in the middle of the page. They talked with the Director of College Marketing for Nike who told us nothing that we didn't already know. I'm really not sure what the piece on Nike had to do with the fact that Syracuse Athletics is Extraordinary, but then again I guess DOCTOR Daryl Gross had to pay for the circulation somehow.

Syracuse Athletics Babe of the Week

Emily Kaier is a Senior on the Volleyball squad. Apparently we have a penchant for Volleyball players in the SABOTW. Emily was recently the topic of a segment on SUAthletics.com called "Off the Court" where she answered some questions that we were all wondering. For instance, Paul Walker of Varsity Blues fame happens to be the person she would most like to have dinner with. Sorry Danny, try harder next time. Emily was a member of the Athletic Director's Honor Roll the past three seasons as well as being Big East Academic All Star each year. She also has some hops, setting the record for high jump at Oswego High School (5'6"). Emily is majoring in psychology and forensic science.

[Photo: SUAthletics.com]

DGTII - Week 7

Since we had a bye week in Week 6 of the season there was no DGTII. Although I suppose I really should have given the team 5 Daryl Gross mugs for not losing to the bye week then because it was more of the same with a disappointing loss in Week 7.

The Orangemen had the Mountaineers right where we wanted them, only down by four points, 10-6, until we let Noel Devine go off for 92 yards and a touchdown to seal the victory. Things won't get much easier for the Orangemen this coming week down at South Florida and while Greg Robinson did make some positive adjustments (4-2-5 defense anyone?), he still failed to make the right calls when needed to ensure that we walked away with the victory.

Once again, we did some positive things in the game. If you had told me that we would put up 346 yards, go 8-18 on third down, average 4.0 yards a carry, and possess the ball for 35:16 in the game, I would have told you that we won. The problem continues to be putting all of the pieces together to get a complete game and a win out of the Orange.

So with that, The DGTII for Week 7:

DGTII for Week 7:

Mayorial Links

• Foremer Orangeman, Dave Bing, filed papers yesterday to run for Mayor of Detroit in a special election being held next year


• Desmond Conner of the Hartford Courant thinks there is no way Randy Edsall leaves UConn for a much worse program in Syracuse


• There is a new blog out there called The Saltine Warrior. Nice guys. We should bring him back.


• In hot seat news, my mom says that Greg Robinson will not be fired before the end of the season. She is usually right about these things so it is at least food for thought.