Kudos to Gross

[elimunelson]

GERG didn't excite me at all. I was team P for 2005. For better or for worse.

Gross set back Syracuse for 10 years. Period. Guy was a snake oil salesmen

 

[ThruWayWest]

The one thing I will give Gross is that he signed Shafer to a 4 year contract. When Shafer let it slip that he only had one year left on his deal that was eye opening. Until that point it seemed to me he would stay until year 4. I figured that SU would be way too cheap to pay a new coach and Shafer's buy out for two years. If Shafer was brought in to keep the momentum established under Marrone. Some Athletics Directors would have folded and extended the Coach after making a bowl in Year 1.

 

[OrangePA]

Basically I was told that it wasn't his choice, he was told he was going to hire GRob when he came in.

I don't believe that story.

 

[Cusefan78]

I don't believe that story.

Smart not to believe it. It's not true.

 

[OrangePA]

He was a massive failure at trying to turn the football program around, which was easily his most important task. Every person he wanted to hire was a bad choice and the only good move he made, hiring Doug Marrone, was imposed on him.

He did a horrible job overseeing the basketball program, which opened the door to NCAA violations, and his meetings to try and get around NCAA rules so Fab Melo could play were the biggest reason we ended up on probation.

He was awful at fund raising.

Most Olympic sports improved to some degree but it is pretty easy to win in those sports when you spend a ton of money other schools don't. Those programs were also helped by playing in the ACC, which is much better in these sports than the Big East was.

I think he will go down in history as one of the worst ADs in Syracuse history.

Pretty harsh assessment.

I can't go that far.

He inherited an old, rickety department that had been underfunded for years.

He rebuilt the football infrastructure, brought the department into the 21st Century, hired some very good Olympic coaches and got us two NC teams and a soccer Final Four team.

The decision to fire P was not his. Robinson appeared to be a solid hire at the time. The decision to hire Shafer also seemed to be the right move.

On the other hand, he was not a detail guy. He oftentimes did not follow up on tasks or requests. He seemed to be a self-promoter. He seemed at times to be more interested in country clubs, tennis and the AD Box in the Dome. And, the Melo basketball mess is on his plate.

It's a bit more nuanced for me.

 

[OttoMets]

...

On the other hand, he was not a detail guy. He oftentimes did not follow up on tasks or requests. He seemed to be a self-promoter. He seemed at times to be more interested in country clubs, tennis and the AD Box in the Dome. And, the Melo basketball mess is on his plate.

It's a bit more nuanced for me.

This is spot-on. Gross, like his boss, was a delegator who paid too little attention to details. That said, he did a number of things better than his predecessor, some of them jaw-droppingly simple ('Hey, maybe the Dome could use some orange paint and photographs in the corridors!').

That anyone's blaming the basketball program's problems on the athletic director, on the other hand, is misguided.

 

[HOFCeluck]

While I was excited about Gerg how dumb does that hire seem in retrospect?

A 53 year old career coordinator in the NFL who had a cup of coffee at a football powerhouse.

 

[bpo57]

He was a massive failure at trying to turn the football program around, which was easily his most important task. Every person he wanted to hire was a bad choice and the only good move he made, hiring Doug Marrone, was imposed on him.

He did a horrible job overseeing the basketball program, which opened the door to NCAA violations, and his meetings to try and get around NCAA rules so Fab Melo could play were the biggest reason we ended up on probation.

He was awful at fund raising.

Most Olympic sports improved to some degree but it is pretty easy to win in those sports when you spend a ton of money other schools don't. Those programs were also helped by playing in the ACC, which is much better in these sports than the Big East was.

I think he will go down in history as one of the worst ADs in Syracuse history.

Pretty easy to win national championships in X-C and field hockey? And get to the F4 in soccer? That's crazy.

I don't know the inner workings but can you explain to me how the Marrone hiring was imposed upon the AD? He had no say in the matter? But yet he wears the Robinson hiring?

I would agree that Gross bears some major responsibility for overseeing the basketball program. So does somebody else that you seemed to omit.

 

[Moontan]

And gave his wife a coosh, 6 figure job. That irks me the most.

I even wrote TWO about that. She may have been qualified. If so, she should've found another spot at the University... away from athletics. It was a complete conflict of interest.

 

[Chip]

Pretty harsh assessment. I can't go that far. He inherited an old, to rickity department that had been underfunded for years. He rebuilt the football infrastructure, brought the department into the 21st Century, hired some very good Olympic coaches and got us two NC teams and a soccer Final Four team. The decision to fire P was not his. Robinson appeared to be a solid hire at the time. The decision to hire Shafer also seemed to be the right move. On the other hand, he was not a detail guy. He oftentimes did not follow up on tasks or requests. He seemed to be a self-promoter. He seemed at times to be more interested in country clubs, tennis and the AD Box in the Dome. And, the Melo basketball mess is on his plate. It's a bit more nuanced for me.

I think this is the most fair assessment I've read in this thread.

 

[ForCuseSake]

Pretty easy to win national championships in X-C and field hockey? And get to the F4 in soccer? That's crazy.

I don't know the inner workings but can you explain to me how the Marrone hiring was imposed upon the AD? He had no say in the matter? But yet he wears the Robinson hiring?

I would agree that Gross bears some major responsibility for overseeing the basketball program. So does somebody else that you seemed to omit.

He offered Edsall & Skip Holtz the job and they (thankfully) declined. A group of trustees stepped in after TGD whiffed on his first two picks to push Marrone.

He wears the Robinson hiring because he relied on Petey Carroll's advice rather than interview other interested options (like a then AC for the Eagles who went on to win a Super Bowl).

 

[bpo57]

He offered Edsall & Skip Holtz the job and they (thankfully) declined. A group of trustees stepped in after TGD whiffed on his first two picks to push Marrone.

He wears the Robinson hiring because he relied on Petey Carroll's advice rather than interview other interested options (like a then AC for the Eagles who went on to win a Super Bowl).

Fair enough. At that time it would have been logical to assume Edsall would have been a good choice given his success at UConn. I can't kill him for that.

You mentioned Carroll. Keep in mind Gross supposedly gets a lot of that credit for Carroll's hiring at USC.

 

[GoSU96]

While I was excited about Gerg how dumb does that hire seem in retrospect?

A 53 year old career coordinator in the NFL who had a cup of coffee at a football powerhouse.

Who got FIRED twice in the four years prior.

It was ridiculous to anyone looked into it at all. There was plenty of information at the time that it was the wrong thing to do.

 

[GoSU96]

Fair enough. At that time it would have been logical to assume Edsall would have been a good choice given his success at UConn. I can't kill him for that.

You mentioned Carroll. Keep in mind Gross supposedly gets a lot of that credit for Carroll's hiring at USC.

Carroll was the fifth option after the first four passed.

He fell into a good hire and thought he came up with a template.

 

[Jake]

Take it for what it's worth but I was told this by a family member of his. No reason to lie to me about it, but I guess I have no way to verify it wasn't a lie. But I trust them so it's what I'll choose to believe. You may have a inside source that says otherwise and that's fair enough.

So a family member of Gross essentially said it wasn't his choice to hire the worst coach in our history, and you don't see a reason for that person to perhaps twist facts a bit?

Or were you saying a family member of Robinsons?

 

[ForCuseSake]

Fair enough. At that time it would have been logical to assume Edsall would have been a good choice given his success at UConn. I can't kill him for that.

You mentioned Carroll. Keep in mind Gross supposedly gets a lot of that credit for Carroll's hiring at USC.

I agree that Edsall was a logical candidate back then - the fact that he didn't close the deal with RE or Skip was a red flag in light of his hiring Gerg.

IMO, Hiring Pete Carroll to a factory like USC doesn't demonstrate a lot of genius. Gross thought hiring NFL retreads was a template for success and that only works at factories, not SU.

 

[OrangePA]

This is spot-on. Gross, like his boss, was a delegator who paid too little attention to details. That said, he did a number of things better than his predecessor, some of them jaw-droppingly simple ('Hey, maybe the Dome could use some orange paint and photographs in the corridors!').

That anyone's blaming the basketball program's problems on the athletic director, on the other hand, is misguided.

Jake was the ultimate detail guy.

He was hamstrung by an administrative staff that defunded him.

He was not interested in Olympic sports but by any measure he has to be considered a giant in SU Athletics history.

 

[OburgOrange]

I could tell you stories that are way worse that I know are true.

Waiting

 

[ArchDuke]

So a family member of Gross essentially said it wasn't his choice to hire the worst coach in our history, and you don't see a reason for that person to perhaps twist facts a bit?

Or were you saying a family member of Robinsons?

Family member of Gross. And honesty ranks pretty high with whom I choose to associate with. I don't like liars. I can see why someone might lie about it, but he had no reason to lie to me about it. He doesn't care what I think of Gross, I brought it up. But I can't call him a liar without better proof. So I guess the only point of my post was this. Gross made his bed here, he'll be remembered for all the things he did, good or bad. There's plenty of people that have made their feelings about him public. I just don't like seeing people pile on (on anyone) when there may not be truth to the claim (again, only what I was told about this hiring. I'm not an insider and can't say personally whether anything else said about him is right or wrong). I don't know about all the things people have said about him, but on this point (hiring GR) I was told something opposite what has been said by someone that should have known. Does that mean I'm right? Nope. Just what I was told and felt it came from a reliable source so I thought I'd share. Obviously this is a pretty contentious figure in recent Syracuse sports history and people have their opinions and I'm not here to argue or try to prove I know something so I'll leave it at that.

 

[HurleyForHeisman]

Gross may not have been great on details, but his big picture approach paid dividends. By focusing on marketing SU as NYC's college team, he helped set the context that made SU desirable when conference expansion came around. Getting SU into the ACC was the most important accomplishment of any SU AD ever. That trumps all the negatives by a lot.

 

[TexanMark]

NY's College Team sign in the background of iconic final game Jeter pic...priceless

 

[Cusester]

Where would we be today if Mike Bellotti had refused to step down as head coach at Oregon and allowed Chip Kelly to be signed by TGD? Gross did some great things for us.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

I could tell you stories that are way worse that I know are true.

Go on.

 

[longtimefan]

Gross may not have been great on details, but his big picture approach paid dividends. By focusing on marketing SU as NYC's college team, he helped set the context that made SU desirable when conference expansion came around. Getting SU into the ACC was the most important accomplishment of any SU AD ever. That trumps all the negatives by a lot.

We were not in the ACC 10 years earlier only due to local politics. We were the obvious "next man up" when the realignment carousel started spinning again.

Any halfway competent AD could have presided over SU's move to the ACC in 2013.

 

[OrangePA]

We were not in the ACC 10 years earlier only due to local politics. We were the obvious "next man up" when the realignment carousel started spinning again.

Any halfway competent AD could have presided over SU's move to the ACC in 2013.

Agreed