Don of a new day

When Don McPherson enrolled at Syracuse, the Orange were coming off a 2-9 season, and the glory days of Ernie Davis and Ben Schwartzwalder seemed a distant past.

By the time McPherson was a senior, the quarterback was the first recipient of the first Johnny Unitas Award and Syracuse had posted an 11-0-1 record that probably would have been 12-0 if former Auburn coach Pat Dye had shown any, uh, guts in the 1988 Sugar Bowl that ended in a 16-16 tie.

The Orange once again find themselves in a sorry state, having gone 7-28 the past three years under Greg Robinson, 2-19 in Big East play. Syracuse has lost its recruiting pipelines on Long Island, in western Pennsylvania and parts of upstate New York.

As the Big East improves and other college programs step up, there is serious concern Syracuse football may never again be a perennial Top 25 program.

McPherson, who yesterday was one of the 13 former players and two coaches voted into the National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame, called on Syracuse fans to step up and questioned if Robinson is the right man to lead an Orange revival.

"A lot of people look at say, 'Syracuse has to do more,' " McPherson told The Post at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. "The alumni have to do more. The football alumni have to do more."

Robinson is a classy guy who came to Syracuse with an impressive resume, having served most recently as the co-defensive coordinator at Texas. But the laid-back Southern California native is the antithesis of previous coach Paul Pasqualoni, who was fired by new athletic director Daryl Gross after consecutive 6-6 seasons.

"Greg Robinson is the right person if everyone around Greg Robinson, including fans and alumni, really step up and support Greg Robinson," McPherson said. "He has to hear what people have to say and pick and choose what parts of that he wants to listen (to).

"When he came in and coach Pasqualoni left, there was a huge void that was created, especially in the New York metropolitan area. I was talking to a junior college coach, one of my old coaches from high school, and I asked that question, 'Are we doing OK down here? Are our coaches down here recruiting?' He said, 'They're here, but coach Pasqualoni used to come in and sit in the office and have lunch.

"They don't know these guys."

lenn.robbins@nypost.com

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