Syracuse Football: DOC Gross Not Panicking, Trusts In Coach Shafer

When DOC Gross made his weekly stop by ESPN CNY to talk all things Syracuse Orange, he kicked things off in perfect DOC fashion...

"Good, Good, Good!" - Daryl Gross on how he's doing. Good.

— NunesMagician.com (@NunesMagician) October 8, 2014

After that, however, Gross didn't shy away from discussing the major news of the day (George McDonald's demotion & reaction, Coach Shafer's plans) and how much input, if any, he had in it.

"It's not always easy. When you have a couple losses in a row things get tricky. Scott's very capable. We had a year last year that was tough with all the transition that was happening. You have to have confidence in the fact that he led us to a bowl game and during that time he was making decisions as a head coach and all those types of things. We had a bad stretch and got back on track."

"You have a head coach in Scott Shafer and part of being a head coach, there's going to be tough days and good days. Our philosophy has always been to be autonomous and allow our head coaches to do what they need to do. They make the decisions for their staff and everyone is trying to maximize and be efficient. They're doing what they need to do to win championships. That's why you hire the best coaches you can find."

When asked if he had any input in the coaching change...

"Oh Chris, you know better than that. Of course it is. I'm shocked you'd even have a question on that. That one doesn't even seem like a question. Who knows more of the information than anybody? (Our coaches). You allow those people to make their decisions. Shafer, Gait, Boeheim... those guys make their decisions. They're the coaches."

"I know there's extra conversation about this situation but you have to play, you have a war to fight on Saturday. What a great opportunity for these two young quarterbacks to come in and play in a game like this. I want us to go out and compete and compete hard like we usually do. Maybe we can have some success and not make too many mistakes and be in it. Just be in it, that's what I'm looking for."

So there you go. No big surprise there. I certainly didn't think Gross forced Shafer's hand...he didn't need to.