Mayfest came and went, but you’d never know if you worked in Manley Field House.

Syracuse head football coach Greg Robinson and his staff are in the second week of a two-week dead period in which they can’t practice with their team or recruit, but Manley was still buzzing on Tuesday. In preparation for his second year with the Orange, Robinson is taking an early look at the high school talent he will scout next week as he readies himself for the road.

Sitting in his office yesterday, Robinson was calm and optimistic with the way things are going on his team. In completing his first year in Syracuse and his first year as a head coach, he said there weren’t too many surprises.

‘I think I was prepared, and I don’t say that in a cocky way, but I prepared myself,’ he said. ‘Was there frustration? Yes. Was there disappointment? Yes. Was there discouragement? Never. Our guys kept fighting, and that’s why we’ll keep getting better.’

He’s content with the work his team’s put in this spring and excited for year two in his head coaching career, the right job at the right time, he said.

‘Ten years ago I interviewed for the UCLA job, but as I look at it, if I had taken that UCLA job, I don’t know I could’ve done what I can do now,’ he said.

Robinson said Syracuse’s head coaching position is more demanding than any job he’s had before. Because he’s the face of the team, there are more late nights breaking down film and writing letters to recruits.

Now is the perfect time for his first head coaching job, because his wife doesn’t have to watch their three children. Robinson’s youngest daughter Lindsay finished college last spring, and his wife Laura can devote more to her husband’s job. He said Laura sometimes shows up at the end of practices, and they host weekly coaching staff dinners at their home in Fayetteville.

The current dead period comes at the end of seven weeks of offseason conditioning and four more of spring practice. Last week, the football staff enjoyed its first two days off since February.

Robinson said he hasn’t dwelled on 2005’s 1-10 record. He had January and February to do that when SU wasn’t in a bowl game, and he was forced to analyze the season because he couldn’t go on the road to recruit.

But he won’t promise anything better than another 1-10 season. Texas head coach Mack Brown called Robinson this winter to tell him about his first one-win season at North Carolina. Quoting Lou Holtz, he promised he would double the Tar Heels’ win total, but instead finished his second year with another one-win season.

Robinson’s learned from that mistake.

‘We’re in the process of building and developing this team in every way,’ he said. ‘We’re moving and improving, and everything is flowing the way we want it. I look forward to every day when we get better.’

Two days off in 14 weeks? If the Syracuse coaching staff continues to work as hard as it does, the Orange can’t help but improve.

Timothy Gorman is a design editor at The Daily Orange, where his columns will no longer appear. He challenges whoever his replacement is to a marathon. E-mail him with suggestions of a city in which to run 26.2 miles at tpgorman@gmail.com.

Published on April 25, 2006 at 12:00 pm