When Daryl Gross introduced women’s lacrosse head coach Gary Gait, he labeled it a great hire for ‘the country.’ The Syracuse athletic director meant by hiring Gait, one of the marquee names in lacrosse, the exposure of women’s lacrosse will spread.

But there was more to it – the exposure of Syracuse athletics will spread.

To say Gross thinks big is an understatement. In a past life, he might have been P.T. Barnum – everything he does is a spectacle. He didn’t come from Hollywood to Syracuse. He brought Hollywood to Syracuse.

The introductory news conference was an example. Gross didn’t arrive and tip-toe to the lectern. He pointed at the crowd, waved toward reporters. He could have been on a red carpet. They might need to give him theme music next time.

It’s that buzz that made yesterday a story.

The Gait hire isn’t exactly news. The Daily Orange reported the hire in July. What is news is Gross’ ability to convince coaches to work for him. The success on the field for Syracuse’s team is an issue – there’s no hiding the fact that football, men’s basketball and men’s lacrosse collectively suffered their worst season in 25 years and the non-revenue teams haven’t been winning championships, either.

Yet there’s also no hiding Gross’ success on the periphery and his ability to generate buzz for the athletic department by boosting the recognition of non-revenue sports and sprucing the image of Syracuse athletics.

‘Now we become global,’ said Gross, spreading his arms and talking like a broker who has a stock about to boom.

Gross can’t simply make a hire. He needs to make a splash.

The average sports fan does not know one college tennis coach from another, nor one women’s lacrosse coach from another. But Luke Jensen has name recognition. Gary Gait has name recognition. And in an era when the brand is paramount, Gross can sell a name.

Gross said the name wasn’t the reason for the hire, and it wouldn’t be intelligent if it was the lone reason. But it was connected.

Inside Lacrosse magazine and the Web site that goes with it are destination spots for lacrosse junkies. During the summer, the Gait-to-Syracuse whispers were big news on the site. On a summer teleconference with Pete Sampras to promote his participation in World TeamTennis, Sampras was asked whether he’s interested in coaching.

Can you guess the example the reporter used? Luke Jensen and Syracuse.

This is not to say success on the field isn’t important. It’s actually most important. But college athletics are now big-business entities, and an athletic director is more a CEO than the traditional model of a retired football coach. The two aren’t mutually exclusive – Barry Alvarez is successful at Wisconsin, and Frank Broyles made the Arkansas athletic department one of the glitziest in the nation – but there is a level of business acumen required to be a major player on the national scene.

‘I was so impressed with Daryl’s vision and the direction the athletic department is moving in,’ Gait said. ‘Coming out here and seeing the changes in the athletic department, seeing the facilities, it got me excited for the opportunity.’

Since the day Gross arrived, he’s found ways to add his wrinkles. He changed the logo, added FieldTurf and transformed the Carrier Dome’s interior from non-descript concrete to an orange carnival. Gross announced a new radio deal like a father whose son was just admitted into college.

Gross made a point of acknowledging Nike and STX yesterday. If you ever needed an indication that this isn’t your bake sale athletic department, it was recognizing sponsors when hiring a coach.

‘Because of Gary, all this other stuff came about,’ Gross said. ‘I mentioned to Nike, ‘Hey, I want you to know, I’m going to be hiring Gary Gait.’ … And the next thing you know, they’re like, ‘Really?’ And then the next couple of days, there’s something coming back to me with, ‘I want to do this with Syracuse.’

‘When I was at Southern Cal, we told [Nike] to take a chance on us. Buy our stock, because it’s about to grow. And it did. And then we proved it.’

That’s the part Syracuse is missing. It needs to win in order to complete the ‘vision,’ a word thrown out about Gross by the coaches he hires. Gross can’t sell winning right now. He can sell a show.

Zach Berman is the sports columnist for The Daily Orange, where his column will appear every Wednesday throughout the semester. He has covered football, men’s basketball and men’s lacrosse, among other teams, for The Daily Orange, where he has served as sports editor. E-mail him at zberman@syr.edu.

Published on August 28, 2007 at 12:00 pm