Dr. Daryl Gross is in his seventh year as the Executive Director of Athletics at Cal State LA after joining the university in July of 2016. Under his leadership, the Golden Eagles have established a new culture of high expectations and success as many teams have achieved rapid national achievement, including a national championship in men’s soccer in 2021, the first national title in that program’s history and the first in a team sport at Cal State LA in more than 40 years.
Under his leadership, the Golden Eagles have had several teams enjoy success in NCAA postseason competition while also producing multiple national and conference academic honors. He has assembled an extraordinary group of head coaches who have elevated the status of Cal State LA athletics. Recently, the athletic program had its highest national finish (16th in the country) in 11 years. Gross was also instrumental in adding women’s golf to the department in 2017-18 and the team enjoyed rapid success, finishing second in the California Collegiate Athletic Association in 2022 and producing the program’s first individual conference champion.
During the past six years, Golden Eagle teams have combined to earn 33 All-America awards, 88 All-Region awards, 170 All-Conference awards, five California Collegiate Athletic Association team championships (two regular-season and three tournament), 14 individual CCAA titles, four CCAA Player of the Year awards, five CCAA Newcomer of the Year awards, seven CCAA Freshman of the Year awards and seven CCAA Championship Scholar awards. In addition, the Golden Eagles have increased their conference All-Academic Awards in each of his four years leading the program.
Gross was part of the team on campus that was instrumental in navigating one of the largest intercollegiate athletic facility enhancements in Cal State LA history, partnering with the professional soccer franchise LAFC, who reside permanently and practice in new facilities on campus. He is currently working with alumna Billie Jean King to create the Billie Jean King Legacy Center on campus, which will be a major beacon of hope and opportunity and an experiential, “Presidential Library” type landmark that will include global educational programming. In the fall of 2022, led by Gross, a statue of Billie Jean King was displayed in front of the athletic building on campus.
Also in 2022, the gymnasium floor was redesigned with the university’s new branding featured and giving the floor a vibrant and modern look. New scorers’ tables were also displayed in time for the start of the 2022 volleyball season and new scoreboards have been purchased and are set to be installed at the athletic facilities.
As the Director of Athletics at Syracuse University, Gross was the architect and leader for Syracuse becoming a member of the Power 5, ACC conference. This resulted in elite competition participation, academic prestige and a significant increase in annual revenue. He led the largest facility and donor campaign in Syracuse Athletic history and hired a coaching staff that established the highest overall national athletic ranking in Syracuse University history. He elevated the Syracuse athletic annual budget from $28 million to $93 million. Gross also restructured academics and enhanced staffing and facilities in a way that produced the highest graduation rates ever for Syracuse athletics. Gross innovated and marketed Syracuse University as “New York’s College Team” which is still considered one of the greatest brands in college sports and was instrumental in being accepted to the ACC. Dr. Gross led the Athletics Department at Syracuse University for 10 years as Director of Athletics before moving to his role of Vice President and Special Assistant to the Chancellor where he continued to serve on the Chancellor’s Cabinet. In addition, Gross was an Adjunct Professor in the David B. Falk College of Sports Management and Human Dynamics.
During his tenure as Director of Athletics, Gross advanced Syracuse’s performance on the playing fields and court, creating broad-based athletics success unseen in the history of the Syracuse University. Under his leadership, Syracuse was consistently recognized as one of the great athletics institutions in the country. His goals and vision included producing the world’s future leaders through championship-caliber sports experiences. His accomplishments include leading Syracuse from 128 in the NACDA, Learfield athletic department standings to becoming an eventual top 25 program in the nation. His mission for Syracuse Athletics was to compete and perform at the highest level in everything – in competition, in the classroom, and in the community, in an effort to graduate student-athletes who will make a positive impact on society. His motto of “Be Extraordinary” resonated on the Syracuse campus. The principles in which he believes include graduating all student-athletes, winning championships, creating an extraordinary culture of student-athlete welfare and maintaining compliance to all NCAA rules, while being fiscally sound and efficient.
Gross centered his administration around his head coaches, and his insistence and emphasis on having the best leadership and educators. The coaches he hired at Syracuse and USC are considered amongst the nation’s elite and won multiple conference and national championships and competed in more final fours and championships than almost any program in the country. He has a background of taking teams that have had limited success and transforming them into championship teams.
Prior to his appointment at Syracuse, Gross served as senior associate athletic director at the University of Southern California. During his 14 years in athletics administration at USC, the Trojans won 16 national and more than 30 Pac-10 championships, fielded 145 Olympians, played in nine bowl games, and finished in the top 10 of the Directors’ Cup ranking regularly. The University’s signature program – football – dressed two Heisman Trophy winners and won two national championships.
At USC, he directed coaching searches and contract discussions, served as the department’s spokesman, led marketing and corporate sponsorship efforts, negotiated television contracts, developed and contracted football and men’s basketball schedules, directed student-athlete academic services, and directly supervised 10 of the University’s 19 intercollegiate sports programs, among other responsibilities. In 2001, he led the effort to sign long-time NFL coach Pete Carroll. Gross’ searches also produced multiple coaches who won multiple national championships and named national coach of the year. Gross was named a senior associate athletic director in 2002. In that role, he led USC Athletics’ corporate sponsorship program to record revenues, and he headed the football marketing effort that broke USC attendance records. Gross also assisted in the biggest building program in the history of USC Athletics, including facilities for track & field, tennis, football, women’s soccer, basketball, and volleyball.
Gross holds both a master’s degree and Ph.D. in educational psychology from USC, as well as a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of California at Davis, where he was a football wide receiver and was teammates with future New York Jets quarterback Ken O’Brien. He coached on the UC Davis football coaching staff. He also coached the UC Davis men’s and women’s tennis teams. Gross was a graduate assistant football coach at USC coaching quarterbacks and receivers and coaching in two bowl game Citrus Bowl and Rose Bowl Gross. From 1989 to 1991, he worked for the New York Jets as a personnel scout, worked in the front office and conducted all psychological testing and analysis. Gross joined the USC athletic administration as an assistant athletic director in 1991.
A native of Los Angeles, Gross and his wife, Lael, reside in Southern California, with their daughters, Jamie, Jolie, Zoe, and Averie.
