Syracuse AD Daryl Gross yesterday said that it "was his decision to step down" from the position after more than 10 years, according to Mike Waters of the Syracuse POST-STANDARD. However, he said it was "totally inaccurate" to assume his decision to take a different job within the university was a result of recent NCAA sanctions against the men's basketball program. He said, "It's too bad that certain things have been interpreted the wrong way." Gross in his first public comments since the announcement said, "When I hit February, that was 10 years for me. ... You get to [the] point where you maximize what you can maximize and then you need fresh eyes on things. I felt like this was the time." Gross will now serve as Syracuse VP and Special Assistant to Chancellor Kent Syverud, as well as an adjunct professor (SYRACUSE.com, 3/18). In N.Y., Zach Schonbrun notes Gross was "implicated numerous times in the NCAA’s report on Syracuse’s transgressions, specifically with regard to the violations of its own drug policy." The NCAA in its report wrote that Gross "admitted following an 'unwritten policy' with regard to allowing athletes back to competition after failed drug tests." Gross also in January '12 "convened a meeting with members of the athletic department, the faculty athletic representative and an associate provost to outline a strategy to get a pivotal basketball player, Fab Melo, back on the court after the NCAA had declared him academically ineligible." The provost later told the NCAA that it "was an unprecedented meeting tailored specifically for one athlete" (N.Y. TIMES, 3/19).
MOVING FORWARD: In Syracuse, Nate Mink noted Senior Associate AD/Facilities Pete Sala will serve as the interim AD "until the university finds its man (or woman)." No timeline "has been established on when the university hopes to name Gross' permanent successor." Tasked with helping that search "is a small committee made up of university constituents," five of whom were announced by Syverud yesterday. Ballentine Capital Management President & CEO and SU BOT member Steve Ballentine will chair the committee, which will eventually include a "head coach, faculty and student representatives and a representative from the Office of University Counsel, which oversees athletics compliance" (SYRACUSE.com, 3/18). Also in Syracuse, Chris Carlson noted Gross' main deputies, both of whom were "involved in the infamous Fab Melo meeting, were passed over for the interim job." Sala is "a straight-shooter who operates the Carrier Dome but has no experience picking coaches, raising money or running athletic programs" (SYRACUSE.com, 3/18).
A LEGACY TO STAND ON? In Syracuse, Bud Poliquin wrote the idea when SU hired Gross in '04 was to find someone that would "act and talk and look and perform in a way that would make clear to all that Syracuse University's athletic mission statement was to cannonball into the 21st century." Gross' sins were his "role in the perceived academic fraud in the sorry matter of Fab Melo," as well as his "failure to rescue Orange football, which has staggered along to a 45-77 record on his 10-season watch." The Melo incident "amounted to a colossal lack of judgment," while the lack of football success "remains a case of Gross' writing a check with his mouth that subsequent actions were simply not able to cash." Poliquin: "Yet, so much was accomplished with Gross on the Syracuse bridge." The school joined the ACC, "vast monies were raised, state-of-the-art facilities were built, the overall SU athletic program blossomed as never before, the Carrier Dome got all dolled up." Gross was both "bad for Syracuse" and "good for Syracuse" (SYRACUSE.com, 3/18).
BOEHEIM AT THE MIC: SU men's basketball coach Jim Boeheim, who yesterday announced he would retire at the end of the '17-18 season, addressed the media this morning and denied having any personal involvement in the incidents that led to the NCAA sanctions. Boeheim's combative tone during his press conference was not well received on Twitter. TheUndefeated.com's Mike Wise: "This is such a farce. I would have more respect for him if Boeheim said, 'I am paid to win games. I don't get paid to graduate kids.'" The Boston Globe's Shalise Manza Young: "this is making me sad. I assume every major program is dirty to some extent, but Boeheim's justification dance is kind of gross." ESPN's Bomani Jones: "whoa, boeheim hit em with the charge of racism. which isn’t entirely wrong…but probably not today, chief. not today." Bleacher Report's Mike Freeman: "Boeheim says he loves the football program as he throws them under the bus." SI's Chris Mannix: "This Jim Boeheim press conference is like a slow moving car wreck." The Buffalo News' Mike Harrington: "Throw out the arrogance of Boeheim in general. Shame on him and SU for doing this two hours before NCAA games start."
