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The Daily OrangeFB | When should Greg Robinson go? Later
Wait until the season is over to fire him
By John Clayton
Posted: 10/6/08, 12:43 AM EST Section: Sports
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But that's what this debate is about: timing. And the best thing for this program is to let Robinson finish the season.
I know, I know. You want action. You want change. And, of course, that line of logic is more than justified. This team has shown next-to-no improvement from the last three sorry seasons. They're five games into what looks like it will be another humiliating turn in this seemingly endless tailspin.
Robinson has done nothing to warrant keeping his job. Yet it doesn't do this program much good to ship him out before this season is over. Fire him, sure. But allow him to stay on until the season is over. To serve as a caretaker of sorts until Director of Athletics Daryl Gross plucks a new savior for this plagued program.
If you fired Robinson now, who would replace him? The obvious candidate would be offensive coordinator Mitch Browning. But as good a job as Browning has done with this offense, he's not a head coach. Never has been. Neither has anybody else on this staff on the collegiate level. Yes, Robinson's gameday coaching follies have been all-to common this season. But there's more to being a college football coach than calling the plays.
Remember, a college football coach doesn't just run a team. He runs a program. There's nuances to this gig - recruiting, administrative duties, dealing with the media - that all falls on the head coach. Forget the fact none of Syracuse's assistants have an ounce of experience running a practice or calling the shots on the sidelines. None of them know how to run a program.
So if Robinson's going to get fired, it would make sense for Syracuse to bring in a head coach right away to replace him. There has been no shortage of candidates circulating in cyberspace.
How about Lane Kiffin? The former Oakland Raiders head coach whose big name and USC ties would make him an obvious target for Gross. What about Lloyd Carr? The former Michigan front man who's been pegged on blogs and message boards as having been on the Syracuse campus in recent weeks?
Hire one of them now, so the argument goes, and let them take over the program midseason. The new coach would still have time to put together a recruiting class and install his system. Start to right the ship now instead of next fall.
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