Dedicated to the removal of Daryl Gross as Athletic Director of Syracuse University. We have experienced enough pain with Syracuse Athletics under his guidance. The time for change is now!
So in case you haven't seen the news, Syracuse will be playing home games against USC (2012) and Notre Dame (2014 and 2016) a little far from home. 188 miles from home actually. According to Athletic Director Daryl Gross,
"It's nice to know the new Meadowlands people recruited us. We started a relationship. They're very serious about it. Obviously, we're very excited financially with the terms. It has the makings to be a terrific relationship for the future of our program."
What Syracuse fans within driving distance of the Carrier Dome will be serious about is the fact that the value of your season ticket package in 2012, 2014 and 2016 completely plummeted.
DOCTOR Daryl Gross, in his infinite wisdom, announced Doug Marrone as the 28th head football coach at Syracuse University. Before this week, we would have been asking the same thing you are right now, "Who the hell is Doug Marrone?" It turns out that Doug is an SU Almnus who has spent that past 6 years working in the NFL. Prior to the NFL he was with various college institutions, including Division I-AA/III/III powerhouses Cortland St., Northeastern and the US Coast Guard Academy.
Marrone has not been in the Northeast College Football realm since 1994. Yes, that is before most current High school footballer players were even playing Pop Warner.
Before 2006, Marrone never held a coaching position higher than Offensive Line Coach. In 2006 he was named the Offensive Coordinator for the New Orleans Saints (although Sean Payton continues to call the plays).
I salute the fact that DOCTOR Daryl Gross saw that people wanted a coach who is passionate about Syracuse football. The problem is, Marrone has no experience as a head coach, he has no recruiting ties any longer and it looks like we are going to be stuck with 4 years of the new GROB.
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.
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.
The Charleston Daily Mail has an article about the Mountaineers not looking past Syracuse this weekend. While this is a nice little gesture by Bill Stewart, we all know that WVU has better things to prepare for... such as their date with #20 Auburn on 10.23.
The interesting note that the Daily Mail made was that Greg Robinson made his first appearance as the Head Coach of the Orangemen against West Virginia in 2005. Could his final appearance as Head Coach come against the Mountaineers as well?
I know that there has been plenty of speculation regarding his future, but wouldn't it really be fitting to fire him after a loss at West Virginia? A loss to West Virginia would put him at 2-22 in the Big East and quite frankly there isn't much more that he can do to prove just how inept he is. West Virginia is the closest thing to a rival that Syracuse has in the Big East, with the Schwartzwalder Trophy being awarded to the winner each year.
Much like Paul Pasqualoni's final season was marked by bookend blowouts, it would only be fitting if Daryl Gross did the right thing and fired Greg Robinson on bookend losses to West Virginia. After all, he doesn't have anything to lose.
As reported pretty much everywhere (TNIAAM, Axeman, Idiots, Orange Squeeze, and of course haslanekiffinbeenfired.com), Lane Kiffin was released by the Oakland Raiders. Kiffin will have a press conference today. Some suspect that Daryl Gross, who said that Lane would be near the top of any shortlist for any Syracuse vacancy, will be present at the press conference to announce that Kiffin is the new head coach at Syracuse (before Donnie Webb goes ballistic on me as well, this is complete fabrication).
If you are a resident of the Syracuse area, you probably know about the Fly Syracuse campaign. The Fly Syracuse campaign is an attempt to keep airline fees out of Hancock International Airport low. Their intent is to convince people to fly through the carriers at Hancock instead of driving to Rochester or Albany where the flights are much cheaper. The campaign has put together billboards, print advertisement and has television commercials featuring local people flapping their arms like a bird in areas around Syracuse. One of the most famous images from the commercial happens to by Syracuse Athletics Director DOCTOR Daryl Gross flapping his arms like a buffoon on the steps of Hendricks Chapel. (Check the 0:08 second mark of the following video)
However, the news came out in Donnie Webb's blog yesterday that the Athletics Department is going to be making a few purchases. First comes the news that ribbon boards may soon be added to the Carrier Dome (which I have long thought would make it look so much better). The second and more important news which I caught on the Idiot's blog this morning was that the Athletics Department may soon have their own private jet. All I can say is are you fucking kidding me?
I know that DOCTOR Daryl Gross is Mr. Hollywood. But honestly? You think a private jet makes sense here?
I don't know about you guys, but I actually keep tabs on private jets and those things are pretty damn expensive to use every year. With the cost of aviation fuel skyrocketing, how exactly can the Athletics Department justify that cost? I took a look at one of the premiere companies for private jet timesharing, NetJets, to get an idea of the cost of using a jet for a year and it is unbelievable.
For a base fee of $416,625 a year you can own a 1/16 share in a jet from them. Tack on an acquisition fee, management fees, occupation fees, and other hidden costs and you can see that this could balloon pretty quick. But let's just assume that it would cost you the base fee for a a 1/16 share of a jet per year. That turns into $6,666,000 a year to essentially own the jet. Let's say that they have a roughly 25% profit margin and it is going to cost you $5,000,000 to own your own private jet each year.
Think about all of the things that they could fund with $5,000,000. The Athletics Department could take 4 years of that and build the Olympic facility that is needed for swimming and diving, Tennity Ice Pavilion could be expanded so that the Women's Ice Hockey program could play on campus, we could fully fund scholarships for sports that were dissolved years ago such as Baseball and Wrestling.
And of course while doing that, DOCTOR Daryl Gross could continue to be featured in advertisements promoting the use of local air carriers. Not to mention all the US Airways Frequent Flyer miles he could be racking up...
I love Steiner Sports Collectibles. If you are a Syracuse Alumnus, have purchased anything from the Carrier Dome Box Office, or just plain happen to have had your email address sold by any number of data collection agencies, you have probably received an email from them. In a strategic move that was announced in 2006, DOCTOR Daryl Gross partnered with Scott Steiner who apparently has just as big of an ego as the good DOCTOR himself.
Steiner Collectibles is where you can find amazing Syracuse items. From a game-used ball from our only Big East win last season for $200 to actual travel bags used by the 2006 football team for $100, just hope that they washed them out before selling them...
There are some real gems on the list, including game worn jerseys. Game worn jerseys are definitely a big thing. I don't find them as appealing as a real good throwback, but I can understand the interest in owning the jersey that Dwight Freeney wore when he sacked Michael Vick four and a half times in the Dome. What I don't understand are some of the choices that they have for game worns on Steiner Collectibles. For instance, at only $299, you can own a jersey worn by Carroll Madison. Come on, you know Madison. He was a member of that really solid offensive line that gave up 54 sacks last season.
So it is always funny to me when I get emails from the Athletics Department telling me about the great offers that they have from Steiner Sports. Typically I just delete them and I really should just remove myself from the mailing list but the laughter I get out of each and every one is well worth the laziness of not clicking on the unsubscribe link.
I received an email from my friend Scott, from college, detailing an exchange he had with Daryl Gross after an email that was sent from Steiner Sports. The rest, is an absolute classic.
From: Steiner Sports To: Syracuse University Alumni
Dear Syracuse University Alumni:
It is with great anticipation that I look forward to another year of SU athletics. I know that our success of last year will only grow! Wherever I travel, I am always impressed by the support SU alumni provide to all of our teams. In that spirit, I wanted to be sure that all of our alumni were aware of their opportunity to share our successes and show your Orange Pride.
We have entered into an agreement with Steiner Sports Memorabilia to form Syracuse-Steiner Collectibles which will carry an exclusive line of SU memorabilia and keepsake items. Through this arrangement, you can get one of a kind SU autographed, game-used, and unsigned sports collectibles. SU athletics and the SU Sport Management program benefit from your purchase. I encourage you to click on the logo above and access the Syracuse-Steiner web site, add it to your favorites list, and sign up for regular updates. This is truly a Win-Win for all of us! Thank you and GO ORANGE!!
Dr. Daryl Gross Director of Athletics
I recall seeing this email and immediately thought of the really amazing items that I could buy that would have been game worn by Syracuse athletes. Visions of McNabb and Harrison jerseys flashed through my head until I actually visited the site and saw that I was going to be treated to second rate jerseys from 2007. Hey, I guess I could be the world's ugliest uniform for Halloween this year!
From: Scott To: Daryl J Gross Sent: Tue Sep 09 13:17:55 2008 Subject: Thanks
Dear Dr. Gross,
Thank you for your invitation to spend my money at the Syracuse-Steiner Collectibles online store. After purchasing a new #44 football jersey, bright orange SU hat and driving from New York City to Chicago to take in SU's season opener in person, I only have $200 left to spend on SU memorabilia this year. Syracuse-Steiner Collectibles has such a wide selection of Orange products that I'm having trouble deciding what to buy. Should I go with the game used football from the 2007 win against Louisville or the one from the Buffalo contest? Maybe I should hold out for something from the 2008 season. Since you seem confident that our success will grow, could you let me know which three football games you see the Orange winning this year?
Also, when I send out emails to large groups of people I generally read over the text several times to ensure that there are no errors in spelling or grammar. I encourage you to do the same. In that spirit, you can ensure that all of our alumni are aware of their Athletic Director's competence and show their Orange Pride.
Scott Class of '02
PS - Did someone in your office really think that this was a good time to send this note off to the alumni? Really?
Scott. Trust me, don't hold out for anything from 2008.
From: Daryl J Gross To: Scott Sent: Tuesday, September 9, 2008 1:43:41 PM Subject: Re: Thanks
I would be glad to buy you something. Just pick it out.
Cheers,
Daryl
I take it Daryl didn't pick up on the sarcasm dripping from Scott's email.
From: Scott To: Daryl J Gross Sent: Tue Sep 09 14:19:45 2008 Subject: Re: Thanks
Daryl,
The travel bags are tempting, as are the Greg Robinson/bag packing jokes that would go along with such a choice but I'm going to focus on the positive and go with the Buffalo game ball. [Link modified for blog purposes]
Once Steiner makes the 2008 collection available I'll pick up a game ball from SU's third win of the season and send it your way.
[Mailing Address]
Good choice. That game ball will remind you that even though Turner Gill is quickly building a very good program down the thruway in Buffalo, Syracuse is still New York's College Team.
From: Daryl J Gross To: Scott Sent: Wednesday, September 10, 2008 12:19:52 AM Subject: Re: Thanks
Seriously, my treat.
Can I just point out that Daryl Gross is answering emails to disaffected Alumni at 12:19 AM. Impressive Daryl. Impressive. Now, want to respond to my open letter?
From: Scott To: Daryl J Gross Sent: Wednesday, September 10, 2008 8:45:22 AM Subject: Re: Thanks Seriously, thanks. I eagerly await the arrival of that football and I'm especially looking forward to explaining to my wife why a game ball from the Syracuse win over Buffalo in 2007 has to be prominently displayed in our living room.
Go 'Cuse!
-Scott
New York's College Team. Just keep reciting it and I am sure she will understand.
From: Scott Subject: Fw: Thanks To: GrossSuperman Date: Monday, September 22, 2008, 4:59 PM
Here you go. I still haven't received my damn football.
Don't worry Scott, I am sure that Daryl has a great explanation. Like how he needs the money from your football to buy out Greg Robinson's contract.
The Daryl Gross Tangible Improvement Indicator is a measure of the success of the football program in the eyes of DOCTOR Daryl Gross. Daryl has been very quiet about what 'tangible improvement' actually means, but Nancy Cantor shed some more light on the situation when she was interviewed by Donnie Webb for the piece he did in today's Post-Standard.
"One thing about football, it's quantitatively clear. You can know what real progress means. I think Daryl chose the words, real progress. That means real progress, not small progress."
So we have to see real progress, and not just small progress. Fortunately for you, I happen to have access to a dictionary and this is what the dictionary has to say about real progress and small progress.
According to dictionary.com, progress can be, "a movement toward a goal or to a further or higher stage". It can also be "the development of an individual or society in a direction considered more beneficial than and superior to the previous level". But really, I prefer this definition, "to grow or develop, as in complexity, scope, or severity".
I think that we can all agree that the football program has grown in severity under Greg Robinson. Things are clearly at a breaking point and in that case, he has shown progress. But is it real progress? Or just small progress?
Again, according to dictionary.com, real means, "unfeigned or sincere". I have always thought that Greggers has been a very sincere guy. I mean he always shows a lot of want-to and he REALLY makes me hope that he can put it together. So I think that he has shown real progress.
Now, small means "of little strength or force". I believe it was Jim Brown who was railing on the team in that ESPN piece about the lack of intensity that he saw. Well I think that Jim Brown knows best and so we have definitely shown small progress.
So I guess maybe the problem for DOCTOR Daryl Gross is that Syracuse has shown real progress in football but we have also shown small progress. It is like a Catch-22 and Daryl Gross is caught in the middle of it all.
Donnie Webb, who really does a great job covering Syracuse football, has an article today in the Post-Standard covering the attention that has been brought on DOCTOR Daryl Gross. Donnie mentions several of the recent indicators that people are sick and tired of DOCTOR Daryl Gross, the booing at the Penn State game, the column in the OC Register, internet message boards, etc.
Throughout the piece, Nancy Cantor chimed in in support of DOCTOR Daryl Gross. Her love of Gross is well known and Donnie said that Cantor specifically made mention of the contract extension that Gross signed earlier this year. Apparently Donnie's sources say that it lasts through 2014.
While none of the support from Nancy Cantor is surprising, the real surprise is just how similar the defense of Gross is to the defense of Greg Robinson. When Robinson was first being pressured his main defense was always that it takes time to turn the corner. Gross had this to say about the situation:
"Looking back now, it wasn't as set for success as it could have been. When I came into this situation, a lot of people were really upset about the old regime. But no one thought it could get worse, nor did I. We were all hoping for some success. We knew it wasn't going to happen right away.
Playing the time card is just one of the many tips and tricks of the DOCTOR Daryl Gross regime. Another, is taking credit for the success of others.
"One thing people don't realize is that program wasn't fully funded with all the scholarships. The year I got here, they had won a national championship and won it without full scholarships. You can make a case that they did it before and did it again. I'm here to tell you that the Dukes and others have caught up. We put two more scholarships into the men's program. It takes a little while for it to matriculate. We had to fix the off-field culture with some awareness. We had no issues last year. We added staff. We gave them a practice field, which lacrosse never had before. Those things are huge. They're things that help us grow."
Look, Daryl, I understand that you need to point to a positive event during your tenure but this is just madness. John Desko has been at Syracuse since 1976. He has won 10 National Championships (6 as the Assistant Head Coach and 4 as Head Coach). He has done more for Syracuse Lacrosse than you ever will and to even think that you have anything to do with his success is complete and utter bullshit.
And while we all know that Lacrosse is such a huge program here at Syracuse the real problem (at least as far as the national media is concerned) happens to be the football program.
"Sometimes when you have a coaching transition, there is a fallout with recruiting and those things aren't as stable as you want them to be. You know it takes a little while to grow properly. It takes a change in systems, all the dynamics were there that haven't clicked at all to the point we're not where we should be in year four. At the end of the day, it all falls on the athletic director."
This is something that Daryl pulled from the Greg Robinson playbook. When all else fails, mention that things haven't clicked completely. Although at least Daryl finally raised his hand and said, "Yes, it all falls on me." Daryl we have known this since day one. You might want to cut that cord with Greggers before he takes you down with the ship.
By way of my good friend Alan at Over The Pylon, I got news of this piece by Ivan Maisel at ESPN regarding the Syracuse football situation. Ivan is a top-notch journalist and I have had the pleasure of corresponding with him several years ago when Syracuse beat Boston College in their last game in the Dome.
DOCTOR Daryl Gross seems to be hurting from a lot of the recent negative attention he has been receiving. In particular, the ESPN College GameDay piece on the Syracuse program and Lee Corso essentially ripping Gross to shreds which was chronicled here yesterday. According to Maisel, Gross made an unsolicited phone call to ESPN.com to defend himself. Apparently Gross is taking credit for John Desko's 2008 Lacrosse National Championship. Sorry Daryl, Desko has been in Syracuse longer than you have been an egomaniac so it has absolutely nothing to do with you.
Of particular interest is this quote from Gross regarding Greg Robinson, "It isn't working out. It's very disappointing ... He has some work to do out in front of him." There is nothing to disagree with there and I stated as much in the open letter that was sent to Daryl Gross. I'm still waiting to hear back from Daryl, but something tells me he has bigger problems to deal with.
Some other key items from Maisel...
"We got so many good things going on here," Gross said. "The 800-pound gorilla is football. You and I both know we've been very fair to Coach Robinson. Everyone wanted the guy's head last year. I said I didn't want Syracuse to become one of those three-years-and-out schools. I said, 'Let's calm down and [if needed] we'll get the first pick of the draft [of coaching candidates] next year.' That's where we are."
I am pretty sure everyone is in agreement that Greg Robinson is done in Syracuse. The only question is when.
"He isn't going to do anything right now," Robinson, referring to Gross, said Monday night. "I know that. But let me tell you something, we just need to win. We're capable of winning. People don't know it."
So there used to be a Daryl Gross facebook page. You used to be able to see him talking smack with Greg Robinson and you used to be able to add him as a friend and chat it up with the little guy. Well we know that the page wasn't exactly Daryl Gross and we know who may or may not have set it up, but it seems that the account was disabled by facebook. It seems that Daryl may have finally figured out that there was some heat on him in light of the recent things that have been said both online and on television. I wonder how long until we get a cease and desist order.
Scott Reid with the Orange County (California) Register has an excellent column on Daryl Gross. It pretty much sums up everything that we know about Daryl. He is egotistical. He takes credit for other people's work. He just plain isn't good at his job.
And Scott gives us a shoutout. Let's just hope this continues to put the pressure on.
I'll have a full recap of the movie which was awesome, but I wanted to leave a couple of notes. First, Daryl Gross made the introductory speech. Like we didn't know that was going to happen, right? But the thing that really caught me was in the movie credits. Towards the end of the credits, the studio thanks the various cities and agencies that assisted with the film. They thanked the City of Syracuse, and the City of Chicago, and various other places. Then there was this line:
Syracuse University Athletics Department - Dr. Daryl Gross, Athletic Director
I was pissed. First off, I was actually in the movie but didn't make the credits. But more specifically, it was just more of the Daryl Gross self-image program. They didn't put a little subnote on the City of Syracuse and thank Mayor Matt Driscoll. They didn't put a little subnote on the Heisman Committee and thank their Chairman. But somehow, Dr. Daryl Gross gets thanked? Typical.
It has been an eerily quiet week in the realm of Syracuse Athletics. After the events of the football game last weekend, it seems most Syracuse fans are laying low and trying not to draw too much attention to themselves. It won't get much better after this weekend and an embarrassment on ABC Regional (at least until they figure out that Oregon at Purdue or Georgia Tech @ Virginia Tech is a better game).
What story about The Express would be complete without Daryl Gross all throughout it? You guessed it, none.
TNIAAM brings you bread. And I am going to win it one of these days. At least I have so many chances this year...
Matt Gelb from The Daily Orange is a really good writer. Today, he has a good article on the connection between Joe Paterno and former Syracuse head coach Paul Pasqualoni.
This Penn State blogger believes we have no chance of beating Penn State. And we tend to agree.
While watching the halftime show during the Akron game today, there was an interview with Daryl Gross. During the interview, the question was posed to Daryl regarding scheduling rivalries since we are playing Penn State next week. He responded that we have a 10 game series scheduled with former Big East member Boston College. This isn't news to anyone. However, immediately following that Daryl also dropped the bomb that we have a series scheduled with Notre Dame.
We all know how Notre Dame has wanted to schedule some teams from the Northeast and wants to play their home games in South Bend and play the home games of whatever team they are playing in the Meadowlands. Donnie Webb wrote about the impending move back in August and we know that Rutgers already turned down a similar deal.
So it seems that the deal is now in place and Syracuse is officially Notre Dame's bitch. Awesome. We are definitely back to Irrelevency-town.
I finally figured out what Daryl Gross was doing on two cell phones during the Northwestern game. It seems that DOCTOR Gross has realized just how sad of a state things are in Orangeland and decided that we needed some positive press.
It seems that Minnesota Athletic Director, Joel Maturi, had this to say (by way of twincities.com) regarding the 44,029 that showed up for their opener against Northern Illinois in the Metrodome:
"I'm excited about moving onto campus in a 50,000-seat facility because I think we're going to have 50,000 each week. I don't think empty seats are good, but I see Northwestern had 20,000 for Syracuse, which is a pretty good team, and Indiana had 30-some thousand. The reality is we did OK considering the situation."
[emphasis mine]
It seems that Daryl Gross first placed a phone call to Mitch Browning up in the booth to get Joel's number since they both were at Minnesota together for a few years when Mitch was an assistant under Glen Mason. Then, Daryl called Joel to get the positive spin. The reason he was still on the other phone? Mitch wanted to ask Joel about his mother's pound cake recipe...
Syracuse is in fact relevant again and their was much rejoicing.
Frank Ordoñez of the Post-Standard snapped this photo of Daryl Gross on two cell phones during the game against Northwestern Saturday. This incident has brought speculation throughout Orange Nation as to who Daryl might have been talking with.
Syracuse.com put the picture up as their "Write your own Caption" feature.
Here are some Syracuse (and DOCTOR Daryl Gross) notes from around the web today.
ESPN's Pat Forde doesn't think that Syracuse is significant any longer.
"The Cardinals don't play a road game until Oct. 10 against Memphis, and don't play another BCS conference opponent on the road until Nov. 1 -- and that's Syracuse, which really doesn't count."
Ouch. But then again, I can't argue with him. I'm sure that Duke and Baylor are sending Daryl Gross fruit baskets as we speak.
By way of The Idiots, The Orange Report has a great breakdown of the Northwestern game, including referencing "High Fidelity". It was definitely the misery guys. Of note, Arthur Jones is the big playmaker on the team. But then again I think we all knew that coming into the season.
Also, I am going to have to disagree with Orange44, TNIAAM, The Axeman, Kenny Haas and everyone else who has been saying that the running game looked good. I hate to ask you to take off the Orange-tinted glasses, but the running game still stinks. The only reason why the running game (which amassed a total of 122 yards) looked good is because we averaged 68 rushing yards per game last season.
Those 122 yards were good for 67th in the country but that certainly pales in comparison when you see that Navy racked up 558 yards. Jasper Howard out of Connecticut rushed for 146 all by his lonesome... The real problem I have with our rushing game is that if you take away the two big runs by Brinkley (28) and Carter (32), we ended up rushing for a measly 62 yards. And that would be right about where we were last season. Taking away those two big runs and Brinkley averaged 2.63 ypc and Carter averaged 2.6 ypc. Yuck.
After this game, I really don't see any way that Greg Robinson can turn the corner and wrap up enough wins to make it through another year here at Syracuse. Most of the blog-o-sphere agrees and it is more of a matter of when.
CoachesHotSeat says Gross will fire Robinson in December (after the season is over).
Nick still thinks that if Syracuse does marginally well Gross brings Robinson back. I'm not sure what "marginally well" is, but it probably is something similar to "tangible improvement".
Orange Fizz is going to be bringing us potential coaching hires on Wednesdays following an SU loss. For their sakes hopefully they have a good 9 or 10 candidates picked out.
From The Bleacher Report, Syracuse could be looking for a new head coach by Week 4. While I think that before the Northeastern game is way too early to get rid of Robinson, if we do go 0-4 to start the season he had better have his bags packed. If DOCTOR Daryl Gross doesn't fire him at that point, an angry mob might force him out anyways.
And finally, Syracuse will probably be spending most of the season here in the Bottom 10.
I saw this link to this Daily Orange interview of Daryl Gross earlier in the week over at TNIAAM, but I hadn't had an opportunity to remark on the inconceivableness of it all. Daryl Gross talked about how the athletic department is performing as a whole.
"It was always 'The future's bright. The future's bright.' Well, now we're here. And we know we're positioned well for our Olympic sports."
I think Daryl Gross is right. We are pretty well positioned for our Olympic Sports. You know, until you recall that the biggest Olympic story this summer was Michael Phelps. A swimmer. Yeah, swimming. You know, that sport that the University is getting rid of for Women's Ice Hockey.
I am back from hiatus. Life has been busy. Too busy. But, I am back with an attitude. I'll have a conclusion of the 2007-2008 Syracuse Athletics season soon. In the meantime, here are some items of note from while I was gone.
Daryl Gross (allegedly) got a contract extension for three more years. This means that Greg Robinson's future is no longer tied to the good DOCTOR's and that must be troubling news for Mr. Robinson.
With the buzz that was generated by US Olympic Swimming and most particularly Michael Phelps, isn't it time that Daryl Gross rethink his decision to cut the swimming and diving programs?
And a little something disturbing that I picked up off the wires. Apparently Gregisms are spreading to other programs across the country. Nebraska Receivers Coach Ted Gilmore had this to say about receiver Menelik Holt:
"His positioning is better. We've still got to get more consistent, but the effort is there. The want-to is there. We'll get the rest of it."
Nebraska should know they are in trouble if Bo Pellini starts talking about Osmosis or his players flashing.
