Spring Break
The Daily OrangeFB | Running out of time
With five games left, Greg Robinson is almost out of chances
By Andy McCullough
Posted: 10/31/08, 2:23 AM EST Section: Sports
|
Despite his 8-34 record as a head coach and little visible improvement, Greg Robinson continues to run the Orange (1-6, 0-3 Big East). The team's fans continue to call for his head. Meanwhile, reports and rumors involving Daryl Gross, the Syracuse director of athletics, taking action against Robinson continue to float around on message boards, talk radio stations and even The New York Times.
Caught up in this mess, the Syracuse players say they only want to focus on the remaining five games on the schedule, starting with Louisville (5-2, 1-1 Big East) at the Carrier Dome 7 p.m. Saturday. The players have built a trench and dug in, refusing to admit that the cacophony affects them. Sports psychology experts say that isn't necessarily the case.
"We don't have any decision-making or any influence on any of that that goes on," wide receiver Lavar Lobdell said. "We leave that to Coach Robinson and Dr. Gross. That's their realm and we just leave it up to them."
But shutting things out can be difficult for young athletes, said Steven Frierman, a sports psychologist and professor at Hofstra University.
"The bigger the media attention, the harder it is," Frierman said. "Especially, remember, they're kids. They're not 30 years old, where they can disassociate themselves from the media sometimes. This might be new to them. And they have a lot of pressure."
Which, of course, is what Greg Robinson said he didn't want to happen when this season started.
Robinson begged reporters in August not to make the discussion about him. Focus on the team, he said. Focus on this season, not the future, he said.
His wish has not come true. Too much has happened, at Syracuse and across the country. Clemson fired their head coach already this season. This past week, Tyrone Willingham agreed to step down at Washington following the season. Both coaches had better winning percentages than Robinson.
The Orange has lost six games this year and won only one, a single digit victory over a Division I-AA opponent. The statistics are even uglier. There are 119 teams in Division I-A football. Syracuse runs the 105th-ranked defense and the 110th-ranked offense. The defense collapsed against Pittsburgh. The offense collapsed against West Virginia. And everything fell apart against South Florida two weeks ago.
Viewing Comments 1 - 3 of 3
kowalski44
posted 10/31/08 @ 8:51 AM EST
It's time to cut him loose for the sake of the Players and the sake of the program and university.
Let him go and move Mitch up as interim Head Coach please. (Continued…)
Marc LeVine
posted 10/31/08 @ 10:34 AM EST
Daryl Gross is a fool. Kowalski44 is right and it is what I and others have been saying for awhile - dump Robinson, install an interim coach and see how the team reacts to the change, as you keep your eyes open for the next coach - who might, in fact, end up being the interim coach. (Continued…)
Alan
posted 11/01/08 @ 4:17 AM EST
When Robinson gets his just firing , it will take at least 3 years to build a respectable team...much longer if we get a clone of Robinson. If you were highly regarded ,why would you want to play for a rebuilding team ? Get a new AD while we are at it !
Post a Comment