UPDATED: March 18, 2015 at 10:33 p.m.

After 10 years on the job, Daryl Gross announced Wednesday he is stepping down as director of athletics at Syracuse University.

Gross was hired in 2004 and effective immediately, he will now serve as vice president and special assistant to the chancellor. He will also teach as an adjunct professor in the David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics, Chancellor Kent Syverud announced in an email Wednesday. Pete Sala, managing director of the Carrier Dome, will serve as interim director of athletics while a search for a permanent director is conducted.

Floyd Little, special assistant to the athletics director, has agreed to counsel and assist Sala through his time as interim director. A search committee has already been formed to conduct a search for a new Director of Athletics, Syverud said in the email.

In a statement, Gross said he is “excited and grateful to take on the new opportunity,” and said his focus will be on marketing, branding and advancement for the university. He will teach sport management.

“I believe Syracuse athletics is positioned to flourish going forward in the most extraordinary way,” Gross said in the statement. “The Syracuse athletics brand is strong and resilient.”

Syverud said in the email that he had discussions with Gross in the wake of the NCAA report on Syracuse, which was released on March 6. The report details instances of academic misconduct while Gross served as director, as well as a pattern of the university failing to follow its own written drug policy.

As part of the punishments handed down by the NCAA, Syracuse football and men’s basketball was put on five years’ probation.

In his 10 years as director of athletics, Gross led SU as it transitioned from the Big East Conference into the Atlantic Coast Conference. In addition, Syverud said in the email that Gross increased SU Athletics’ fundraising to its highest level, invested in new student-athlete facilities and hired “an outstanding set of coaches.”

“His branding efforts were an important component of the invitation to join the ACC and have raised the University’s profile in New York City and other key national regions,” Syverud said.

Sala, who will take over as interim director of athletics, started working at the Carrier Dome in 1982 as a production assistant. In 2005, he was promoted to associate director of athletics for facilities and took over as managing director of the Dome in 2010.

Published on March 18, 2015 at 10:32 am

Contact Brett: blsamuel@syr.edu | @Brett_Samuels27