Syracuse Director of Athletics Director Gross accomplished much in his first year at Syracuse.

Everyone knows about the new weight training facility and FieldTurf in the Carrier Dome and on practice fields. Everyone knows about the upgraded Web site, the billboard in Manhattan, the women’s basketball team moving into the Carrier Dome, the courtside seats for men’s basketball games.

The list goes on.

But there’s a new list. The white board in Gross’ office remains full with new ideas to put the Syracuse name in front of as many eyes as possible.

‘We’ve got so many things going on it’s not even funny,’ Gross said. ‘There’s just not enough time to do them all.’

Here’s a rundown of what’s up next for Gross and SU Athletics:

New LogoYes, this is dj vu. Syracuse is changing its logo. Again. The block ‘S,’ Gross’ baby, isn’t enough. Now, ‘Syracuse’ appears in an arch above the ‘S.’ No coincidence Gross’ former school, USC, has a similar look. The new logo already appears on the Web site.

Gross: ‘We’ve got some major branding initiatives going on. We’re trying to brand all over the country.’

SynercuseGross is looking to launch a program in conjunction with the sports management program that will help him market Syracuse’s non-revenue teams. Gross said he will personally teach the students in marketing and give them a small amount of the athletic budget to come up with campaigns.

Gross: ‘It would be the first program of its kind in the country. It’s using our resources. It’s a win-win. It’s not where I’m giving up all my time. I get some manpower and we give attention to these sports.’

Macy’s Day ParadeGross finally received an invitation for the Syracuse band to perform in the Macy Day’s Parade on Thanksgiving, something he’s been working on since he arrived more than a year ago. It’s the second-most watched parade in the world.

Gross: ‘We’re trying to be all over the city. We want to be New York’s school. When people think of what New York’s school is, they pause and hesitate. We want people to think Syracuse.’

ESPY awardsGross said he steals ideas from ESPN all the time. The ESPY awards are one of his favorite events. Instead of having one of his teams have an end of the year banquet at one restaurant and another team at another, Gross wants to bring all the teams together into the Carrier Dome for a formal event.

Gross: ‘We want to make it really fun to where the student-athletes want to be part of it and the community wants to be part of it.’

Football uniformsLast season Syracuse unveiled completely new football jerseys. Gross is tweaking them for next year. The biggest change will be stripes on the pants to match the shoulders. Last year, the orange pants had a solid blue stripe. Also, SU will wear blue jerseys at home next year instead of white.

Gross: ‘It just not as clean as it is now. It really pops out. We feel this uniform will withstand time. It’s classy. We don’t need all the fancy Miami-type uniforms.’

WAERGross said WAER only does play-by-play for football, basketball and men’s lacrosse right now. He wants to open up more opportunities for students to broadcast by calling non-revenue games. The games will be shown on the paid service Orange All-Access on the SU athletics Web site.

Gross: ‘You can cut your teeth doing field hockey. As a matter of fact, it’s probably more challenging. You have to learn the game.’

SportscenterBroadcasting isn’t all for the WAER kids. Gross wants to create a Sportscenter-type program that will also run on Orange All-Access.

Gross: ‘Nobody has that. We have all the resources right here. I know everyone will copy us. That’s the kind of thinking that we got going. We’re this close to launching this thing.’

– Ethan Ramsey, sports editor

Published on May 1, 2006 at 12:00 pm