Off-field incidents taint SU's image

By: Zach Schonbrun

Posted: 8/26/08

Don't be so surprised, as the fall kicks into 'Express' mode, if the athletics department ups the ante of self-promotion at Syracuse.

I should say, welcome back to Syr-accuse. Here, the fresh buffing on the lacrosse national championship may reflect a new aspect of SU athletics in need of polishing.

Consider how much damage a few well-placed allegations can do to kill the summer vibe. Wasn't it SU's athletic director himself, Daryl Gross, prancing about the turf at Gillette Stadium in May, championship monkey off his back, declaring a new epoch of on-field validation?

Kleenex, anyone? After a few weeks of celebration, it wasn't hard to sully an image trying desperately to stay pristine. The rest of the summer was filled with allegations, which may make it tough to turn attentions back onto the field.

Eventually off-field news had to overtake Syracuse's on-field disappointments. Unlike Georgia, there's no No. 1 football ranking to ease some injustices. Unlike North Carolina, news of a star point guard's legal trouble isn't drowned out by a Final Four appearance.

Nope, Syracuse has to confront the facts of its own image without prominence protection.

Start with Mike Williams, the playmaking wide receiver, accused of cheating - twice - and suspended for the 2008 season. Williams denied the accusation, told a TV station in Buffalo, N.Y., he'd be back, and hasn't been heard from since.

Then, Jonny Flynn, the effervescent star point guard with the thousand-watt grin, was accused (along with two other SU basketball players, Scoop Jardine and Rick Jackson) of sexual assault dating back to last November. His denial of the accusation was validated - an Onondaga Country grand jury rejected the criminal charges in August; a university Judicial Affairs panel cleared the university charges as well.

Innocent or not, a sexual assault allegation leaves a tough stain to wipe clean, especially for a basketball program that's already had its share of recent misdemeanors. For Jardine, it's his second offense in six months. Toss in former point guard Josh Wright (accused and arrested for stealing a credit card in June), and distractions have noticeably piled up.

The victim in all this, really, is an athletics program still fighting its insecurities and still searching for extra accreditation on the national level. It was a couple summer melodramas to dump rain on lacrosse's redemption parade.

For Gross, they were an unsettling challenge at his authority. He's been preaching accountability ever since.

"To get a scholarship and play for Syracuse is a great opportunity," Gross told The Daily Orange. "So we're going to be accountable, and we're going to be responsible. And if you're not going to be accountable and responsible, then that's OK. We have a thousand people in line waiting to get a scholarship to come here."

Not to say Syracuse is rolling out a rap sheet. But when good news is hard to come by, it makes the bad news harder to forget.

Last summer, rumors swirled about Syracuse's possible relocation to the Big Ten, building a new downtown football stadium and an announcement about the next basketball coach to replace Boeheim. There was excitement over the hiring of Gary Gait, the addition of a hockey program and a primetime nationally televised football home opener against a BCS team.

There was a tangible bit of eagerness for a clean start - not unlike the anticipation that should be starting to teem here now. A worldwide movie premiere in September, a title-winning lacrosse team and a head basketball coach returning home from Beijing with a gold medal; it's nice PR fodder for the freshmen welcome wagon.

But how much does it hurt to have No. 1 football jerseys hanging unsold on the rack? How many times does Gross need to stress accountability when the on-field product still struggles to produce?

"We have enough good athletes now that if you're not going to be responsible and not going to be prepared for what you need to do, then I send you home," Gross said. "It's that simple."

In the mouse-click generation and the age of instant updates, news travels far and wide and fast, and it doesn't take much for finger-pointing to snowball into headline news - wiping out whatever else came before it and possibly after it.

After a summer of allegations, the judges have made their decision: no jail time for the SU basketball players.

But for SU athletics, wiping its hands clean of the matter might not be as easy. The jury's still out on whether Syracuse can redefine its on- and off-field image.

Zach Schonbrun is a columnist for The Daily Orange, where his columns appear every Tuesday. He can be reached at zsschonb@syr.edu.