Dear Greg,

Hey, Coach Robinson. Hope you enjoyed your first three months in Syracuse. Cold winters, huh? Lot different than Texas, where you spent last year as defensive coordinator.

I know you’ve been hard at work recruiting, watching tape and all that, but just thought I’d drop you a line. Now that Spring Practice started, there’s going to be some more attention pointed your way. Just thought I’d give some advice.

First thing’s first. Your job will not be easy, for a lot of reasons. You’ve got to rebuild a program. It’s a task that should take time – time you don’t have. This community and the administration you’re working for are more excited for football season than at any time since Donovan McNabb played here, and you need to capitalize this season. Problem is, you’ve got to do it with a team that lost its last game, 51-14.

You’re not in Texas anymore, but you already know that – those little hand warmers you wore on the first day of practice, a cold and drizzly one, reminded you.

The weather’s not the only thing you’ll find a little different around here. The fans won’t come to the Dome with blind faith. Maybe you’ve seen the numbers. An average of 42,259 fans in 2002. In 2003, 41,167. Last year, it nose-dived to 37,068. That’s in a building with a capacity of 49,550.

Back in Texas, locusts and floods couldn’t have kept followers of Bevo away from the stadium at that rate, let alone a few losing seasons. Support around here is fickle. If you don’t believe me (and why should you – I’m just a hack using the oldest column gimmick in the book) go ask Paul Pasqualoni. He’d have your job if it wasn’t for those numbers.

That’s not to say you don’t know about pressure. Your old boss, Mack Brown, won 51 games the last five seasons, but he still felt all the heat from an Austin summer, just because he couldn’t beat Oklahoma.

It’s good that you’ve seen that, because your new boss, Daryl Gross, expects results like those y’allers back in Austin. He came from a school, Southern California, that hasn’t lost since the forward pass became legal. OK, since 22 games ago. But you get the idea. He likes to win, and more importantly, he’s used to it.

He sent a message the minute he arrived in Syracuse. He had the guts to reverse a ruling made less than a month before he got here, holding a coach-firing press conference to undo a coach-keeping press conference.

He wants results. And if you don’t produce, you might find yourself coaching Dallas Cowboy tight ends sooner than later.

That’s something you seem to realize, Coach.

‘I think I’m constantly being judged, by coaches, by players, by media, by fans, supporters,’ you said. ‘But I accept that.’

That’s good. I know it won’t be easy for you, this being your first try at head coaching. The newspapers never used to call you when a player got arrested. They sure do now. Found that out real fast, didn’t you?

You handled that well, Coach, but Gross and the paying customers won’t be satisfied with a coach who handles problems and academics well. That’s all well and good, but the old coach, he handled that pretty well, too.

No, they want wins around here. And that won’t be easy. Forget Oklahoma – the guys you got couldn’t beat Temple last season. Check out the quarterbacks, Perry Patterson and Joe Fields. Vincent Young, they ain’t.

But, and I know it’s early, you seem to be doing a nice job so far. No, I’m talking about the West Coast style offense you’re working to install, even though that’s just what Syracuse needed. A quick-hitting, pass-first offense on that Dome turf ought to draw the best and faster receivers from Orlando to Los Angeles.

But it’s the little things I like. You had your new players wear their game jerseys on the first day of spring practice.

‘We’re blue and orange,’ you said. ‘That’s what we wear and that’s who we are. It’s beautiful to me.’

Nice touch. Little things like that, building some tradition for yourself and some pride in your players, should go a long way.

Keep it up, Coach, because this school deserves a football team it can be proud of. It deserves a team that will beat Florida State when it has the Seminoles on the ropes at home. It deserves a team that won’t be embarrassed on national television. It deserves a team that won’t lose games it shouldn’t – that happened too much under Pasqualoni.

Next fall, there won’t be a single student on campus who knows what it’s like to watch a winning team. Keep that in mind. It’s not just your job to win, you’ve got to erase three years of apathy from campus.

I think you can do it, Coach, I really do. Things are changing around here. At least, it’ll be your job to make sure they do, pressure and all.

Won’t be easy, though. But hey, if all else fails, remember to pass the ball on first down every now and then.