We probably won't find out who the new Syracuse Orange Athletics Director is for another couple months, but when that person does arrive, they're going to find a department waiting to be molded in their own image. Probably for the best.
It's been two months since DOC Gross "decided" to leave his post as Syracuse AD and now news is trickling out about all of the folks who worked under him that are out as well.
We already knew that Joe Giansante was out, even if he didn't. Technically he was placed on administrative leave after Gross left, but like so many things Joe said during his tenure, that was just code for something else.
Syracuse.com is also reporting that Terry Donovan, SU Athletic's CFO, is out. Like Gross, he appears to still be employed by the university but in a very different capacity.
"First, Terry Donovan is an exceptional CFO with a strong national reputation in his field," Quinn said. "Terry remains a valued SU employee and decisions regarding his permanent replacement will be made by the new athletic director."
Also out, Lael Gross, assistant athletics director for trademarks and licensing, who is giving up the marketing game altogether.
"After being director of marketing and then moving to part-time when our girls were born, I am now looking forward to transitioning home with our children full-time. It has been a joy to work in the Athletics Department beside my husband and be part of amazing vision and success," Lael Gross said in a statement provided by Quinn.
One of the bits of news flying under the radar the last couple months was the status of Marc Donabella, associate athletics director for marketing. Donabella was involved in a car accident in March, one that strangely seemed to disappear from public visibility until a few weeks later. As Chris Carlson reports, he was charged with driving while intoxicated and pled guilty last week. His license was suspended. How and why that information wasn't made available right away, well, I'll just leave that up to you to decide. It's unclear whether or not Donabella will return to his post (but it's safe bet he will not).
All of this leaves Pete Sala and the remaining employees of the department scrambling to pick up the slack, which cannot be easy in an interim environment in flux. There was a noticeable lack of buzz and awareness surrounding the spring game and the pizzaz that a DOC Gross SU Athletics department brought to the table, whether you liked it or not, is clearly absent.
According to Carlson, associate athletic director in charge of communication for football Sue Edson and senior associate athletic director and director of budget and finance Andy Frazo are picking up the slack in marketing and other areas. Hopefully, when the new AD is hired, their first order of business will be to give both of them much more streamlined job titles.
Incidentally, no update regarding Herman Frazier, who is as far as we know, still trying to get us some future football opponents. Well, kinda trying...