Fact: Daryl Gross Hates Tradition

Syracuse University has a proud athletic history. I don't think I have to remind you of our lacrosse program which has won 9 National Championships or the basketball team which has seen 29 winning seasons under current head coach, Jim Boeheim. I'm sure you know what #44 means, not only to the football team, but to the University itself. I don't expect you to know of the days when the Syracuse Crew team won 10 National Championships in 24 years or of when Syracuse fielded strongly competitive teams in Boxing, Gymnastics and Wrestling.

But while we have a proud athletic history, we certainly don't have a lot of tradition. If you look at the SUAthletics website, and visit the SU Tradition section, you will see there isn't a whole lot that the University itself has to offer. Aside from The Saltine Warrior, Orangemen or #44 there really isn't a lot of tradition at Syracuse.

I talk with many of my friends all the time, about how Syracuse has no identity. Until the block "S" was decided on as the official logo of Syracuse Athletics, there were probably a good 20 or 30 different logos that you would see at any point in time. Take a look at any other college that actually has a proud tradition and you will see that they all use one logo all the time. This is probably the one thing that Daryl Gross has got right in his tenure at Syracuse.

I can't say the same about the uniforms which change every year. And this, my friends, brings me to my first Daryl Gross Fact. Daryl Gross hates tradition. You have to look no further than the biggest mistake that was made regarding the football program, aside from the hiring of Greg Robinson, the retirement of the Number 44. In case anyone didn't notice, the only real tradition that we had as far as Syracuse Football is concerned was that great Tailbacks wore the Number 44. When Daryl Gross retired #44, he retired Syracuse as a pipeline for great tailbacks and he killed the only tradition that we actually have.