Greg Robinson took his turn Tuesday to respond to last week’s New York Times report that Syracuse had hired a consulting firm to search for a new football coach.

As he has all year, the embattled Syracuse head coach remained defiant, even though his team is 1-6 and one loss away from being eliminated from bowl contention for the fourth-straight season.

‘I can only worry about the things I can control, and I believe that,’ Robinson said at his weekly press conference when asked about the story. ‘It’s not a distraction to me, it really isn’t. I work hard to make sure it’s not a distraction to our football team. People are allowed to write and put out whatever they want. I have no say in that.

‘I have control of my destiny. Basically I do, in a sense that I have a football team that I coach, and if I can get them to do well, things go well for me. And that’s really all I can do.’

Tuesday’s press conference was the first chance for Robinson to give his comment on the story, which was first published on The Times’ Web site Wednesday evening. Syracuse had a bye last week and will resume its Big East schedule Saturday when it hosts Louisville (5-2, 1-1 Big East).

The fourth-year head coach is 8-34 at Syracuse, including a 2-22 conference mark.

Speculation about Robinson’s tenuous status at SU reached a fever pitch Wednesday, when The Times, citing ‘a person with knowledge of the plan,’ reported that SU had hired renowned coaching consultant Chuck Neinas to begin research coaching candidates. Neinas has helped instigate the hiring of Les Miles at Louisiana State and Urban Meyer at Florida, among others.

Syracuse Director of Athletics Daryl Gross has denied the report. When reached last week, Neinas told The Daily Orange, ‘I never comment on any clients, unless they announce it. And so anything that you would hear would be pure speculation.’

The report also said Neinas had reached out to Connecticut head coach Randy Edsall, a Syracuse alumnus, to gauge his interest in the job. Edsall denied to several media outlets last week that he had been contacted about the job.

Amidst those reports, Robinson must prepare for Louisville, which totes along plenty of momentum after upsetting then-No. 14 South Florida Saturday.

‘All I can is to prepare our football team every week to play as well as they can possibly play and as hard as they can possibly play,’ Robinson said.

Dantley still the man

Robinson left no doubt as to who his starting quarterback would be Saturday, saying junior Cameron Dantley would make his seventh-straight start.

Dantley had perhaps his worst outing of the year against the Bulls. He completed 11-of-27 passes for 129 yards, including a 1-for-10 showing in the second half.

‘Cam was far from perfect,’ Robinson said. ‘But I think it’s appropriate for him to be starting at this time.’

The Syracuse offense has scored one touchdown in essentially the last 10 quarters. After the game, Robinson admitted he wanted to sub in junior Andrew Robinson in the fourth quarter, but said he was busy coaching the defense and couldn’t relay word in time.

That doesn’t appear to have shaken Robinson’s faith in Dantley, or Dantley’s faith in himself.

‘I never lose confidence in myself,’ Dantley said. ‘I found myself getting frustrated with myself, obviously. There were I lot of throws that I could have made. Routine throws, but also throws that I need to improvise that I didn’t really improvise on and make plays.’

Backs on the mend

The Orange backfield looks like it will get a boost Saturday. Robinson said both fullback Tony Fiammetta and tailback Delone Carter will be ready to go against the Cardinals.

Fiammetta was scratched for Syracuse’s matchup with South Florida with a lower-leg injury. Carter pulled his hamstring against Penn State Sept. 13, and hasn’t played since.

Carter was declared healthy for SU’s visit to West Virginia Oct. 11, but re-aggravated the injury in practice that week. He did not travel to West Virginia or the Orange’s matchup with South Florida a week later.

‘I’m thinking I am (ready), but last time I thought I was and you see what happened,’ Carter said. ‘I’m feeling real good this week,’ Carter said. ‘Haven’t had no setbacks in practice. Any sign of me feeling something, feel a twinge, I just stop.’

Carter has 21 carries for 139 yards (6.6 yards per carry) in three games this season.

jsclayto@syr.edu

Published on October 28, 2008 at 12:00 pm