6. Greg Robinson, Syracuse, 2005
“We didn’t want someone that was just going to be competitive with the rest of the coaches in the Big East. We wanted someone special. This is going to be a lot of fun, and we’re going to have a blast doing this together.” – Daryl Gross, Syracuse’s athletics director
Greg Robinson wasn’t competitive with the coaches in the Big East. He wasn’t competitive with coaches anywhere. In four years at Syracuse, the former NFL defensive coordinator was 10-37 – with the only two 10-loss seasons in Syracuse history — and 3-25 in the Big East. As you may remember, the Big East wasn’t known as a college football power. If the Big East was the kids the power conferences bullied, Robinson’s Syracuse teams were the kids those bullied kids then shoved in a locker.
But Robinson went out in style. In his final press conference before he was fired, Robinson read “The Little Engine That Could” and then said: “I still think I can.” He’s alone in that belief.
What did we learn? Don’t hire Greg Robinson. (This is a lesson Michigan and Texas unfortunately learned too late.)