Late hit on a Friday but you absolutely have to read this dressing down of DOCTOR Daryl Gross and Greg Robinson by Scott M. Reid of the O-C Register. It's not so much that there's anything new in the article. It's more just that it seems like this is the first time I've seen every shitty thing that's happened over the last four years aggregated together like this. It's...jarring. It's the kind of article that I'm sure many folks over at the Post-Standard would love to write but probably can't because they're too close.
But that's nothing compared to this...A few hours before the 2007 season opener, Syracuse unveiled a statue in front of the Carrier Dome of the late Ernie Davis, who led the Orange to the 1959 national championship and two years later became the first African-American to win the Heisman Trophy.
"A historic day," Syracuse athletics director Daryl Gross said of the completion of the two-year project.
Before long, however, there were complaints that the statue was flawed and didn't do justice to Davis, who died of leukemia in 1963 without playing a down in the NFL.
The statue, Gross admitted to reporters, "didn't come out the way we expected."
A growing number of people in upstate New York are saying the same thing about Gross and head coach Greg Robinson's four-year reign at Syracuse that has seen one of college football's storied programs become a national joke on their watch.
Even more frightening for Syracuse fans than nine more games with Robinson is the likelihood that his replacement will be hired by the same rocket scientist that got the Orange in this disaster to begin with – Gross.
Gross' tenure at USC was marked by a relentless and shameless self-promotion that was perhaps unmatched in Division I, which is saying something. Gross likes to take credit for the hiring of Pete Carroll, when in fact the unemployed coach walked into Heritage Hall and asked for an interview after Dennis Erickson and Mike Bellotti already had said thanks, but no thanks. (Erickson, however, should have at least sent Gross a thank you note for allowing Erickson to play him long enough to get himself and his staff raises at Oregon State.)
But Gross' career is more accurately captured by two other events. In between sucking up to celebrities and former Trojan jocks and polishing his resume, Gross, of course, was the genius that convinced USC athletic director Mike Garrett to hire Paul Hackett.
Then there was the time when Gross pushed his way into a crowd of former Heisman Trophy recipients at the award's ceremony so he would be sure to be in the television shot when the Heisman winner was presented with the prize. The scene was almost as pathetic as the photos of Gross on the Syracuse sideline trying to look important as he holds a cell phone up to each ear. The photo can be found on a website that is growing in popularity with Syracuse's exasperated boosters – www.getgrossout.com.
Gross probably didn't enjoy the spotlight quite as much last Saturday when he and Syracuse chancellor Nancy Cantor were loudly booed during the Penn State catastrophe.
The night before Gross worked his way into the spotlight at Syracuse's Landmark Theater and the premiere of "The Express," a biopic of Davis' life that is scheduled to be released nationally next month. Gross gushed that the film was a cross between the Jackie Robinson Story and Brian's Song. There is no word if he was as enthusiastic about the movie when he saw his name misspelled in the credits.
DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMN...
Read the full article RIGHT NOW. Too concerned with hobnobbing celebrities, taking credit for things he shouldn't, muscling his way into photo-ops that have nothing to do with him...doesn't that all sound exactly like the Daryl we've come to know and not love? Nice plug for GetGrossOut, by the way...