The Coaching Carousel Continues

Cusecoops beat me to the joke, but is there really anything that we wouldn't expect from DOCTOR Daryl Gross at this point?

Bling University?

For anyone that wasn't at the basketball game this evening, let me tell you that you missed one hell of a halftime. I have no idea why, but during break some really horrendous rap music came on over the few decibel too high Carrier Dome speaker system. Running out onto the court was some pedestrian rapper and his ridiculous looking entourage. The pranced about the court in comical fashion and all I could really gather from the song was that the rapper felt that Syracuse has some of the loudest crowds. It was somewhat ironic, seeing as how he drew a rather large boo from one section of the Dome.

Really, this is what our brilliant Marketing department under DOCTOR Daryl Gross' wife can come up with? Lael, In case you didn't know, this isn't Southern California. You would have received a better response from bringing in a country artist or someone with a bit of a classic rock background. There are plenty of talented local musicians or even university bands that would have received a better response, and wouldn't have looked anywhere near as ridiculous. Next time, just bring in Eli to play a little of his Syracuse inspired Blues/Rock and I'm pretty sure he would at least get a cheer instead of some boos.

Do you smell what the DOCTOR is cooking?

I think that most of us saw this coming. Greg Robinson was going to be back as head football coach at Syracuse in 2008. What I really want to know is why did it take DOCTOR Daryl Gross so long to make this pronouncement?

There is plenty of fire in the pot regarding whether or not this was the right move for Syracuse at this time. DOCTOR Daryl Gross sure believes it is. I'm digesting some thoughts before really going in depth with the situation, but I still want an answer to my question.

I have to believe that DOCTOR Daryl Gross has known for a long time that Greg Robinson would be back in 2008. There simply wasn't anything that could have happened during the Cincinnati game which would have changed the outcome of this season. Really, for the past several weeks of the season it was painfully obvious that Syracuse just wasn't a going to do anything this year. If we all could see it, I am sure that DOCTOR Daryl Gross could see it. I can say that DOCTOR Daryl Gross is a lot of things, but I can't say that he is a complete idiot. He had to have seen the discontent with each mounting loss. He had to see the complete uncompetitiveness of this unit and surely he had to see that there was nothing that this coaching staff was going to do that would solve the problem.

Since he had to have seen all of that, why didn't he start to talk with people close to the program and throughout the Syracuse community several weeks ago so that he could have announced the day after the football season was over that Greg Robinson would be returning as head coach? He could have easily sent out feelers to other coaches to see if they were interested in the Syracuse job throughout that time and would have at least known what to make of the entire situation.

To leave Greg Robinson's job status uncertain for the past four days was a public relations nightmare and I really expected much more from a spinster such as DOCTOR Daryl Gross.

In Case You Missed It

Greg Robinson is back next year. Way to completely botch the process DOCTOR Gross.

And in more Daryl Gross is Egotistical news, the headline was, of course, Gross Issues Statement On University's Football Program.

I'll be back for more after I let myself cool down a little.

In Case You Were Wondering

Daryl, you should probably be doing things like this and this.

Average Week for Syracuse Athletics

With Football season finally over, Daryl Gross can relax a little as fans will quickly forget the sins of the season assuming that Jim Boeheim's squad has a good year. With that being said here are the results from last week:

• Football: 0-1 (.000)


• Men's Basketball: 1-1 (.500)


• Women's Basketball: 1-0 (1.00)


• Total: 2-2 (.500)

This was a pretty mediocre week for Syracuse sports as far as the record was concerned. The Women's Basketball team faced off against Lehigh and made short work of them while the means team took third place in a four team tournament in New York. The Football team continued their dismal play by giving their final home game to Cincinnati. As of yet, there has been no announcement from the good DOCTOR as to whether or not Greg Robinson will be back, although all signs seem to be pointing that he will be.

Happy Thanksgiving!

On this Thanksgiving day in 2007, lets take a moment and give thanks for the Top 10 things that DOCTOR Daryl Gross has brought to Syracuse Athletics:

1. The only 10 loss season in our storied football history. (Maybe the second after Saturday)


2. Football ticket price hike after a 1-10 season.


3. Racially motivated speak regarding Duke Lacrosse transfers:

   "I wouldn't be interested in our coaches recruiting players from Duke, given the situation. I think it would be inappropriate. . . . So the policy for us would be 'No.'"



4. A cornucopia of advertisements the moment you step foot into the Dome.


5. Disbanding of the Swimming and Diving Teams yet not honoring the full scholarships of those students.


6. Some of the ugliest uniforms in the country.


7. Jim Boeheim Court being defiled by advertisements.


8. Notre Dame has saved us from the distinction of being the worst team in the country.


9. Lacrosse Final Four streak coming to an end.


10. And finally, a Turkey for a football coach.

Fairness Doctrine

Perhaps I am naive, but I Was reading the latest from Donnie Webb over on Syracuse.com and he made mention of the "Fairness Doctrine".

From what I know of Syracuse University, there certainly is very little fairness when it comes to being a fan. Aside from the fact that our football team absolutely stinks and that the entire athletics department as a whole is doing worse off since Daryl Gross took over, there are many other things that are completely unfair to fans.

The barrage of advertising that is played at every Syracuse contest is one of those things. I know this has been mentioned by so many of my fellow bloggers out there so I am not going to rehash what has been said, but I found it interesting that after all of the complaining about the level of noise as far as the advertisements go I thought that the noise level was a little less than what it normally is at the Fordham basketball game. I am anxious to hear the noise level of the advertisements for the upcoming football game, but I really felt like the ads were a little less unobtrusive last game. And, there was no time warner dice game. Hopefully that is something that continues throughout this season.

Also, I think most of us fans are pretty sick of the double speak and creative writing that surrounds the athletics department. Syracuse loses it's 18th conference game out of 20 in the Greg Robinson era? Let's talk about Mike Williams instead. Syracuse is in the bottom of the barrel of BCS teams in almost all statistical categories? We have a kickoff returner who has set records this season! The swimming and diving teams have been dumped? We have swimmers who have set University records and will forever be in the record books!

I found out a couple of weeks ago that the new garage that was built a few years ago raised parking fees to $20. I was floored. The garage is farther away from the Dome than the Crouse Garage and now it costs $10 more? From what I can only imagine, the athletics department is hurting, but give me a break! What's next? $15 Hoffman Hot Dogs at the game? Beer for $30 a glass?

But then again, this is DOCTOR Daryl Gross' Athletic Department and as long as he puts his name on it, that is the way it is going to be.

Fact: Daryl Gross Condones Dishonesty

An interesting tidbit from TNIAAM, apparently the Syracuse Athletics website is showing that Syracuse beat UConn and is now 3-8. Don't just take me word for it, visit the site and see for yourself.

And just in case DOCTOR Gross decides that he wants to be a little more honest with us I took a screen shot.

I never thought things would get so bad for DOCTOR Gross and the Athletic Department that they now have to resort to fraud in order to cover their backs.

Women's Basketball Helps Provide a Winning Week

I'm sure that DOCTOR Daryl Gross was breathing a sigh of relief when the Women's Basketball team rallied in the second half of their game against Coppin State to close out with a 69-65 victory on Saturday. The win ensured that the Orange would go 4-3 this week and would raise the overall record of the Women's Basketball program under DOCTOR Gross.

With their loss on Friday in the Big East tournament against Louisville, the Volleyball program finished their season.

For the Football program, Gross only has one more dismal week to sit through before we lean the fate of Greg Robinson. Analysis from Hartford Courant writer Desmond Connor, a twenty year Syracuse resident, is that Robinson should stay while the Axeman provides us with his Memo/Open-letter to DOCTOR Gross regarding Greg Robinson.

• Football: 0-1 (.000)


• Men's Basketball: 3-0 (1.000)


• Women's Basketball: 1-1 (.500)


• Volleyball: 0-1 (.000)


• Total: 4-3 (.571)

Orange in Decline

After a couple of comments on my blog, I compiled the records of the Athletics Programs that I have been tracking under DOCTOR Daryl Gross for the years prior to his arrival on campus. Without much more of an explanation here are the how those sports fared under Jake from the Summer of 2001 until DOCTOR Daryl Gross was hired.

Men's Lacrosse: 40-10 (.800) [Worse under DOCTOR Gross]
Men's Basketball: 61-19 (.763) [Worse under DOCTOR Gross]
Women's Lacrosse: 29-18 (.617)
Volleyball: 75-47 (.615) [Worse under DOCTOR Gross]
Field Hockey: 43-36 (.544)
Football: 26-22 (.542) [Worse under DOCTOR Gross]
Women's Soccer: 32-35-6 (.479) [Worse under DOCTOR Gross]
Tennis: 29-32 (.475)
Softball: 67-75 (.472)
Women's Basketball: 40-54 (.426) [Worse under DOCTOR Gross]
Men's Soccer: 24-37-7 (.404)
Total: 466-385-13 (.548) [Worse under DOCTOR Gross]

The records in Bold have fared worse under DOCTOR Daryl Gross. This really begs the question, are the minimal gains in Men's Soccer, Softball, Tennis, Field Hockey and Women's Lacrosse really worth the overall loss of competitiveness by the Orangemen and Orangewomen under DOCTOR Daryl Gross.

Where is Mr. Excitement When You Need Him?

So how mad must Daryl Gross be that he couldn't pump deafening advertisements over the Carrier Dome PA System during the Syracuse/Siena Matchup because the game was part of the NIT Tournament and the NCAA doesn't allow that sort of nonsense.

What good does it do the University to not be able to sell advertisements for the first two games of the basketball season when they will be attended by just about the same amount of people that went to the last football game (if you believe those inflated attendance numbers).

I guess we have to wait until Friday against Fordham for the Time Warner Dice Game to make a triumphant return.

Women's Hockey

According to an article by the Daily Orange, Daryl Gross might be making the wrong decision in dumping Swimming and Diving in favor of Women's Ice Hockey.

Mare MacDougall, assistant coach at St. Lawrence University up North, who happen to be ranked 4th in the country had this to say about Syracuse,

"I don't think anyone can conclude that Syracuse University will only want to recruit N.Y. players. I would only assume, looking at what I've learned through recruiting, that that is not feasible for them."

This seems in clear contrast to DOCTOR Daryl Gross' comments in June when he announced that Syracuse would be adding Women's Hockey. Gross said,

"We welcome the opportunity to field a women’s ice hockey team. It provides the potential for an outstanding student-athlete experience, and success is limitless given the area of the country we live in, the facility we have on campus, and the popularity of the sport. Women’s ice hockey gives us a significant opportunity to compete at a national level, especially given the talent in Upstate New York and surrounding areas."

So who do you trust? Personally, I'll trust the assistant coach on a program that consistently fields a winning team over our malfunctioning Athletic Director any day.

Losing Week for SU Sports

Every Monday, I will be giving you the record for the Athletic Programs for the prior week. This update is for the past 11 days since I last gave an update:

Football: 0-2 (.000)
Men's Soccer: 0-1 (.000)
Field Hockey: 0-1 (.000)
Volleyball: 3-2 (.600)

Total: 3-6 (.333)

With Daryl Gross at the helm of Syracuse Athletics, we start off our weekly outlook with a losing record. I'm sure that DOCTOR Gross is really excited that basketball starts tonight and that some of the other sports are ending their Fall seasons. The major hope for Gross is that the Women's Basketball team can improve over last year otherwise the wins that the Men's team should provide could be a moot point.

Where's All The Love?

Based on this article from LA Times sports columnist, Bill Dwyre, I think we hired the wrong person out of USC.

Daryl Gross' former associate at USC, Lisa Love, is now the Athletic Director at Arizona State and seems to have their athletic programs headed in the right direction.

Continuing Mediocrity

I added the records for several other Syracuse programs to the collective "Record Under Gross". Most of our sports struggle with mediocrity under this new administration. I also ranked them in the order of highest winning percentage to lowest. As you can see by the list, without Men's Basketball, Women's Lacrosse and Women's Tennis, we would be sitting at a record of 271-297 (.477).

Many people have mentioned that this isn't just about football and I certainly agree. The problem is that outside of a few select programs, Syracuse Athletics stink. And when the Athletics Department as a whole fails to produce, we have to look at the man who is responsible for the administrative decisions regarding the coaches of all the struggling units. And of course that man is Daryl Gross.

Women's Basketball and Lacrosse

I've added the records for Women's Basketball and Lacrosse under Daryl Gross. Any bright spot that the Women's Lacrosse program brought to the table (with a .654 winning percentage) quickly was erased by the abysmal .325 winning percentage of the Basketball program.