So it doesn’t shock me he defends the hand that feeds in saying the MetLife games were smart.Talked about the Shamrock Series and mentioned that SU fans still upset about the MetLife deal, but agrees SU should have done it (particularly with USC). Concedes this will feel like a ND home game fan-wise. Tickets hard to come by for SU fans.
Hope to have John Sterling on the game broadcast.
Has been fun being the Play by Play guy so far this year.
Babers "Super like-able".
Outside of ED and the offensive tempo, feels the our kicker and our run game in the redzone will continue to be a factor. Story of the year for Matt is turnover margin and extraordinary field position thanks to ST. Ground game is "coming". Mentioned Neal and Howard.
LBers can be exposed. Overall, solid parts to the team. Sees a "roadmap" to winning.
Doesn't think there's been much talk about a NY6 bowl. Beat ND, opens up all possibilities. If not, look at Pinstripe Bowl.
About Babers job, hard to say what Wildhack is doing because Wildhack keeps it quiet. Believes Wildhack is aware what SU is up against and what SU has in their coach. Does not think Babers reaches for the "next shiny thing". Would be absolutely stunned if he took any of the currently open or expected open HC positions. Doesn't think he's as much as a flight risk as being perceived.
Moved on to SU basketball. Says team is real good, better than last year. Will see how the team really is after the New York series.
Talked about the Shamrock Series and mentioned that SU fans still upset about the MetLife deal, but agrees SU should have done it (particularly with USC). Concedes this will feel like a ND home game fan-wise. Tickets hard to come by for SU fans.
Hope to have John Sterling on the game broadcast.
Has been fun being the Play by Play guy so far this year.
Babers "Super like-able".
Outside of ED and the offensive tempo, feels the our kicker and our run game in the redzone will continue to be a factor. Story of the year for Matt is turnover margin and extraordinary field position thanks to ST. Ground game is "coming". Mentioned Neal and Howard.
LBers can be exposed. Overall, solid parts to the team. Sees a "roadmap" to winning.
Doesn't think there's been much talk about a NY6 bowl. Beat ND, opens up all possibilities. If not, look at Pinstripe Bowl.
About Babers job, hard to say what Wildhack is doing because Wildhack keeps it quiet. Believes Wildhack is aware what SU is up against and what SU has in their coach. Does not think Babers reaches for the "next shiny thing". Would be absolutely stunned if he took any of the currently open or expected open HC positions. Doesn't think he's as much as a flight risk as being perceived.
Moved on to SU basketball. Says team is real good, better than last year. Will see how the team really is after the New York series.
did we have USC Coming the dome? or did we have a deal where we could play USC if we played them at metlife and we went out there?
So it doesn’t shock me he defends the hand that feeds in saying the MetLife games were smart.
The USC game was the stupidest decision by Gross. We had USC coming to the Dome and we sold the game to MetLife. Hey Matt that is what midmajors do.
I know nothing about the guy so I’m not going to say anything more except atleast he is better than Mr. Excitement.
Yeah, USC was the game that was moved unnecessarily. (unless Gross knew they only agreed to NYC but didn't announce it as such).
The other NYC games got caught up in that noise, but they weren't the same situation. At all. Similar to Saturday. But USC started that snowball down the hill.
We now have so much free time and affluence, that people have to bitch about things to find something to do. It permeates our society.I really don't get this. Gross was desperately trying to make something of a moribund program. Not saying it's the best idea but ND plays home games all over the country. I mean, people act like it's a sign our program is dying when really, it may just represent a cool opportunity to play a game somewhere a little different.
I also would understand it more if the dome were full (last weekend was the closest we've been in a while and when is the last time we sold out?). I'd also understand it more if we had a really cool gameday experience. I'd also understand it more if no one else played games like these ... but they do. I'd also understand it even more if the Dome was a cool place to see a game -- but it's not. It's tiny, it's hot and stuffy even if it's moderately warm out. I'd also understand it if we couldn't get to NYC easily, but anyone upstate (including students who I guarantee know a ton of kids from LI/NJ/NYC) can do an overnight in NYC really, really easily.
I don't know, it feels like complaining about uniforms -- much ado about nothing. It's like when people used to flip out that we played on friday night ... now we probably get better ratings on friday night than we do on Saturday at noon.
I grew up upstate, love it, love the cuse, have had a lot of fun at the dome. But I could not give a s--- if they play somewhere else and, all things being equal, I'd rather see them play somewhere other than the dome.
I think the first Notre Dame game, too. It was part of his branding us as New York's team.
So it doesn’t shock me he defends the hand that feeds in saying the MetLife games were smart.
The USC game was the stupidest decision by Gross. We had USC coming to the Dome and we sold the game to MetLife. Hey Matt that is what midmajors do.
I know nothing about the guy so I’m not going to say anything more except atleast he is better than Mr. Excitement.
You don’t get what?I really don't get this. Gross was desperately trying to make something of a moribund program. Not saying it's the best idea but ND plays home games all over the country. I mean, people act like it's a sign our program is dying when really, it may just represent a cool opportunity to play a game somewhere a little different.
I also would understand it more if the dome were full (last weekend was the closest we've been in a while and when is the last time we sold out?). I'd also understand it more if we had a really cool gameday experience. I'd also understand it more if no one else played games like these ... but they do. I'd also understand it even more if the Dome was a cool place to see a game -- but it's not. It's tiny, it's hot and stuffy even if it's moderately warm out. I'd also understand it if we couldn't get to NYC easily, but anyone upstate (including students who I guarantee know a ton of kids from LI/NJ/NYC) can do an overnight in NYC really, really easily.
I don't know, it feels like complaining about uniforms -- much ado about nothing. It's like when people used to flip out that we played on friday night ... now we probably get better ratings on friday night than we do on Saturday at noon.
I grew up upstate, love it, love the cuse, have had a lot of fun at the dome. But I could not give a s--- if they play somewhere else and, all things being equal, I'd rather see them play somewhere other than the dome.
You are wrong. We desperately needed the money and the exposure.You don’t get what?
Gross sold a home game at the Carrier Dome with USC to MetLife.
It was a pure cash grab.
Second he agreed to a 4 game series with Notre Dame that 2 games would be in South Bend and our 2 “home” games would be at MetLife. The 2 MetLife games ended up being games with more Notre Dame fans than Syracuse fans.
If the ACC 5 games series didn’t happen the South Bend games would have happened already and we would have had a 0-2-2 series. This what midmajor schools do. It was Gross low point IMO.
Also the status of the AD was overblown JB and basketball picked up the slack bigtime for the AD with basketball revenue. To OrangePA we didn’t need the revenue badly. It was revenue needed to bailout Gross spending which was out of control.
Asking out of pure ignorance. I hear it thrown around all the time that Gross spent alot of money. But it also seems that there wasn't a whole lot of investment in the department going on under his tenure. I know he oversaw the melo center and ensley, but those also seemed funded by large donations and separate fundraising efforts. I may be wrong there. What was he spending like crazy on? Never been clear.You don’t get what?
Gross sold a home game at the Carrier Dome with USC to MetLife.
It was a pure cash grab.
Second he agreed to a 4 game series with Notre Dame that 2 games would be in South Bend and our 2 “home” games would be at MetLife. The 2 MetLife games ended up being games with more Notre Dame fans than Syracuse fans.
If the ACC 5 games series didn’t happen the South Bend games would have happened already and we would have had a 0-2-2 series. This what midmajor schools do. It was Gross low point IMO.
Also the status of the AD was overblown JB and basketball picked up the slack bigtime for the AD with basketball revenue. To OrangePA we didn’t need the revenue badly. It was revenue needed to bailout Gross spending which was out of control.
We didn’t need the money. Gross was spending crazy on a tennis coach, cross country coach, all the staff he hired personally etc. I have a friend I graduated with who has worked in the AD over a decade.You are wrong. We desperately needed the money and the exposure.
He hired a lot of deputy ADs, he spent top of the money market on Luke Jensen, Gary Gait and two other Olympic sports.Asking out of pure ignorance. I hear it thrown around all the time that Gross spent alot of money. But it also seems that there wasn't a whole lot of investment in the department going on under his tenure. I know he oversaw the melo center and ensley, but those also seemed funded by large donations and separate fundraising efforts. I may be wrong there. What was he spending like crazy on? Never been clear.
If a Mr. Terrell Hunt had been the starter Syracuse wins that game.And given how we played USC at MetLife, there's a better than 40% chance of us winning that game if we had played it at the Dome.
If a Mr. Terrell Hunt had been the starter Syracuse wins that game.
If a Mr. Terrell Hunt had been the starter Syracuse wins that game.
He hired a lot of deputy ADs, he spent top of the money market on Luke Jensen, Gary Gait and two other Olympic sports.
He was letting Olympic teams travel budgets be bigger than they needed to be. Gross had incentives for how high the school finished in the Lear standings. He spent crazy on smaller sports plus had a bloated office.
My buddy works there told me about the fact Gross had a tennis court put in at his house so he could socialize with Jensen and get private lessons.
I liked Gross overall he made some mistakes but the guy spent like a drunken sailor. It’s part of the reason he took a deal UConn/Rutgers didn’t and negotiated that long term series with MetLife that Wildhack and MetLife mutually pulled out of.
We didn’t need the money. Gross was spending crazy on a tennis coach, cross country coach, all the staff he hired personally etc. I have a friend I graduated with who has worked in the AD over a decade.
The books were never in the red. JB is why the AD was fine. All those nonconference home basketball games bailed football out.
Gross did the ND series because it was a cash grab as the heat was starting on him for his spending.
The MetLife series was not good for Syracuse football brand. It was midmajorish.
UConn and Rutgers declined the 0-2-2 series we took it. It didn’t help with the ACC. That is spin.