I was catching up on my Top Chef today when my phone rang.  It was Brent Axe.  I knew what he was going to tell me before I even picked up the phone...

Greg Robinson was shuffled loose the coaching coil today. 

According to Axe, Daryl Gross was taking members of the media into his office a few at a time in order to break the tragic news, rather than just join Robinson and his players at a press conference later today.  Even now, Gross is going to run as far, far away from Greggers as he can to avoid the stench.  I'm actually quite certain if you were to ask the DOCTOR right now if he knew Greg, the response would be "Greg?  Greg Who?  Don't know no Greg."

Actually, Gross did release an official statement:

I have made the decision to move our football program in a new direction and have informed Greg Robinson that his tenure as Syracuse's head coach will end at the conclusion of this season.

Coach Robinson worked very hard to try to establish a winning program, one that could eventually compete for the conference championship on a regular basis. Unfortunately, the progress we expected to see has not occurred.

Just in case you just woke up from a four-year coma, likely brought on by the shock of the 1996 Champs Sports Bowl, here's why Greggers will be done at the end of the season:

Robinson's record at Syracuse is 9-36 overall and 3-24 in the Big East. The Orange is 2-8 and 1-5 after losing to Connecticut 39-14 on Saturday night at the Carrier Dome. The Orange has remaining games against Notre Dame on Saturday and Cincinnati November 29. Robinson, who has a year remaining on his contract and earns $1.1 million per season, is expected to coach the Orange for the last two games.

That'll do it.

Love this photo here which paints Gross as Death himself, preparing to ride roughshod over Greg Robinson's soul while he's not looking.  The Athletic Director In Black now has to prove to us that he won't make the same mistake twice.  Something we're not entirely sure we believe is possible.

Syracuse.com has a poll up asking fans who they think should be our grand savior and so far it's Robinson's latest vanquisher, Randy Edsall.  Turner Gill is in 2nd and Other is in a close third.  I have to say, Other DOES have a strong recruiting base.

And it wouldn't be right not to check and make sure SUAthletics.com are doing their propaganda-y best to make things sound cheerier than they are.  "Director of Athletics Dr. Daryl Gross Announces Change in Football Program."  They make it sound like we're just getting new vending machines in the locker room.

There's lots more media coverage to come, including a very special episode of Gregisms.  In all seriousness though, this is a long time coming and I'm just glad Gross and the PTB finally decided to put this out there so everyone can stop speculating and we can move forward.  And upward.  We surely can't go any lower.