For weeks, Greg Robinson deflected the criticism and the speculation about his job security, remaining defiant even as his fate as Syracuse head coach appeared a foregone conclusion.

That attitude was gone as Robinson slipped into the Iocolano-Petty Football Wing auditorium Sunday afternoon. Hours earlier, he had been told he will not return as head coach next season by Director of Athletics Daryl Gross, confirming what for months had appeared an inevitable end to a disastrous tenure. He is still owed $1.1 million by his contract, which runs through next season.

After four years of misery, Robinson’s firing wasn’t much of a surprise. Not even for the head coach himself.

‘I don’t think it really comes as a surprise to anyone. It doesn’t really come as a surprise to me,’ Robinson said. ‘I’m disappointed, but I understand why the decision was made.’

The 57-year-old head coach’s tenure at Syracuse has been an unequivocal failure, the most barren stretch in the history of this once-prominent program.

Robinson owns a 9-36 record at Syracuse, including a 3-24 mark against Big East opponents. His .200 winning percentage is the worst among all Syracuse football coaches in the last 100 years.

Robinson is the sixth head coach in the country this year to be fired midseason. He will finish out the final two games of Syracuse’s season – a visit to Notre Dame Saturday and a game at Cincinnati a week later – before stepping down.

The announcement came a day after the Orange lost to Connecticut in SU’s home finale, dropping it to 2-8 on the season, and 1-5 in the Big East.

‘I ran out of time,’ Robinson said. ‘I still see improvement. I can name players from last night’s football game who I see took big steps in improving, and that’s part of it. You run out of time. As always, I’m optimistic, and I think with more time I could do better.’

Robinson said he learned of his dismissal during a meeting with Gross Sunday morning. Robinson told his team later in the day, then faced the media in the afternoon.

‘It’s difficult for me to stomach that a good coach and a good person in Coach Robinson will be gone,’ Syracuse senior tailback Curtis Brinkley said. ‘But I guess it’s the part of the business. And the business part, the players don’t have any control.’

For Gross, the focus now turns toward the future. He said the search for a new head coach will begin immediately.

‘I think we have to put an end to speculation, to rumor, to uncertainty,’ Gross said during a press conference in his office Sunday afternoon. ‘We want to put the community at rest. We want to give our players the chance to play Notre Dame and focus on that and not worry about our coach’s status that over the weeks seems to turn into a volcano of uncertainty. So it ends all that speculation.’

Gross faces a make-or-break hire. Upon his arrival in December 2004, he made the decision to fire 13-year head coach Paul Pasqualoni after a 6-6 season. With less than a month to conduct a coaching search, Gross settled on Robinson, then a co-defensive coordinator at Texas.

Gross will have ample time to find a successor this time around.

‘To say that we feel we’re ahead of the game is an understatement,’ Gross said. ‘ … If I could have gotten it done yesterday, I would. But we want to get it done the right way and be really smart about it and figure out every angle so we can win.’

Four years ago, Robinson seemed primed to be that guy. He brought to Syracuse a pair of Super Bowl rings, won during his stint as defensive coordinator with the Denver Broncos. He was an energetic optimist who boasted 14 years of NFL service.

Robinson promised to deliver an attacking defense. He also adhered to a pro-style West Coast offense – a breath of fresh air from the Orange’s archaic, option attack.

Robinson’s tenure never got off the ground. Syracuse lost its 2005 opener, 15-7, to West Virginia. Things spiraled downhill from there. The Orange finished 1-10 in Robinson’s first season, weighed down by the third-worst offense in the country.

Syracuse improved to 4-8 in 2006. But Robinson’s third season only brought more frustration. Even when Syracuse appeared poised to turn a corner – like when it shocked then-No. 18 Louisville last September – the team regressed. A week after that stunner, Syracuse lost at Miami (Ohio). The Orange finished 2-10, and the calls for Robinson’s head grew more boisterous.

In the meantime, Syracuse’s futility took a financial toll as well. In April, The Daily Orange reported that the athletic department lost money in 2006 for the first time in 11 years. Average attendance at football games plummeted to 33,474, the lowest average ever at the Carrier Dome.

Amidst the losing and financial plights, Gross afforded Robinson one more season, saying he needed to see ‘tangible improvement’ in 2008 for Robinson to keep his job.

The results never materialized. Syracuse suffered an embarrassing 42-28 defeat to Akron in week two. Seven days later, the Orange was demolished by Penn State, 55-13, ruining a banner weekend that included the premiere of ‘The Express,’ a biopic about legendary SU running back Ernie Davis.

As the losses piled up, Robinson’s outlook became increasingly bleak. In October, The New York Times reported that Gross had hired renowned coaching consultant Chuck Neinas to begin searching for a new head coach. The Syracuse athletic department denied the report.

But Robinson’s fate was all but sealed after Syracuse fell to Rutgers, 35-17, Nov. 8, guaranteeing the Orange would miss a bowl for the fourth-straight year.

Saturday’s Senior Night defeat to the Huskies was the final straw. ‘I kind of had an idea of what I needed to do,’ Robinson said of the game.

That all led to Sunday’s announcement. Robinson was adamant Sunday his work wasn’t finished as head coach. He still has two games left, he said. But those will do little to sugarcoat Robinson’s ultimate legacy. Four years of losing have already cemented that.

‘I have tried to do everything that I really can do to get this to be done as expediently as I possibly can,’ Robinson said. ‘Obviously I didn’t get it done, and that’s the bottom line.’

jsclayto@syr.edu

Published on November 16, 2008 at 12:00 pm