How Many Minutes Did Syracuse Have the Lead In the Greg Robinson Era?

Yesterday the 2008 Syracuse Orange football team finished their season with a 30-10 loss in Cincinnati, finally bringing to an end the Greg Robinson Era. Syracuse didn’t have any shot yesterday and never held a lead over the Bearcats.

This was the fifth time this year Syracuse never held a lead in a game, which got me wondering what the total amount of time Robinson’s teams actually held a lead during the past four years. Lets just say it isn’t that surprising that a team with such a poor record would hold a lead so rarely. Just another thing to show how bad the program was under Robinson. Home games are in caps.

2005: In G-Rob’s first year, the Orange held a lead in just over 98 out of a possible 660 minutes (or 14.87% of the time). The only game in which they held a lead for a majority of the game was the win over Buffalo.

2006: The most successful year of the Robinson Era (4 wins) featured the most time with a lead (surprise!). The Orange were in front for almost 190 out of a possible 720 minutes (26.38%). They had the lead for a majority of the Illinois, Miami (OH) and UConn victories.

2007: The Orange only held a lead 16.35% of the time in 07, never holding a lead in seven games. It did however feature the stunning Louisville game, which the Orange led almost wire-to-wire.

2008: Robinson’s final team provided some interesting numbers. They held the lead 26.35% of the time, second best in the G-Rob years. They also had the least amount of time in a victory (Notre Dame) and the most time with a lead in a loss (Pitt).

Syracuse never led in 20 out 47 games the last four seasons.

Generic Thanksgiving Post

It’s that time of year again. No, not the time for you to go home for a few days and get hammered drunk with your friends on a Wednesday night while running into every person you ever went to high school with and having awkward forced conversations with people you haven’t seen in 5 years. It’s actually the time for sports journalists to write generic “What I’m thankful for this year” columns. And since I’m as unoriginal and unimaginitive as all of them (even though I’m not even close to being a journalist-in case you were confused), here is my list of “What I’m thankful for as a Syracuse fan”. Enjoy.

I’m thankful for the Marvins-Harrison and Graves-for being the first players I watched in person that made me say “Wow”. I’m thankful that the first game I went to was Oklahoma in 1994, and I’m also thankful I didn’t even remember what the outcome was until I looked it up this morning (now I’m kind of sad). I’m thankful for Otto still being around. Being the Wolfpack would have been lame.

Maybe the greatest thing to be thankful for in Orange history...

I’m thankful for the 1998 football season, even the Tennessee and Florida losses. That team was fun to watch and frankly the best I’ve ever seen in person. I’m thankful that Donovan McNabb stayed for his senior year and gave us “The Puke Drive“. Watching him was pure bliss.

I’m thankful for players like Kirby Dar-Dar, Pat Woodcock, Quinton Spotwood and Sir Mawn Wilson for having hillarious sounding names. I’m also thankful for all the good players we’ve had: Dwight Freeney, Kevin Johnson, Rob Konrad, Walter Reyes, Keith Bulluck, Donovan Darius, Tebucky Jones and others too many to name.

I never thought I’d say this, but I’m thankful for the Troy Nunes era. As well as the R.J. Anderson era. But not the Perry Patterson era.

I’m very thankful for Sunday November 16th, 2008. I’m also thankful that Curtis Brinkley, Arthur Jones and the rest of this year’s football team never gave up. And I’m thankful for our win over Notre Dame. Fuck Notre Dame.

I’m thankful for James Arthur Boeheim (as well as Juli Boeheim). I’m thankful for the 1996 Final Four run and John Wallace. I’m thankful for Lawrence Moten and his socks (which made me wear high socks throughout my undistinguished 7th-10th grade basketball career). I’m thankful for  point guards like Sherman Douglas, Pearl Washington, Jason Hart, Laz Sims and Allen Griffin. I’m thankful for the 2000 team (one of my all-time favorites) with Hart, Damone Brown, Ryan Blackwell and Etan Thomas.

I’m thankful for Billy Celuck, Craig Forth and Jeremy McNeil, for making me appreciate Etan Thomas, Otis Hill and Arinze Onuaku. I’m also thankful for Josh Pace’s floater, Hakim Warrick’s dunks, Gerry McNammara’s threes, and Jesse’s story about Keuth Duany.

I’m thankful for Syracuse 81-Kansas 78. I’m thankful for The Block and Kansas’ inability to make free throws. I’m thankful for Gerry McNammara and his run through the Big East Tournament.

I’m thankful for Carmelo K. Anthony.

I’m thankful for Jonny Flynn being the fastest player I’ve seen in an Orange uniform. I’m thankful for Paul Harris being the best defensive back on campus, Devo never shutting up, Onuaku’s development, Andy Rautins faux-hawk and The Waffle.

I’m thankful for the 300 level football season tickets my father has had for over a decade. My brother and I went to countless games and always had a blast. I’m also thankful we moved from our 100 level seats behind the endzone opposite the band. We had the bad luck to sit next to a fan that looked like what my brother and I imagined Hitler would look like if he didn’t kill himself, relocated to central New York and decided to scream at Paul Pasquloni every Saturday. Scared the living shit out of me.

I’m thankful for my grandma bringing me the Post-Standard’s basketball preview every Thanksgiving. I’ll be sad when I don’t get it this year.

I’m thankful for the other blogs that provide great content and make me laugh on a daily basis (they are all on the right hand side of the page. Please read them as they are better than me and post much more frequently). I’m also thankful that Bud Poliquin is a cranky old bastard (and to an extent, Donnie Webb). I am thankful for the coverage Mike Waters and Donna Ditota (as well as Kim Baxter before she left) provide on Syracuse.com.

I’m thankful for the Carrier Dome and the countless number of car accidents I’ve almost caused on 81 while staring at it.

Lastly, I’m thankful for sports. Without you, myself (and I’m guessing anyone reading) would have a lot less fun and would probably have to care about our families, friends and pesky little things like world peace and solving the energy crisis a little more. Thanks for being an escape from everyday life. Except when my teams lose. Then I fucking hate you.

Back To The Good Life

I don’t wanna be an old man anymore
It’s been a year or two since I was out on the floor
Shakin’ booty, makin’ sweet love all the night
It’s time I got back to the good life
It’s time I got back, it’s time I got back
and I don’t even know how I got off the track
I wanna go back, yeah!

“The Good Life” -Weezer

The Greg Robinson Era

2005-2008

In 2004 the Syracuse football program seemed to be spinning the tires. The team was perpetually stuck in mediocrity, repeatedly failing to get back to the glory of the mid-late nineties. Our coach was being blasted by the fans and media alike for turning our once proud program into a middle-of-the-pack team. We got a share of the Big East title, but it did little to assure us we would be back to our glory days.

Then something else arrived: hope. We got a new AD who was billed as a savior of USC. He acted quick, dismissing the old coach and bringing in a new guy. His guy. We were all fooled.

Couldn't we have scheduled Louisville six times a year?

When Greg Robinson was hired our fans (myself included) knew it was time for a change. And we all thought this would be the coach to bring us back to respectability, if not to the top of the Big East. He had won Super Bowls, been a successful coordinator at Texas, and seemed to have the enthusiasm and knowledge to bring the Orange back from the depths. But all he did was sink.

By all accounts Greg Robinson is a great guy. I have never met him, but know two people who worked with him, both of whom say what a great guy he is. His players never quit on him. He ran a program that graduated its players and had limited discipline problems (compared to other schools both in our conference and across the country).

But the bottom line was that he couldn’t win football games. And wins are the all that matter in college athletics. Nobody buys a t-shirt of their favorite team to celebrate having a good team GPA. People don’t buy tickets to see a team that hasn’t had any players charged with a felony. They only do those things to see winning programs. And Syracuse under Robinson was far worse than Syracuse during Pasquiloni’s last few seasons.

Daryl Gross has a do-over now and needs to get THIS hire right. We can’t spend another four seasons finding out that our guy can’t win. We need someone who can win. Sure there might be an adjustment period, but how long are we willing to wait? If we spend two years racking up double digit losses while the new coach restocks the cupboard how many fans will be left? I don’t know how long I can wait, and I never thought I would say that.

I went to college at UMass, home of a once prominent basketball program. When I got to school, the Minutemen had slipped to previously unthinkable lows under Steve Lappas. Before my senior year he was fired, to be replaced by Travis Ford, an up-and-comer with a great pedigree. In his three years at the helm he was able to bring UMass back to respectability before moving onto greener pastures. The point is I wouldn’t trade those three years for anything. He stabilized and rebuilt a program. If Syracuse finds such a coach, a here for three years then onto bigger and better, that is fine by me. As long as in those years the program gets headed back in the right direction.

For now Syracuse fans can rejoice in the fact that it is over. Then we have to wonder when we’ll get back on track.