Syracuse Football: When it comes to 44, it’s not complicated, it’s just time

I’ll never understand why in his infinite wisdom former Syracuse AD Daryl Gross decided that the right thing to do for the Syracuse football program was to take one of the few truly unique chips that the University had off the table and take the number 44 out of the rotation for good.

I never have understood that, and never will.

That decision was the marketing equivalent of hiring Greg Robinson as the head coach of the Syracuse football program.

0 for 2, Daryl.

I mean, all I hear is how hard it is to recruit players to Syracuse. I get it. It snows. So what sense does it make, in that event, to take one of our most effective recruiting tools and stick it in a glass case of sorts, in sight but completely out of reach? A retired number that, by its nature, was never meant to be retired.

It’s time to bring back number 44 at Syracuse football.

Indeed, this isn’t a typical retired number. This isn’t Michael Jordan’s legendary 23, or Larry Bird’s 33, each of which absolutely warrants a lifetime retirement by the NBA’s Bulls and Celtics respectively.

And it’s not Jackie Robinson’s 42, which is justifiably retired from the sport of baseball for good. No, Syracuse’s 44 is and always has been the University’s number. The Program’s number. The Community’s number. It’s a number that has been borrowed by and bestowed upon truly exceptional players, each one of whom knew from the second that the number was adorned on their backs it would have to be given back.

It’s been more than 20 years since a player has worn the number 44. And while many very good to even great players have played Syracuse Orange football over that time, there really hasn’t been one that generated the level of excitement and buzz as has Sean Tucker.

He’s special, and his stats so far this season reflect that. That level of performance has gotten him involved in some pretty big discussions around year-end awards. And that has led many Syracuse fans to get excited about the idea that maybe, just maybe, Sean Tucker will be the “special” player for whom the University will right this wrong. It may be about as good as this fan base has felt about anything in a long, long time.

Unfortunately, as has been the case when talking about so much as it relates to Syracuse football in recent years, once again it seems that Orange fans just can’t have nice things.

“It’s complicated.”

Current Syracuse AD John Wildhack, hearing the calls among the fan base, a fan base that has been beaten down and frustrated for decades by this football program, went on local Syracuse radio late last week and was asked about the idea of giving the Sean Tucker the 44. Maybe even…on the night of the Clemson game. What did he say to that?

“It’s premature.”

“It’s complicated.”

“It won’t be happening this season.”

Sigh.

Syracuse University may have the best marketing and communications school in the nation (ok, it does), but this feels like a tremendous failure to capitalize on rare fan enthusiasm about something, anything, related to Syracuse football.

Why now, of all times, pour such ice-cold water over the excitement of fans who are watching a truly transcendent player in Sean Tucker (who I believe to be the best RB I have seen at Syracuse in my 25 years as a fan)? Why crush the spirits of fans for whom your football program has, frankly, given so little back over the last two decades? Why pour gasoline on the simmering embers of ineptitude first sparked by Daryl Gross?

None of this makes any sense.

Programs are supposed to make it easier to get great players. Programs are supposed to make it easier to recruit. Programs are supposed to use every possible tool they have to attract talent.

Apparently, Syracuse doesn’t believe in that philosophy. Apparently, they pitch our dynamic offense as a selling point I guess.

Seriously though, this leads me to wonder. Why is it complicated to take his banner down? What strange, unnecessary, and from what I can tell, unsolicited arrangement was made with some or all players who previously wore the number….all of whom, at one time previously, willingly gave it back to be worn again?

Why is it complicated to take a number down from the rafters that never should have been put up there in the first place? Why is it complicated to restore something so important back to the community it belongs to? Why is it complicated to honor the wishes of the late Floyd Little who made no bones about his desire to see the number back on the field?

The 44 is not Jim Brown’s number to own forever, and it never has been. It never was supposed to be. Nor is it Ernie’s. Or Floyd’s. Or Rob’s. Or even that of the long-forgotten Gifford Zimmerman, the very first person to ever adorn the 44 for Syracuse.

Ownership of that number, instead, lies deep within the heart of Syracuse football. A heart which has been broken, and has been missing a core piece ever since Gross’s Folly.

It’s time to give it back.