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The Daily OrangeFB | When should Greg Robinson go? Now
He should go in the middle of the season
By Andy McCullough
Posted: 10/6/08, 12:42 AM EST Section: Sports
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There's the dwindling attendance figures (the 27,549 turnout for Pittsburgh last Saturday was the lowest at home attendance since 1986) and the malaise and discontent of the fan base. There's the program's mutation from powerhouse to punch line. There's the dearth of recruits (just four commitments for next year's class).
And, more than anything else, there's Robinson's record since he arrived in 2005.
Wins: eight. Losses: thirty-two. Robinson is 8-32 in his three-plus seasons. There is a cold reality in those numbers, an easy trump card to explain why this head coach should be axed sooner than later.
This year is only an extension of that. The Orange is 1-4. While the offense has improved under new coordinator Mitch Browning, the defense has floundered. This unit ranks below 100th place in every major statistical category right now: Rushing defense, passing defense, total defense, sacks, whatever, name a stat, the Orange probably dwells in the basement.
Oh, by the way, Robinson runs the defense.
And there's adversity on the horizon. Syracuse heads to West Virginia and South Florida these next two weeks. There is little point playing out the string if the Orange gets pummeled again.
Because this is not a referendum on the players. They are young. They are playing hard. They deserve a head coach who can maximize that effort.
So if the harsh numbers aren't enough to convince you, here's some extra nuance:
• Firing Robinson takes the heat off Daryl Gross.
Gross put a bull's-eye on his own back when he brought Robinson back after last season. The Orange sputtered to a 2-10 record in 2007, and Robinson's own record rested at 7-28.
Yet Gross retained Robinson. Some said it was about saving money. Some said it was about fairness. Coaches deserve time to play with their own recruits.
Robinson has now gotten his extra time. And it's blown up in Gross' face. Robinson's failures have become Gross'.
Gross was booed at halftime of the Penn State game. He was (unfairly) ripped for that cell phone thing at Northwestern. A group of former players, led by former standout fullback Rob Konrad, wrote him a letter, explaining how the program must be rebuilt.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
michael
posted 10/06/08 @ 3:57 PM EST
great article. grob should have been fired after he went 1-10 his first season. no other school in the country would have put up with that. or the 4-8 season. (Continued…)
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