Greg Robinson Out at Syracuse: Guess Who Might Be Coming Over for Dinner?

As the "Coaching Wheel Turns"—Greg Robinson is out as Syracuse Head Coach with two games to go. This firing wasn't a surprise with Coach Robinson's 9-36 record overall and 3-25 mark in the Big East in three-plus seasons.

The Syracuse job isn't as high-profile as it used to be, and they might be playing second fiddle for the top candidates with the Clemson, Tennessee, and Washington openings. So who might be the next man for the Orange? I'm sure even Syracuse Alumnus ESPN's Mike Tirico wants to know.

The Syracuse Post-Standard is reporting that Randy Edsall, UConn's head man, is "very interested" in the Orange vacancy. Other names mentioned come from the regular, list including East Carolina's Skip Holtz, ex-Oakland Raiders coach Lane Kiffin (USC ties to the AD), Florida assistant head coach Steve Addazio (former Syracuse Assistant), and Buffalo's coach Turner Gill.

Even though Daryl Gross, AD told reporters Sunday that head coaching experience is not a must, I am pretty sure they won't hire a current assistant. I'm sure Gross and the Syracuse faithful don't want someone learning how to be a head coach at the expense of the Syracuse Program.

(If you need a reference of how that worked, take a look at current situation with Greg Robinson former Defensive Coordinator from Texas.) So I would eliminate all assistants (with non-head coaching experience) from that list.

Former Michigan head coach Lloyd Carr has been working with Syracuse AD Daryl Gross this past football season as a special consultant. I wonder what he has been "consulting" on?

No, I don't expect Lloyd to come out of retirement to coach the Orange, but I do have a feeling Lloyd will be involved in this coaching search and probably has made some a recommendation or two. My prediction: The next Syracuse Orange Head Coach will be Brady Hoke, current Ball State Head Coach.

Hoke is a "Michigan Man" who coached with Lloyd at Michigan. Brady has done a wonderful job this year with Ball State and has gotten them to a 10-0 record and a No. 14 ranking in the AP for the first time in the school's history.

Brady is a bargain and makes somewhere around $250,000 a year and would be a great fit on Syracuse's limited budget. I assume Daryl and the Orange Alumni will not be paying $2+ million a year for a top tier candidate.

I think it's a great fit. Look for his name to be thrown around in the next couple of weeks. Syracuse will want to move fast (and I'm sure they have been planning this for months now), so they can recruit for the 2009 and 2010 class.

That is the only reason to fire Robinson with two games left: They need to get their next coach in place soon so they can try to salvage the 2009 recruiting class.