Respect

I've tried all day to avoid this, but it must come out. Maybe it's not about real estate, but it's about my state of mind.

Greg Robinson has been retained as the coach of the Syracuse University football team for his fourth season despite absolutely dismal (three) previous seasons and a win-loss record of 7 and 28. Nice round numbers, those - he has won only 20% of his games.

He took over when the fans and alumni were screaming for a better, more exciting football team. The new Chancellor, Nancy Cantor, and the new Athletic Director, Darryl Gross, agreed and hired Coach Robinson to bring a national championship back to SU.

Coach Robinson had never been a head coach anywhere. He had several jobs prior to coming to SU, mostly in the NFL and had left them unceremoniously. He was in his 50s, and while this may seem odd to say, he was old for his new position.

He was also paid 1.2 million dollars each year. Coach Boeheim of SU basketball fame and with a national championship under his belt makes much less - high 600s or so.

So here we are. Over the course of this year - our record was 2 and 10 - SU rounded out the bottom of the stats for NCAA football. Many SU records were set - of the "worst" variety. The guys who sat behind us cheered enthusiastically: "We're number One....seventeen!" This is out of 120 teams in Division One.

So Coach stays and I am sad. I am sad for the players who came and bought into his (their)vision and spent their collegiate years on a dismal squad. I am sad for the former players, like Larry Csonka and others, who were recognized at halftime at home games for their legendary prowess on the SU campus. The day Csonka was there, SU managed a total of 19 yards rushing.

They say it was money that kept Coach here. He would have to be bought out at about 2 million dollars and then they still would have to pay his successor. And his assistants would have to be let go, because the new coach wouldn't want them.

But the numbers don't seem to make sense. The Carrier Dome was not filled. Tickets were going so cheaply this third season that they were about the same as prices 15 years ago, in some sections. Still the fans didn't come to watch SU lose. I took pictures of the empty stands at game time. My in-laws run a booth for SU and they were called several times to say, "Don't bother to come - not enough people." How much will SU lose next year?

And then there's the respect factor. I know this is education, and supposedly not business, but then what is SU teaching their students? If you negotiate a large enough contract with a high enough penalty, you can keep your job despite being a failure. "Good enough" has become okay.

I do not begin to think that Coach Robinson is counting his money and not giving it his all. But he's not succeeding - and where is the pride in that?

I came to the last game on Saturday with my son. We sat with all the lovable crazies in the touchdown zone in our cheap seats and of course we rooted loudly for SU. But what will indelibly remain for me as the summation of the game and the year occurred early on, during the playing of the Alma Mater. Drs. Kantor and Gross stood in the endzone below us, and while our section rose and took off their hats (and wigs), and stood silently while the band played, Drs. Cantor and Gross laughed and talked throughout it, seemingly oblivious to the import of the song.