On the day he introduced the newest class of Syracuse football players, head coach Greg Robinson also cleared up the coaching situation.

Well, sort of.

Robinson spoke about former offensive coordinator Brian Pariani’s move to the NFL as tight ends coach of the Houston Texans. But Robinson hasn’t named a replacement for the man who led SU’s feeble offense last year.

New quarterbacks coach Brian White has been mentioned as a possible successor to Pariani, but Robinson would not go into detail as to whether the position would be filled internally.

Pariani is close with recently-hired Texans head coach Gary Kubiak, as is Robinson. All three were coaches for the Denver Broncos. Pariani coached the Denver tight ends for 10 years until he followed Robinson to Syracuse. Kubiak had been in Denver for 11 years as the offensive coordinator under head coach Mike Shanahan before leaving for the Texans.

Pariani is the second member of Robinson’s staff to leave Upstate New York for the state of Texas. On Jan. 9, former quarterbacks coach Major Applewhite was named offensive coordinator at Rice.

‘I tell my staff that they should always feel that any time they can improve their lot in life, I’m all for it,’ Robinson said.

There are plenty of Orange fans who will not mind the exodus of Pariani.

Pariani received the brunt of criticism during the regular season for SU’s despicable offensive performances. He led an offensive unit that finished 115th out of 117 NCAA Division I teams in total yards and points.

In Pariani’s defense, Robinson and his staff implemented the West Coast Offense on a team familiar with running Paul Pasqualoni’s option offense.

Robinson said before Pariani left, the departing coach held sessions with the entire offensive staff to go over some strategy for next season.

‘He took a lot of criticism, but Brian left a lot for our staff and our football team,’ Robinson said. ‘The knowledge and attention to detail that he brought will not go unnoticed. I think that we will all benefit from those things he brought to us.’

White appears to be an option for Pariani’s replacement because White came to Syracuse with extensive experience as an offensive coordinator. He guided the Wisconsin Badgers’ offense for six years. Before becoming coordinator, he was running backs coach for four years.

‘I was very pleased when we were able to bring Brian White on board,’ Robinson said. ‘I could see that with the qualities and experiences that he had it would be a nice fit.’

Robinson is looking forward to the hiring process once again.

‘My first question after Brian Pariani left was, ‘OK, how are we going to take this opportunity make the next person enhance the situation better?” Robinson said.

‘These are, in my mind, great opportunities.’

Published on February 1, 2006 at 12:00 pm