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Message: [QUOTE="papadynamite, post: 572937, member: 723"] He discussed the sports programs and then took questions from the audience as well as answering questions afterword. Here is the gist of what he said. I asked him a number of question including the following: Why doesn't SU use #44 as a recruiting tool. He asked the audience what other players wore #44 beside Jim Brown, Ernie Davis, and Floyd Little. Nobody mentioned anybody else. And Dr. Gross made the point that outside of the top players, SU is considering only possibly issuing the number to only a back who has demonstrated outstanding playing ability while at SU. In otherwords, he is not not thinking about annointing a recruit with that jersey. I then asked if he felt that SU might lose Mike Hopkins now rather than waiting for Boeheim to retire. He indicated that he knew that Mike had interest from USC and that Dr. Gross has spoken with the AD at USC telling him his high regard for Mike and his value as an assistant coach at SU. Dr. Gross then indicated to Hopkins that he was aware of a possible pursuit by USC and that Mike might want to coach in front of his family in California. However, Gross added that should Mike take another job, Syracuse would immediately pursue him and bring him back to SU when Boeheim left because he has such a high regard for Mike. In otherwords, Mike will always have a home in Syracuse. I asked Dr. Gross if he felt sorry for UConn in their present situation. He said "UConn who?" He mentioned that he spoke with the head of UConn, and she flatly stated that they "got screwed". I asked about SU possibly pursuing other sports such as men's baseball and men's hockey. Nothing to report on there. He did note that they have to maintain a certain number of women's sports in relation to the number of men's sports. He did seem interested in a women's water polo team but nothing definitive. I also asked if it were going to be necessary to add more sports when they go to the ACC. He said that it wasn't a mandate. A question concerned the possible site of NYC for the ACC basketball tournament. He indicated that 14 of 15 ADs were in favor (Florida State was against the idea). Dr. Gross indicated that they would pursue MSG or Barclay Center in Brooklyn for a future site , in otherwords alternating with Greensboro, etc. Finally, the question came up as to why Louisville was granted membership in the ACC. Dr. Gross indicated that it wasn't for academics but as a strategic decision by the ACC from keeping Florida State, Clemson and a third team from bolting the conference for the Big Ten or other places. He concurred with that move. Addendum March 15: There was also a question Dr. Gross answered concerning further expansion of the ACC. He indicated that "further expansion was unlikely unless the football championship schools broke away from the NCAA to crown their own football champion". This puts UConn further away from an invitation. Dr. Gross also added that SU's annual cut of conference revenue sharing will roughly go from $8 million a year (Big East) to $16 million with the ACC. [/QUOTE]

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