SU Director of Athletics Dr. Daryl Gross
Gross Announces Change in Orange Football Program
12/29/2004 2:32:57 PM | Football
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Syracuse University Director of Athletics Daryl J. Gross announced today that head football coach Paul Pasqualoni will not be retained. During coach Pasqualoni's tenure, the Orange has accumulated a record of 107-59-1, including 62-33 in The BIG EAST Conference. Pasqualoni departs as the second-winningest coach in school history.
Dr. Daryl Gross, Director of Athletics
Opening Statement:
"Good afternoon. I will just get right to it here. I have decided that Paul Pasqualoni will not be back as head football coach next year at Syracuse University.
"Right now it is just the logical time for us here to go in a different direction. Coach Pasqualoni has served Syracuse and most importantly, the student-athletes well over his tenure. I trust that the Syracuse University community appreciates his work and accomplishments. Let me say this about Paul Pasqualoni, he is a class act. He has great character and is a tremendous man. From a coach’s perspective, the things he has done you can marvel at. He has gone to many bowl games and won a lot of games, and his appointment as the President of the College Football Coaches Association is deserved.
"We have had some wonderful talks over the past weeks and he obviously feels strongly about this program. He has left it, in what I would term, really good shape. There are some marvelous student-athletes here at Syracuse University and we will continue to have those, as well.
"Since I accepted the position of athletic director, I have reviewed the football situation very carefully, including the bowl game. I have sought counsel from a myriad of constituents in reaching this conclusion that we go in a different direction.
"We will maintain our vision of hiring a head coach that will get Syracuse football back to national prominence and will do so while never comprising our history of running a great program, graduating football student-athletes and providing them with a quality education and experience. We will begin the search for a new football coach immediately.
"My regards go out to the families of the coaches, our assistant coaches, coach Pasqualoni, obviously, and we will help them transition, as a family would do in these situations. Coach Pasqualoni was very classy about everything and I appreciate his tenure here, as I sure you all do as well.
"With that said, we will get a search going and it will start immediately."
On the reasons for the decision to go in a different direction:
“As I talked about in the press conference when I came in, the expectations at Syracuse are really high. It is a very proud place, a very prestigious place and a very sophisticated place. Obviously, there has been some success here and as of late, it has not been on a consistent basis. In looking at the past few seasons, there are some inconsistencies there, but at the same time there were some opportunities to do some great things that didn’t materialize, and that is unfortunate. That is part of coaching. Sometimes it is just bad luck. Sometimes you just know you need to make a change. He has had a long tenure here, and has done some wonderful things. I just think that it is time to go in a different direction.”
On what role the bowl game played:
“Obviously, it was something that we all looked at but I don’t want to say that the bowl game was the straw that broke the camel’s back or anything like that. What you do is put it in the mix of everything. Obviously, the season didn’t start out well against Purdue and it didn’t end well, and there were some great moments in between. The thing we were looking for is consistency. There is some restlessness in the community about football. You want to have some hope for the student-athletes. They love coach Pasqualoni but they will also be able to make this transition and adjust to whom we bring in, and we hope to do great things with the new head coach.”
On what happens with the assistant coaches:
“We are going to carry on business as usual with the assistant coaches. We still have to recruit and there are some recruiting dates that still need to be addressed, so that will continue until we have a new head coach. The new head coach will interview the assistants and maybe there are people he would like to hold over. It is all part of the nature of a football change.”
On who possible candidate might be:
“I am not going to get into candidates now other than to tell you that a model that I have enjoyed and that has worked for me is to have a person with professional or NFL experience and college football experience. I have a pretty good model out at Southern California that worked really well. It is important for us to have someone who realizes that this is going to be college and it is going to be fun, but, that they are going to learn and have an opportunity to live out there dreams as student-athletes and if they want to go on to the NFL, and someone who is going to graduate our student-athletes. That is the candidate I am looking for.”
On how much of a factor the fans were:
“From a coaches and administrators standpoint, you listen to the fans. However, coaches do their business 24 hours, seven days a week and administrators do their business 24 hours, seven days a week. So, there is some input as far as that goes but it is not going to be something that is going to be the determining factor, but just something that we make note of.”
On when was Paul Pasqualoni informed of the news:
“We have spoken a few times and we met today, as well.”
On the timing of the announcement:
“I think the timing is pretty logical. We are going into the heart of the recruiting season right now. I think we needed to act one way or another as soon as we could evaluate the program and I think we have done that. I think we had a tremendous amount of information before we made any decision and I think that was important as well to be fair to everybody. I think the timing now is good because we can get a search going right away and get a head coach here to be able to stabilize our recruiting and reach for better things.”
On Chancellor Cantor’s December 6 press conference:
“I think Dr. Cantor had great intentions with her statement. I think we all expected the bowl game to be a little more positive and I think that accentuated some of the inconsistencies that have occurred during the last few years of Syracuse football. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that the game would get that sideways and it is too bad. Sometimes that happens in a bowl game situation where you prepare hard and maybe you have final exams and all kinds of variables that come into play that maybe being played a couple weeks later, the results are different.”
How difficult the decision was to make:
“It was very difficult because I respect coach Pasqualoni and his staff. Very difficult because I coached and I understand because I was on a staff that was fired and all those things come into play. From coach to coach, we all understand the nature of this business but it is still difficult because there are families involved. It is a scary time. We get into it, as administrators and as coaches, knowing that a day like this could come. I have a lot of empathy and respect for these guys and Paul knows it and I think the staff knows it as well.”
On how Paul Pasqualoni took the news:
“Classy, as he always is. Paul is as classy a coach as I have ever been around. He has great character and we had some great conversations about a lot of things relating to the program. To say that I was surprised, no I was surprised because that is the way that he has always handled himself.”
On if he was given the option to resign or if he was fired:
“Those discussions are private and I have so much respect for coach Pasqualoni. He has a lot of pride and has done some great things at this university, and we all know that. We had a great conversation and I am going to leave it at that.”
On if the decision to fire coach Pasqualoni was his and when he made it:
“First of all let me say that the decision to not keep coach Pasqualoni here was my decision and it was based on me gathering data and having discussions. When that decision was made, I won’t share that with you because that is personal to me and how I have to go about running the administration of this athletics program.”
On coach Pasqualoni achieving three of the four goals that were set out before the season began:
“There were expectations that were existing and then there are visions and expectations that I have for the future. I have to match the vision that I have for the future with what is going on currently and that is what I looked at. I think where we want to be and where I think we are going to be, is that the goals are going to be higher than that and the expectations are going to be higher than that. I think Syracuse University deserves to have those kind of expectations. Coach Pasqualoni had those expectations for himself that were above the things that were mentioned. He wanted to win a national championship as well as anyone in the country. My belief is that we can win a national championship here one day and we have to build it and have a vision with it and we are starting now.”
On how soon he hopes to have a head coach in place:
“I want to move very fast in the search process. I think I have somewhat of an advantage in that I am aware of the community of football coaches in both college and pro that will help the process along. The sooner we can get the right coach for Syracuse University, the better.”
On if he has spoken to the players:
“Yes, I have and I don’t want to share those conversations other than to say that I really think the student-athletes here share the vision that I have. They have great admiration for their former coach and there are wonderful student-athlete here. I am very impressed and I will leave it as that.”
On if he has any candidates in mind:
“I won’t share any short lists or those types of things. There are some great candidates out there and we can do a lot of great things here at Syracuse and I want to get started.”
On what it takes to lure a coach to Syracuse:
“I don’t think it is going to be tough to lure a coach if we did nothing. Syracuse sells itself. It has such a great name, a lot prestige and a lot of legacy. However, part of my vision is to have strong developmental plan that will include facilities, to fundraise and bring the facilities we need to be equal with anybody in the country. If we are going to do all these things and have these great visions and expectations, than it is up to me to motivate us all to get after it so we can compete with anybody and everybody. We are not far off. There is some great potential here and I think it is a gold mine. I think the coaching candidates out there will feel the same way.”
On what the objectives for the new coach will be:
“I am not going to spell those out now. It is going to be pretty detailed and I will get in-depth with a lot of people about it. They will know the vision and the expectations and if their vision meets mine as well, then I think we will have a good match. I think later in the process it will become really clear and obvious to you when we bring the head coach in what their vision, goals and credentials are to try to do what we need to do to get to the national championship level.”
On the advantages of having both professional and college coaching experience:
“There is an expertise now and you see it in college football. First of all, I go by history and I have seen it work. I got to see it work at the last place I worked with a guy who spent a lot of time in college and then spent a lot of time in the pro’s. It brings a certain expertise to your campus and your football team. I want that kind of expertise for our student-athletes. You have to have great educators and teachers who can help young men maximize their talent to the fullest, for them to play at a level that they never thought they could play at and to put them into a position to have success, be very sound, fundamentally and mechanically. I think that is really important. Defensively, Syracuse needs to become a place where if you are going to go play defense and you want to go to the NFL and get a great education, you need to go to Syracuse. Offensively, we have to be wide open and proactive, NFL pro-style, that is entertaining, productive and fun. It is still college and we want it to be really fun for the student-athletes where they just embrace this, want to get after it and run through the wall to come play and practice everything.”
On playing in the Carrier Dome:
“There are so many benefits to playing in the Carrier Dome. There are 50,000 seats there and there are not that many places that can get that loud. It’s not always the 105,000-seat stadium that is as intimidating as a place like the Carrier Dome. I think we should try to fix up whatever we need to do to the Carrier Dome and keep getting after it.”
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