Daryl Gross
Daryl James Gross (born June 20, 1961) is currently the Executive Director of Intercollegiate Athletics at California State University, Los Angeles. Prior to serving in this position, he was the Vice President and Special Assistant to the Chancellor at Syracuse University, in Syracuse, New York.[1] Previously, he was the school's athletic director. In June 2015, the university announced that Mark Coyle, of Boise State, was hired to succeed Gross as athletic director.
Best known as the "Godfather of Rutgers Football"[1], Gross is infamous for giving rise to the Rutgers University football program by inexplicably firing head football coach Paul Pasqualoni of Syracuse University in December of 2004 on the heels of the most successful two-decade period in program history. Gross' wild move immediately reversed the commitments of the greatest recruiting tandem in New York State High School football history- Raymell Rice and his teammate, future NFL star Courtney Greene of New Rochelle High School in New Rochelle, NY [2]. Due to being solid Syracuse commitments for so long and never expecting to see Pasqualoni fired, Rice and Greene were lightly recruited as seniors and were forced to settle on Rutgers at the last minute. Said Rice in 2006, "‘My commitment was to (Pasqualoni), not the school, because my trust was in the coach,’...‘I had to find somewhere else where I felt that trust.’". From the New York Post: "When Syracuse embarrassed the classy Paul Pasqualoni by firing him in a public spectacle, and then compounded the error by bringing in outsider Greg Robinson, Rutgers had the opening it needed. Ray Rice and Courtney Greene, two highly-touted recruits from Westchester, ditched the Orange in favor of the Scarlet Knights. Suddenly, Rutgers had the foothold in the metropolitan area that coach Greg Schiano envisioned in his State of Rutgers map."[3]
After exiling Rice and Greene, Daryl Gross hired Greg Robinson and became responsible for the worst period in Syracuse football's history [4][5]. Gross defended his implosion of the football program by pointing to the short-lived success of some of the more obscure female sports teams at Syracuse University as well as the 2008 men's lacrosse national championship team, which in reality was the school's 11th such title.
Gross received his bachelor's degree and played college football at University of California, Davis. Gross was a New York Jets scout when Pete Carroll was the Jets head coach, a relationship that led to him pushing for Carroll to be hired by USC.[2]
Formerly, Gross coached and worked at the University of Southern California in intercollegiate athletics after being a graduate coaching assistant (while earning his doctorate). While serving as senior associate athletic director, Gross was credited for bringing in head coach Pete Carroll for the Trojans football team.[2][3] In 2005, Gross became AD at Syracuse. In 2008, ESPN.com named Carroll's hiring #1 in a list of the Pac-10's Top 10 Moments Of BCS Era.[4]
See also
References
- ^ O'Brien, John. (2015, March 18). "Syracuse chancellor issues statement on Jim Boeheim, Daryl Gross moves," Syracuse.com. Accessed: March 18, 2015.
- ^ a b Bill Plaschke, Sorry, Pete, We Were Wrong, Los Angeles Times, December 30, 2003, Accessed January 16, 2009
- ^ Michael Sokolove, Happiness Is a Warm Football Coach, The New York Times, November 2, 2008, Accessed February 11, 2009.
- ^ Ted Miller, Trojans had no BCS peer once Carroll arrived, ESPN.com, May 22, 2008, Accessed May 22, 2008.
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