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:

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.

Losses to West Virginia Could Bookend Greg Robinson's Tenure

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.

This would have never happened under Pasqualoni's watch

According to The Idiots, CBS5 was reporting that four members of the Syracuse football team were allegedly involved in a sexual assault on Monday evening/Tuesday morning. While this situation is nothing to make light of, it certainly continues to further show that Greg Robinson maintains zero discipline over his team.

Any more pressure on Gross and his ears might pop

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.

More National Media pressure on Gross

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."

Ok. So some people are still in denial.

Hadron Links

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.


• Fanhouse asks their bloggers who they would put in the Large Hadron Collider. John Radcliff says Greg Robinson and Charlie Weiss would make the perfect program killers.

An open letter to Daryl Gross regarding the state of Syracuse Football

Dr. Daryl Gross,

We here at Getgrossout.com have been some of your fiercest critics in your time here at Syracuse University. We have not been critics because we are malicious but rather because we have great pride and appreciation for Syracuse Athletics. As Syracuse Alumni we feel that we have every right to be as impassioned as we have been during your tenure at Syracuse.

Truth be told, we agreed with your decision to fire Paul Pasqualoni. We were of the opinion that Paul had never really accomplished what could have been accomplished with the talent that he had, particularly in the late 90's. We believed that you were correct in your assessment that Syracuse could do better without Coach Pasqualoni and were completely on-board when you removed him as Head Coach following the Citrus Bowl loss to Georgia Tech.

When your search for a new Head Coach lasted only 13 days and you selected a former NFL assistant who had won two Super Bowls we were at first intrigued and then concerned as we learned how little experience he had. As Spring came and the team was practicing, we were quite optimistic with the host of returning players and the recruits who had stayed on board. We were so excited for the season that we purchased tickets for the O-Zone and were there for the first game against West Virginia. While Syracuse lost that game, we were encouraged by the five turnovers that the team caused and by the fact that it had only been an 8 point loss. After Syracuse beat Buffalo and then only lost by three points to eventual Top-25 Virginia we were optimistic for the rest of the season. As it turned out, the team posted the first 10 loss season in Syracuse history.

Following the 2005 season we were of the opinion that Greg Robinson would be able to make improvements on both sides of the football and that the previous season was simply growing pains. We were encouraged by the increased wins in 2006 and felt that there was the potential that we could see a much improved football team that could compete once again in the Big East for the 2007 season. Unfortunately 2007 came and we were treated to the second 10 loss season in Syracuse's illustrious history. We believed that the team had completely reverted from the positives that they had shown in 2006 and that a change of direction was needed. We, along with much of America, believed that you would fire Greg Robinson and that you would bring in a new coach who would start the process over and bring Syracuse back to its former glory.

When the announcement came that you were bringing Robinson back for another year, we were shocked and dismayed. It was our belief that your interest in giving Greg Robinson another year was essentially throwing in the towel and saying that you did not feel that Syracuse could be a better team with the removal of Greg Robinson.

The 2008 season is now upon us and Syracuse was predicted by most media outlets to finish last in the Big East. Our prediction was that Syracuse would go 2-10 this season, beating Akron and Northeastern. After the events of Saturday, we can say that our prediction was incorrect. Now it is hard for us to find a game, other than Northeastern, that Syracuse could potentially win this season. We believe that everyone has seen enough of what the Greg Robinson era of Syracuse football can bring and it is with this letter that we submit our open plea to you. We ask that you show the same commitment and concern for Syracuse football that you did when you fired Pasqualoni and that you take the immediate step to remove Greg Robinson as Head Coach of the Syracuse football team. We ask that you replace him on an interim basis with his assistant Mitch Browning, who has shown he is a capable coach during his tenure at Minnesota and in the two games that he has coached at Syracuse.

With the removal of Greg Robinson now rather than following an embarrassing defeat to Penn State, you will show a disaffected fan base that you are truly committed to the future of Syracuse Football. By making this statement now, you will show Syracuse Alumni, fans, players and critics that the culture of losing that Greg Robinson has perpetuated will not be tolerable at Syracuse University. The appointment of Mitch Browning, now, on an interim basis allows for the healing and an extensive search for the next head coach to begin. It is our belief that this must happen to ensure that Syracuse returns to its traditional place as a Northeastern and National powerhouse.

The time to make to the statement that you are committed to the future success of Syracuse Football is now. And the statement to make is the removal of Greg Robinson as head coach. We trust that you will show your dedication to the future of Syracuse Football and name Mitch Browning as interim head coach.

Yours,

Getgrossout.com

Syracuse football is completely insignificant

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.

Want-to

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.

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.

Steve Pederson East

In response to a question in his mailbag on SI.com, college football writer Stewart Mandel called Daryl Gross, "essentially the East Coast version of Steve Pederson." Stewart goes on to say that Gross "isn't likely to pull the plug on his grand hire after just three seasons." This was in response to a question about Houston Nutt trying to save his job.

Pederson, as you know, is the former Athletic Director of Nebraska who lost his job mid-season due to issues internal to the Athletics Department. Speculation is that Pederson was alienating many fans, donors, staff members, and former athletes. Not that this sounds anything like the Daryl Gross administration...

Mandel included Coach Greg Robinson in his list of coaches who are close to being in trouble but need to perform poorly over the rest of the season to actually get canned. With South Florida, UConn and Cincinnati left to play after this weekends matchup with Pitt, things don't seem to be looking that much brighter for Robinson.

Fact: Daryl Gross Is A Liar

I can't believe we have given the "Good Doctor" a free pass on this one. From his announcement that Greg Robinson was going to be the new head coach of the football team:

“When we picked a football coach for Syracuse University, we didn’t want someone who was just going to be competitive with the rest of the coaches in the BIG EAST. We wanted someone special. Someone that is going to be better and smarter and have great work ethic. You will see it on the football field. You are going to see great defense and exciting offense. Let me tell you if you don’t have your season tickets, you may want to get them now. This is going to be a lot of fun and we are going to have a blast doing this together.” - December 2004

Scoring Offense Ranking
2007: #115 (Through 10.20)
2006: #102
2005: #114

Total Defense Ranking
2007: #109(Through 10.20)
2006: #107
2005: #57

That's a real exciting offense and such a great defense...