And now, a few more words from the head coach of the Orange

Donnie Webb | By Donnie Webb | The Post-Standard
on July 30, 2008 at 11:42 AM, updated July 30, 2008 at 2:59 PM

Syracuse, NY -- Got back to town last night around 11 from another Big East Conference Media Day in Newport, R.I. Here's more stuff, per the session with Greg Robinson, the head coach of the Syracuse University football team. He would never say this, but it was a tough day for him on Tuesday. He sat there at the designated Syracuse table for an hour fielding questions around one central topic - Your team stinks. I saw him flustered once (which is when Arthur Jones excused himself). How could he not? Compared to the other seven tables with coaches in the room, Greg's was a lonely spot. I asked a bunch of questions. The majority of others at the table were student types, except for an older gentleman with some unfortunate nasal issues. To Greg's credit, he answered the questions with professionalism. Sure, he needs to at least SOUND more realistic, forthcoming and tone down the feel-good spin to his answers. But that's his personality. What is, is. (dang, did I really comp that phrase?)

Anyway, onward to yesterday's briefing with Greg Robinson:

- He mentioned at some point that the Orange basically have three tailbacks that have started - Delone Carter, Curtis Brinkley and Doug Hogue. After asking him about Carter's readiness for camp, I wondered if he's prepared to install Carter as his starter.

"Time will tell," he said. Does he anticipate he will be the starter? "I'm not going to get into all that. I'm just going to wait and see, see where we're at and go from there."

- Robinson said Brinkley might be in the best shape physically since he's been at Syracuse, which is saying something considering all the physical issues the tailback has endured. Robinson said Brinkley weighs around 200. Is that where he should be? "I'm not one to say, what is the (optimum weight). I think the way that he's worked, as hard as he's worked, he's found his level of where he's comfortable."

- After covering the issue of low expectations, Robinson made his statements about looking forward to watching the Orange evolve, that there's a "new dawn on the horizon" for SU football and that he senses there's a lot of excitement in the air with the team. Robinson and I had these exchanges.

Me: You can sit here every year and say there's a lot of excitement with the team. So why is this different? How do you prove to anybody ...

Greg: I don't in talking. You know, I say to our team all the time, your actions speak so loudly, I can hardly hear you talk. Really, in my mind, coming into this season, the time for talking is done. The time for doing is about to begin. We need to get going. All the rest of it ... this day to day ... nah, we need to go to practice. We need to get started. But this is the start of it. It's not about it. It's about doing about it. I like what I saw all spring. I want to get started again here and get going and see how much better we can get, from now until Aug. 30.

Me: What was the goal this summer? What are you looking forward to seeing when they come back? What are the reports are you getting from your players?

Greg: The goal is to really see there's been an osmosis taking place. Really, you look for that every summer after spring ball and young people have kind of gotten away from football, but they've all of a sudden, they come back in and they see it better. You want to see them in tip top shape. I want to think that they're just going to be closer as a football team in the way they work together. This team has a chance to have a lot of leadership; a lot of leadership, all through out of it. I look forward to the leaders emerging early in camp. That's what really I'm looking to see.

Me: Have you elected your captains?

Greg: No. We're going to do it early in camp. I leave that open on purpose because I think that, through the summer time, it leaves the door open for many people to really work to be leaders. I just think this group has leadership from top to bottom. There's young to fifth year seniors that bring something in that area.

Me: You were saying that, in response to (the question about surprising people) that expectations must be low, I mean they are low ...

Greg: It's fine. It's not what I want. That's fine. What is, is. We can all deal with that. We don't live by that.

Me: What do you live by? What are your expectations then?

Greg: The expectations that I have for our footbal team is to all of a sudden blossom and all of our hard work and the struggles and the pain that we've gone through, all of a sudden be rewarded for us.

Me: How is that going to happen when you're so young on defense, you still have questions about your offensive line, you have the injury situation at tailback, you lose your main wide receiver, and you've got a league that's pretty good?

Greg: We've got a league that's very good. You know, those are just things that you throw out there. I like our team. I think we have an offense, there's more experience in that group probably than really I've had, at least in key positions. On the defensive side, yeah, they are young. I've been a part of young defenses. But I like the group that we have. There's some older players in there, too, that have played. Then the kicking game, I think, too, is one that we have experience in and we have talent.

Another reporter: Do you really expect that iit will all come together?

Greg: I don't know about it, all ... it's been working for four years. I'm serious. This has been in the makings for a long time. That's what people don't realize. We've been pecking away and pecking away and pecking away. It's little things. It's little things, little things that just keep coming then all of a sudden, I'd like to think that, and now all of a sudden, it's different.

Another reporter: What is it that you've been working on for four years to get to this level?

Greg: We've been building a culture, I think for, really, for three and a half years. I just think that I see it. I see it. I see what, I see what the vision I had for our program and what it was about. I feel good about this team, that it's coming to fruition.

Me: What do you see that nobody else is seeing?

Greg: Well, first of all, I like the young people in our program. I really like them. I think there's a quality that runs through this football team and it's called the love of the game of football. We've worked very, very hard. There's a profile I believe is going to work at Syracuse. I think Syracuse is a great institution and it takes young people that have a lot of strong qualities about them to be successful at Syracuse. I think that the love of the game of football, it's amazing when you find young people that love football - I don't mean just like it, love it, and they're willing to make the sacrifices that go with it - it's amazing how the decisions that these young people make because they love football, it's amazing how it carries over into their social life, it carries over into their academic life, and at Syracuse, that's very important. But they're also, I think they're gifted athletes and they're willing to give up something of themselves and that's what a team is all about. I see that in the making. I do. It's been a lot of work. It's been a lot of work. But I see it coming. What others see or don't see, that really doesn't concern me, because it doesn't matter. It's what do I see and is it real. That's the bottom line. I don't really concern myself with the perspectives that others have of us.

Another reporter: Do you sense the unhappiness in the community?

Greg: I know that. You know what, I can't control that. I understand it. I always say, I've had so many people over the last three and a half years in the Syracuse football community and all through the State of New York, outside the State of New York, all around the country, I've met so many people that have been so supportive, even through the toughest of times; and at the same time, I can appreciate, there's a number of people that I've come across that are frustrated with the results up to this point. That's to be expected. The one thing I say, these are people, yeah, they have opinions. They are not apathetic about their team. That's what I like about Syracuse. They live and die with their football team. They do. So, I understand all of that. All I can do is stay focused on what I can do. I've been working hard at this for a long time. I want to start seeing results myself.

Me: You said you had to change the culture and develop players who love the game of football. Does that suggest that when you got here ...

Greg: I didn't say that.

Me: I know you didn't, but I'm asking you.

Greg: I think that's really, specifically what I'm looking for. I say it all the time, I tell our coaches, we can be seduced by physical skills - how high a guy jumps, how fast he can runs. I think it goes beyond that. I spent many years heavily involved in the (NFL) Draft. I've been very, very involved with scouts. Sometimes, they try to quantify everything and I tell them, a lot of times, you've got to learn to quantify the intangible characteristics, too. I just believe that when you can get that group of people where it runs through, a bond that runs through all of them and that's the quality that stands out, I think good things are going to happen. What I see is what that is, what my vision is, I see it. OK. I see it running through out football team. Now, that's what it is.

Me: Your argument suggests it wasn't here.

Greg: I don't think that's what I'm saying.

Me: But pointing it out ...

Greg: When I came here, I had my vision. That's what it is. That's all it is. I think it's coming to fruition in my own mind. And I would say this, too, Donnie, there are a number of young people in this program that are on this football team that I see that fit the profile I'm looking for that I didn't recruit. Ryan Durand. I didn't recruit Ryan Durand. Trust me. He fits the profile. He fits the profile.

Another reporter: What have you need to do to take this program back up?

Greg: Well, we've got to win. We've got to win football games.

- Donnie Webb