Daryl Gross Remarks at the Groundbreaking Ceremony
Opening Remarks
“I want to thank everyone for being here, first of all. This is a wonderful, wonderful day for Syracuse University Athletics. We have a vision here and it’s called SU Athletics Tomorrow. What that vision is all about is having the top facilities in the country so that we can have the top championship teams in the country, while we graduate all of our athletes. It is so important that we kick this thing off the right way. We are going to be developing a model of what that all entails of all the facilities we are going to have as we become the premier sports athletic program in the NCAA. To kick it off today is going to be our new strength and conditioning facility right here where you are all standing.
This is so important for us. It gets our momentum going. It gives us a competitive edge. You’ll hear from our football coach here pretty soon. When we talk about playing football at the national level, these are the types of things we need to do.
I’d like to thank a few people before we get moving here. Someone who has been so supportive to us, to athletics, who has a vision that is just tremendous – to make us the premier university in the world - is Nancy Cantor. I want you to recognize her again. She has been outstanding for us in athletics and allowed me to do the things that we need to do to be the best. To be the best - not just to be good, but to be the best. That’s very important to us. I want to thank all the donors who have pledged monies for this facility. It’s very important. We thank you all. It’s tremendous as we continue to raise money for all of our projects. Your support has been genuine and really heartfelt. We really appreciate it because it’s going to help us reach our vision.
And, to Donovan McNabb. Donovan, we are so appreciative to you and Roxi for giving back to your school. He did it on the field. He did it academically. He’s a Board of Trustee member for us. Super Bowl. Pro Bowl. Off-the-field. Community. There is not a better role model for any athlete in the country than Donovan McNabb. Thank you, Donovan.
It’s been great that I’ve been able to, with the help of our staff and our University, bring a football coach here who has tremendous expertise. His resume includes two Super Bowl Championships. His resume includes postseason where he has never faced defeat. He’s won every postseason game he’s been in. He is truly an expert and a genius of the game. To bring this kind of NFL expertise to college where he’s had a wonderful run in college athletics - there’s just not too many people that have this kind of combination. We’re going to have great things. This weight room means so much to him. I’m going to have him come up right now, our head football coach Greg Robinson.”
