By Steve Yanda
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, September 26, 2008

After a 1-3 start to the 2008 season, one magnified by a 2-22 conference record in the three campaigns that preceded it, all that was left for Syracuse Athletic Director Daryl Gross to do was hang the title "lame duck" officially around the neck of his school's football coach. In an interview earlier this week, Gross did just that.

"Everyone wanted [Greg Robinson's] head last year," Gross told ESPN.com on Monday. "I said, 'Let's calm down and [if needed] we'll get the first pick of the draft [of coaching candidates] next year.' That's where we are."

Robinson, in his fourth year at the helm of a Syracuse program that has the third-lowest scoring average in division I-A since his arrival, faces the same challenge many coaches have over the years: continuing to coach his team while knowing that his firing is seemingly imminent.

The task requires coaches to fall back on the most elementary lesson they learned while rising through the ranks. The ability to compartmentalize is vital. Several former head coaches contacted for this story said they were able to acknowledge the public speculation on their career's demise and, at the same time, decline to accept it as reality.

"As a coach, you want to control the things you can control," said Ted Roof, who coached Duke to a 6-45 record from 2003 to 2007. "It's that bunker mentality -- look at the next day, the next practice, the next game. It's that singleness of purpose. Just keep marching."

Maintaining that mentality, however, is easier said than done. Roof, now the defensive coordinator at Minnesota, said that as the rumors of his dismissal began to circulate during the 2007 season, he wondered how the news would affect his players. He mulled over the impact his firing would have on his assistant coaches and their families.

Roof also thought about the disruption all of the negative talk surrounding his name would cause to the daily life of his own family. "You don't want your kid going to school and having to hear that their dad is going to get fired," he said.

As draining as the emotional toll can be, an equally trying task for coaches in such situations is maintaining the respect of their players and continuing to prepare them for weekly competition.

John F. Murray, a sports psychologist based in Palm Beach, Fla., said there is no more important time in a coach's tenure at a given school to "bear down and do his absolute best" than when confronted with an impending dismissal.

"It's got to be one of the toughest places to be," Murray said of lame-duck coaching situations. "You really know you're not there. It's hard to act in the present when you know the future isn't going to include the present. It's got to be tough in terms of morale for the team and the players to be able to inspire them to give their best when they know they don't have to answer to you the next year.

"But because of the obvious situation, future employers are watching, fans are watching, players are watching, everybody's watching more than ever before. Because after that season's over, there's going to be more offers; there's going to be more opportunities."

Some coaches find future opportunities in the profession easier than others upon their release. Larry Coker won three Big East titles and one national championship during his six seasons in charge at Miami (Fla.). But not even a 60-15 record could spare Coker the indignity of having his job security publicly questioned during his final season with the Hurricanes in 2006.

A 31-7 loss at Louisville that year dropped Miami to 1-2 and, after a summer marred by several off-field incidents that required police involvement, provided impetus for the talk of Coker's firing. The discussion grew louder after an on-field brawl during an Oct. 14 game against Florida International that led to the suspension of 13 Hurricanes players. On Nov. 7, defensive lineman Bryan Pata was shot and killed near his campus area apartment.

By then, the fervor had developed a high-pitched volume.

"The toughest thing about the whole deal that I detested was that it becomes more about the coach than it does [about] the team," said Coker, now an ESPNU analyst. "You just look at all the negative comments and the 'Is he going to be back? Is he not going to be back?' and all those things, not from anybody that really has any credibility, but from the things you read and the things you see. And the players are aware of that. They watch ESPN. They read the newspapers."

Despite being aware of the growing public turmoil surrounding his job status, Coker said he always felt he was coming back the next year, right up until he was fired the day after a win over Boston College ended a 6-6 regular season.

One element Coker did not have to endure was his boss making public statements about -- and drawing even more attention to -- his standing in the program. Robinson learned this week he is not so fortunate.

"It isn't working out," Gross said in a telephone interview this week. "It's very disappointing. [Robinson] has some work to do out in front of him."

With Gross's disparaging statements on record, Robinson won't be able to claim ignorance of the tenuous status he held as Syracuse's football coach during the 2008 season. Much like Roof, Robinson will be left only to acknowledge his profession's most sobering truth.

"Did I see it coming?" Roof said. "I knew we needed to win more football games."