Dec. 29, 2004 – Syracuse fired Paul Pasqualoni as head football coach Wednesday, Daryl Gross announced at a news conference at the Stevenson Educational Center in Manley Field House.

The search for Pasqualoni’s replacement will begin immediately.

The rest of the current staff will conduct business as usual, Gross said, noting the necessity to continue recruiting. He said the new head coach will interview each of the assistants and have the opportunity to keep them on staff.

The decision comes 26 days after Chancellor Nancy Cantor announced that Pasqualoni would stay for a 15th season, riding high on a 43-17 win at Boston College, a share of the Big East championship and a berth in the Champs Sports Bowl.

Eleven days later, Syracuse hired Gross as incoming athletic director.

Gross attended the Champs Sports Bowl in Orlando, Fla., on Dec. 23. Syracuse returned from that game 51-14 losers to Georgia Tech, and the Orange finished with a 6-6 record. Gross told reporters he planned to reanalyze the football program.

Pasqualoni’s dismissal, Gross’s first major public decision at Syracuse, came eight days later.

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‘We all expected the bowl game to be a little more positive,’ Gross said. ‘That accentuated the inconsistencies of the program.

‘Never in my wildest dreams did I expect that game to get that sideways.’

Gross said the bowl game was just one of the factors in his decision, which he based on ‘gathering data and having discussions.’ He added that the decision was solely his own, and he played down the apparent conflict with Cantor’s Dec. 6 announcement.

Gross said SU’s inconsistent performance this season influenced the decision. The Orange beat Boston College to tie for first in the Big East, but lost, 34-24, at Temple earlier in the season in what should have been an easy win. SU opened the season with a 51-0 loss at Purdue.

‘I don’t want to say that the bowl game was the straw that broke the camel’s back,’ Gross said. ‘Obviously the season didn’t start out well against Purdue and didn’t end well.’

He also alluded to anxiety in the Syracuse community. He listened to the fans, he said, but the decision was the result of many factors.

Even as he dismissed the coach, Gross spent much time praising Pasqualoni.

Gross wouldn’t say whether he offered Pasqualoni a chance to resign, and he wouldn’t characterize the decision as a firing.

He described Pasqualoni’s reaction to the news as ‘classy, as he always is.’

‘He is a class act,’ Gross said. ‘He has great character and is a tremendous man.’

Gross commended Pasqualoni for his many positive achievements at Syracuse and said the outgoing coach retains a strong bond with his players, at least one of whom – junior running back Damien Rhodes – attended the press conference. Pasqualoni did not attend, but Gross said the two have met frequently in recent days and had a great conversation earlier Wednesday.

Breaking the news was difficult, Gross said, because of his respect for Pasqualoni and his staff. Gross empathized with Pasqualoni, recalling a time when he, too, was fired.

‘We will help them transition as a family would do in these situations,’ Gross said.

Gross hopes the change will launch the Syracuse football program in ‘a different direction,’ and he foreshadowed additional plans for his tenure, which officially starts upon Athletic Director Jake Crouthamel’s June 30 retirement.

Gross said he intends to improve the university’s athletic facilities, perhaps including a makeover of the Carrier Dome.

He said he’d hold the football team to higher expectations in the future, and he expressed confidence that SU can win a national championship someday.

‘Sometimes it’s just bad luck,’ he said. ‘Sometimes you know you need to make a change.’

Syracuse went 107-59-1 (62-33 Big East) during Pasqualoni’s 14-year tenure, but has mustered only a 16-20 record over the past three years. Pasqualoni leaves Syracuse as the second-winningest coach in school history, and will be president of the American Football Coaches Association in 2005, if he finds another coaching job.

Published on December 30, 2004 at 12:00 pm