Bring Back Syracuse Swimming!

via Syracuse.com

Wouldn't it be great if new Syracuse AD John Wildhack did that?

via Idiots on Sports

Former athletic director Daryl Gross Negligence announced he was canning the men's and women's swim teams in 2007.  It was a slow death.  The end came in 2011.  The Daily Orange article on the program's demise is here

The program got the axe June 1, 2007, when Athletic Director Daryl Gross announced Syracuse would cut the men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams and add a women’s hockey program beginning in the 2008-09 season.

Gross pointed to the outdated facility and the financial difficulties of building a new one as reasons for the cut.

‘If we are going to have a swimming program here, then it’s very important that we have the resources to do it the right way,’ Gross said in an article published in The Daily Orange on June 1, 2007. ‘Part of those resources would be getting a new natatorium, a new pool facility, diving and all those type of things. The cost for those is enormous, and they’re costs that we can’t put into it right now.’

Gross was such a danged fibber!  ASCA's John Leonard pointed out:

‘In my opinion, they made a poorly informed decision and didn’t want to hear from their own alumni and community folks about why those decisions were wrong,’ Leonard said.

Among their concerns: The price tag Gross quoted for the new facility, $35 million, was ‘way too high,’ Leonard said. 

Mark Coyle did nothing as "interim" athletic director.  He was 'Cuse AD for just eleven (11) months after the Gross departure.

Let's hope that someone with upstate NY ties and big-time connections in the sports world can fix things at Syracuse University!