SYRACUSE - Greg Robinson will have another season to get Syracuse turned around.

Athletic director Daryl Gross said Wednesday that Robinson will remain as coach in 2008, despite leading the Orange to through the worst three-year stretch in the history of the program, including the first two 10-loss seasons in school history.

Robinson's teams have gone 1-10, 4-8, and 2-10, and in those 28 losses Syracuse has been outscored by 514 points.

“I have evaluated our football program now that the 2007 season has concluded and want to make clear that Greg Robinson remains Syracuse University's head football coach,” Gross said in an email released in late afternoon. “Nevertheless, I have set a bar of significant expectations for all of our programs, and like our players, fans, and supporters, I was very disappointed with the outcome of this season, along with our overall record the past three years.”

Gross said he sought input from current student-athletes, former players such as Floyd

Little and Art Monk, former head coach Dick MacPherson, alumni and fans.

“Despite our collective disappointment with this season, those I talked with agreed with me that stability is tremendously important to our program, specifically as it relates to recruiting, and stabilizing and building solid classes of student-athletes,” Gross said.“We also recognize that as deeply as the SU community wants to win, we are a place of integrity and commitment, and that it is important to provide our head coaches with a legitimate and reasonable time frame in which to demonstrate progress.”

So far, not much progress has been evident on the field. Robinson, who became a head coach for the first time in his 30-year coaching career when he succeeded Paul Pasqualoni in January 2005, is 2-19 in the Big East.

Most observers expected improvement this fall after the Orange finished 4-8 in 2006. Instead, they put up these sorry numbers: 1-6 and last in the Big East; 62.7 yards rushing and 291.9 yards of offense per game; nine sacks and 54 sacks allowed; 4.6 yards per punt return; 16.42 points per game and 34.8 points allowed per game; and total defense of 468.7 yards allowed per game.

All of those statistics rank 107th or worse among the 119 teams that play at college football's top level.

“I had substantial expectations coming into this season, expectations that were not met,” Robinson said. “As head coach, I take full responsibility for that, as I should.”

Robinson, who said he had extensive discussions with Gross about the future of the program, hinted there could be changes on his staff “to maximize the substantial talent we have on our roster to achieve success.”

“I share the community's desire for a winning program, and there is no one that wants to win more than I do,” Robinson said. “I have won before and I expect to win again. I know we have the talent, heart and commitment to bring Syracuse football back, and I plan to make that happen.”

AP-ES-11-28-07 1816EST