There is a quote board in the athletics department at the University of Southern California. One quote per person-some sarcastic, some sincere-defines everyone in the office.

‘I have a bad memory, remember,’ says one.

When he worked there, Daryl Gross’ was far more serious: ‘Don’t Change History.’

That was Gross’ thinking when he ended a 15-month experiment with the interlocking ‘SU’ as Syracuse’s official logo, wisely bringing back the old block ‘S.’ It’s just the latest in a series of savvy moves Gross, SU’s director of Athletics since December, says will return the Orange to national prominence.

‘It represents a lot nationally and locally because that ‘S’ stands for Syracuse,’ Gross said after watching afternoon football practice Friday. ‘We know it here intimately as SU, but outside of here people don’t know SU. They do know when they see an orange ‘S,’ it’s Syracuse.

‘It’s who we are. It’s our history. It’s the original history of this athletic department. It’s the highest level of athletic attainment-the block ‘S.”

The block ‘S’ first appeared in 1893 as a way to honor athletes, debuting 111 years before the interlocking SU.’

Gross’ decision reverses the vision set forward by longtime, former SU Director of Athletics Jake Crouthamel, who accepted the interlocking ‘SU’ that Nike told him was best for the university.

Nike backed its design on research that said most students, alumni, faculty and locals refer to the university as SU. Gross knew a mark that was more recognizable nationally was better.

‘I never liked the-well, I shouldn’t say that,’ Gross said. ‘I wasn’t as in favor of the new SU logo. I had some mixed feelings about it. In the marketplace, people thought it was St. John’s-they thought it was an SJ-and I wasn’t comfortable with that.

‘We needed an identity that was very clear and obvious, not something you have to figure out. I kept seeing the block ‘S’ every day when I went to the office. I’d walk up to the glass trophy cases, and I said, ‘Why don’t we go back to that?”

Gross said he kept his plan for a new logo to himself long before he ran into Melanie Stopyra, director of business operations and purchasing in the school’s publications department. After they got to chatting one day this summer about the block ‘S’ and she showed him some archives, Gross decided to press forward and get to work immediately.

Perhaps Crouthamel had been insulated within the Syracuse community as long as he didn’t realize ‘SU’ was only readily identifiable to those in Syracuse. It appears Gross, here for less than a year, benefited from learning about Syracuse’s history from afar and knew the block ‘S’ was known better across the country.

It may seem at first that the indecision surrounding the Orange’s logo represents confusion in the direction of the athletic department as a whole. But that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Gross is on a mission to bring the Syracuse name back to the upper echelon of college sports, especially in football.

The return to the block ‘S’ is one of many decisions he’s made to start climbing toward that goal in only eight months on the job:

– Fired an outdated Paul Pasqualoni and replaced him with the in-vogue Greg Robinson as football coach.

– Announced plans for a new football training facility and installed FieldTurf on all football fields to keep pace with the top gridiron programs in the country.

– Set up a marketing campaign in New York City’s Times Square, highlighted by an 11-story-high billboard with the slogans ‘New York’s College Team’ and ‘Orange is in the Apple.’ Robinson and several players are featured on two smaller billboards.

– Pledged to make SU’s non-revenue sports more competitive and is considering starting an NCAA men’s hockey team that should exist at a school in the Northeast.

– Re-launched the SU Athletics website with interactive features.

– Decided to retire football’s hallowed number 44 in November.

Gross’ theory on retiring number 44 perfectly illustrates not just his own credo-‘Don’t Change History’-but the SU athletic department’s motto as well: ‘Respect the Past, Represent the Future.’

‘That jersey should have been retired a long time ago,’ Gross said. ‘(The New York Yankees) retired Babe Ruth’s jersey, and they came back with (Lou) Gehrig and (Mickey) Mantle and (Joe) DiMaggio.’

Now, it’s quite a stretch to equate the Orange with the Yankees, the most successful franchise in all of American sports. But with that mindset and considering his performance so far, Gross shows signs of somehow living up to what Crouthamel did in his first few years at SU when he helped create the Big East Conference and initiate construction of the Carrier Dome.

Crouthamel’s decision to accept Nike’s design happened to be one of his few mistakes in 26 years. No one will remember the interlocking SU in a few years anyway. Crouthamel remains a Syracuse legend. Results on the field certainly have to follow in the next three years or so, but early returns say Gross himself could be on his way to becoming a significant part of the Orange history he adores so much.

‘I’m not trying to establish a legacy or anything,’ Gross said. ‘I’m trying to get us better. Syracuse is a top-10 name in all college folklore, and our program should be a top-10 program. In the Director’s Cup (awarded to the school with the most success across all sports), we’re not even in the top 100 right now.

‘We need to be top 10, so the things I’m doing is to move our program to that. That’s the bottom line.’