The Little Engine That Kept Telling Us How Much It Could But Never Actually Did
In his final press conference at Syracuse University, outoging head coach Greg Robinson read The Little Engine That Could.
No, I am not shitting you. He then used the pivotal line "I think I can" to illustrate his point, which was...he thinks he still can. I can't be the only person thinking of The Puppy Who Lost It's Way from Billy Madison, can I?
Greg went out pretty much the way you knew he would. Full of kind words for everyone, rambling and brimming with enough denial to choke a whale. He went out of his way to talk about why he always sees the glass half full, a charming notion in theory but unbelievably grating in practice. He was ready to go with excuses-a-plenty for why he was here today (scheduling, injuries, bad breaks). And of course, he was confident in the fact that, if given just one more year, he would have had this whole thing figured out:
"It isn't what I didn't get done. It's that it's not finished."
Greg's going down with his A material, folks. Seriously, read that quote again. WHAT?
It's not finished. We can always go back to a play or this or that. No. It's just not finished. It's not finished. I'd like that last year. I'd like that last year. It's just a work in progress. I really do. It's right there. I think I can. I do. I can show you.
No thanks, Greg. We're good.
Greg drops an interesting note about Colt Brennan. You know, the guy who threw 3,534,592 touchdown passes at Hawai'i? As we know, there was a time when he was considering Syracuse to play at. The word was that Cantor shot it down given his backround. Greg mentioned that one of his big regrets was not pushing harder to get Colt.
Greg ALMOST got into what we've long waited to hear...his feelings on the state of the program when it was given to him. It's long been guessed that Robinson feels like SU football was in bad shape thanks to Paul Pasqualoni when he took over. He stopped short of going into it, but something tells me he'll be more forthcoming when he's away from Syracuse:
"It's different. I think the infrastructure built in here right now is very strong. I'm not saying it wasn't. See, the moment that I do something ... that's putting something on Paul. You know something? Un-uh. I'm not into that. I'm not into that."
Greg didn't leave without sending us off with a couple final Gregisms to add to the list. One was a new twist on an old favorite and the other was just really creepy.
On his son, Dominic:
That's gonne be hard for Laura and I...in that he has embraced this community...and, uh, he's really fightin' the fight right now."
On whether or not he will coach again:
I'm gonna coach football...are you kidding me? If it has to be...you know, that darn Joe Casamento (head coach of CBA), I'ma tell you what...you tell him I'm breathing down his throat."
Ew.
Donnie Webb wraps up the presser as well. If you have Orange Access, you can watch it on SUAthletics. You can also read the full transcript here.
Goodbye Greggers. I will miss your Gregisms. I will miss your enthusiasm for the job. And I will miss your aw shucks-i-tude. That's about it, though. Good luck with all that throat-breathing.
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Comments
Gregisms of the future
Wherever Greggers goes, check out his future press conferences for whatever team he lands at and give us more Gregisms. I don’t care if he’s not coaching this team I’d still get a good laugh out of them.
by Jameson_Fleming on Dec 2, 2008 6:36 PM EST 0 recs
Screw Him; good riddance.
Sorry, but Greg blaming Coach P is a like George W. trying to blame Clinton. Simply ridiculous. To listen to Greggers is to think the team has gone 5-7 every year for the past four years and were only a couple of fluke plays away from a winning season. What’s that you say? Greg’s four yr performance averages to roughly 2 – 10?. If it was “so close” than why was it “so difficult” for him to win games? I may be in the minority, but I will simply not miss anything about this guy.
I cannot wait for next season. The new coach may actually [GASP] sprint the team to prepare them for the 4th Q! He may even hold himself or his team accountable for missteps! He may hold tackling drills! He may even recruit some talent to the CNY area!! Wow, what a freakin’ concept.
Thanks for your time Greg. If it weren’t for a highly dysfunctional athletic department and an even more egotistical Athletic Director, this conversation would have taken place a year ago, after that gosh-darn 2-10 record that you posted. But don’t let the door hit you on the way out, buddy. The only thing more time would have gotten you is further titanic’ing your legacy as a head coach.
by Cody K on Dec 2, 2008 6:36 PM EST 0 recs
Man...
Aren’t you guys just a little bit sad?! I mean, the comedy doesn’t get much better than that. You can’t replace that.
--AddictedToQuack, SBNation's Oregon Ducks blog
by jtlight on Dec 2, 2008 7:18 PM EST 0 recs
did we really think this one through?
I mean really think it through? I’m truly going to miss the Greggisms. Maybe next season you can have a recurring post called “This Day in Greggisms,” where we remember what silly thing G-Rob was saying on that day a year ago. No? Please? I’m already feeling withdrawal.
by voteprime on
Dec 2, 2008 8:45 PM EST
up
0 recs










