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.

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...

Lacrosse continues to shine

Daryl Gross is once again counting his lucky stars that Basketball season is over and that the Men's and Women's lacrosse teams have returned to top form. Their combined efforts allowed Syracuse Athletics to have a solid week.

• Men's Lacrosse: 1-0 (1.00)


• Women's Lacrosse: 2-0 (1.00)


• Tennis: 1-1 (.500)


• Softball: 2-2 (.500)


• Total: 6-3(.666)