The Daryl Gross Tangible Improvement Indicator ⓒ

We are going to be doing something new here at Get Gross Out this year. After every Football, Men's Basketball, and Men's Lacrosse game we will be rating the performance of the Orange with our brand spanking new Daryl Gross Tangible Improvement Indicator ⓒ (patent pending). The Daryl Gross Tangible Improvement Indicator ⓒ is the easiest way for you to tell how the team has performed. Simply look for the number of Daryl Gross heads that accompany the report and you will know just where we stand.

For instance, if the football team is able to handily dispatch Northwestern this weekend, you might see The Daryl Gross Tangible Improvement Indicator ⓒ like this:



However, if the Orangemen fail to score and are demolished like the last time they faced a Big 10 opponent on opening weekend, you might see The Indicator like this:



If any of the indications about the 2008 football season are correct, I don't think you will be seeing too many of Daryl Gross' mugs on the screen...

Gross Decline?

As I was calculating the updated records of both the Men's and Women's programs this afternoon, I started looking a little closer at just what DOCTOR Daryl Gross's leadership has meant to Syracuse Athletics in terms of winning and losing. Now overall, we have seen marked improvement in certain sports, however in general, the Athletics Program has a much worse record now than it did during the final years of Jake Crouthamel's leadership.

After going through the numbers again and again, it is rather disturbing to see what has happened. The three traditional powerhouse programs for Syracuse University, the Men's Basketball and Lacrosse teams, as well as the Football team have all suffered major setbacks during the DOCTOR Daryl Gross era, which I like to refer to as the Post Apocalyptic Era. During this time, the Men's programs (including the Men's Soccer Program) have gone 145-114-9 (.558). Compare that to the 151-88-7 (.628) record of the same Men's programs prior to DOCTOR Daryl Gross and you can see my astonishment.

The situation gets even more discouraging when I looked at the numbers for the Women's programs. With the sharp decline on the Men's side, I was assuming that Women's sports were suddenly performing with much better results. Of course, you know what they say about assuming. Under DOCTOR Daryl Gross, Women's programs have gone 332-312-11 (.515), compare that to the 315-297-6 (.514) record before DOCTOR Daryl Gross, and you see that he really has not done much to improve Women's sports.

However, the area of greatest concern happens to deal with the revenue generating sports. The two sports at Syracuse that generate the most revenue to fund all of the other sports happen to be the Men's Basketball and Football programs. Under DOCTOR Daryl Gross, these programs have gone an abysmal 98-69 (.587) compared to the 87-41 (.680) that they went prior to his arrival. The question is, how much longer will fans continue to support these Men's teams that have struggled under DOCTOR Daryl Gross?

Some Breathing Room

It has been a fantastic week for Syracuse sports fans assuming that you aren't a fan of the Men's Basketball Program which ended the season on a low note with a loss to UMass in the Dome on Tuesday, or are a of DOCTOR Daryl Gross who saw his Orangemen and Orangewomen go a combined 8-2 on the week.

• Men's Lacrosse: 1-0 (1.00)


• Women's Lacrosse: 1-0 (1.00)


• Tennis: 3-0 (1.00)


• Softball: 3-1 (.750)


• Men's Basketball: 0-1 (.000)


• Total: 8-2(.800)

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.

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.

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.

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.