SU.com Editorial on SU Athletic Department

[AngryOtto]

How did Syracuse athletics miss signs of trouble in women’s basketball program? (Editorial Board Opinion)

Athletic Director John Wildhack missed red flags as players fled former coach Quentin Hillsman -- until athletes told their stories of abuse.

www.syracuse.com

Really interesting article. Slams the athletic department about their failures with both WBB and Men”s Lacrosse.

Questions JW about how he was not aware of the problems with WBB. Also questions why he elevated Read.

very negative against athletic department. Curious what the trustees are going to do.

 

[OrangeinBoston]

Maybe Wildhack is in trouble?

 

[orangenauburn]

Maybe Wildhack is in trouble?

Would you be surprised to see a change if football has another disaster year

 

[Dcuse]

How did Syracuse athletics miss signs of trouble in women’s basketball program? (Editorial Board Opinion)

Athletic Director John Wildhack missed red flags as players fled former coach Quentin Hillsman -- until athletes told their stories of abuse.

www.syracuse.com

Really interesting article. Slams the athletic department about their failures with both WBB and Men”s Lacrosse.

Questions JW about how he was not aware of the problems with WBB. Also questions why he elevated Read.

very negative against athletic department. Curious what the trustees are going to do.

Let's be fair here. Get the Men's Lacrosse out of this conversation. The incident happened and when the smoke cleared he was removed. The coach was replaced in the best possible way. How in Gods name should that be included in a criticism?
Now the Womens BB...have at it. John really needs to step up and explain this one. The public statement made in support of Hillsman is a carton of eggs on his face. The appointment of his assistant as interim for the upcoming year???? John!!! What in Gods name are you thinking???

 

[OrangeXtreme]

Would you be surprised to see a change if football has another disaster year

You want to replace both a football coach and an AD the same time?

Because that worked out so well for us in 2004.

 

[sutomcat]

How did Syracuse athletics miss signs of trouble in women’s basketball program? (Editorial Board Opinion)

Athletic Director John Wildhack missed red flags as players fled former coach Quentin Hillsman -- until athletes told their stories of abuse.

www.syracuse.com

Really interesting article. Slams the athletic department about their failures with both WBB and Men”s Lacrosse.

Questions JW about how he was not aware of the problems with WBB. Also questions why he elevated Read.

very negative against athletic department. Curious what the trustees are going to do.

The Post-Standard has deemphasized coverage of Syracuse sports (as well as everything else).

They were completely scooped on a major story that happened in their backyard by out of town reporters. This is what happens when you run with with inexperienced 'journos' with little in the way of contacts or inside info. To be fair, they have little money coming in and probably can't afford to keep qualified journalists on staff.

What a shame.

Agree, attempting to bring men's lacrosse into this just makes the Post-Standard look even worse.

They would be best served to continue to ignore actual stories in CNY and focus on things they are staffed to cover. Like store openings and restaurant reviews.

 

[MSOrange]

Let's be fair here. Get the Men's Lacrosse out of this conversation. The incident happened and when the smoke cleared he was removed. The coach was replaced in the best possible way. How in Gods name should that be included in a criticism?
Now the Womens BB...have at it. John really needs to step up and explain this one. The public statement made in support of Hillsman is a carton of eggs on his face. The appointment of his assistant as interim for the upcoming year???? John!!! What in Gods name are you thinking???

Exactly how I feel. Lacrosse is an entirely different situation, but the women's basketball is a total mess and I feel the criticism for that is very justified and a horrible look for SUAD. ADJW definitely has some explaining to do. At this point, it doesn't seem like he did anything right in that situation.

 

[Newhouser]

The Post-Standard has deemphasized coverage of Syracuse sports (as well as everything else).

They were completely scooped on a major story that happened in their backyard by out of town reporters. This is what happens when you run with with inexperienced 'journos' with little in the way of contacts or inside info. To be fair, they have little money coming in and probably can't afford to keep qualified journalists on staff.

What a shame.

Agree, attempting to bring men's lacrosse into this just makes the Post-Standard look even worse.

They would be best served to continue to ignore actual stories in CNY and focus on things they are staffed to cover. Like store openings and restaurant reviews.

I think Wildhack has been treated with kid gloves for far too long by the press and this board, but for dot com to act like they are now demanding answers is comedy. As you stated - you got beat on a story by out of town reporters involving your most visible entity - SU Athletics. Same question could be asked of dot com - how did the school miss the story, how did our local press people fan on it too?

 

[llandz]

Agree about Lacrosse. In the end it was handled well, although there was a small hiccup moment there. But if we need to look at another sport, there is still some questions on the women's softball program that have not been answered. Reminder that I personally can vouch for one of the players who filed a complaint and left the softball team, but stayed at SU, because she loves SU. I am glad to see the questions brought out about the entire department, and like anything in life it leads to the head honcho. He is in charge, and needs to know things at this level are happening under his watch.

 

[baggerbob]

How did Syracuse athletics miss signs of trouble in women’s basketball program? (Editorial Board Opinion)

Athletic Director John Wildhack missed red flags as players fled former coach Quentin Hillsman -- until athletes told their stories of abuse.

www.syracuse.com

Really interesting article. Slams the athletic department about their failures with both WBB and Men”s Lacrosse.

Questions JW about how he was not aware of the problems with WBB. Also questions why he elevated Read.

very negative against athletic department. Curious what the trustees are going to do.

Anyone who was on Hillmans staff has to be terminated to show that the school is taking this seriously. By letting Reed stay you are telling everyone you aren't taking any action.

 

[TexanMark]

ADJW should meet yearly with every team (without the coaches). They should be briefed to come and talk to (insert name) if you think a coach is crossing a line. They need to guarantee anonymity for the whistle blower. He needs to do that before every year. Surprised they haven't done something like this. He also should explain the chain of command to them.

 

[dasher]

Agree about Lacrosse. In the end it was handled well, although there was a small hiccup moment there. But if we need to look at another sport, there is still some questions on the women's softball program that have not been answered. Reminder that I personally can vouch for one of the players who filed a complaint and left the softball team, but stayed at SU, because she loves SU. I am glad to see the questions brought out about the entire department, and like anything in life it leads to the head honcho. He is in charge, and needs to know things at this level are happening under his watch.

I was getting upset that the softball situation was being ignored. I wrote when Q was let go that softball was on the clock.

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

Question on WBB. I read some (have not read the whole article or follow ups):
I understand the kisses on the forehead: those are weird and unacceptable in this day and age: what was he thinking?
It seemed to me the bulk of the rest of it was that he was mean and yelled and threw a table. As long as things weren’t thrown at people and no name calling (“that was a stupid play”) is not name calling, I say that type of behavior come with high level athletics, and in and of itself should not have been a fireable offense.
Are there more serious types of allegations against him? His staff (other than complicity/ignorance)?
Not saying that SU should not have cut him lose, but wanting to know what Wildhack missed.

 

[llandz]

Yes. He denied a player, who has asthma her inhaler, when she was having trouble breathing in practice. And yes he used language beyond the realm of normal. If our players are going to places like Louisville, S. Carolina, Duke etc because they feel safer, than it is beyond normal higher level playing. Already I have seen posts about how much happier of an environment they are in, and how it is nice to have positive reinforcement, something he never used. He also hired a known sex offender because they were friends. I am not going to rehash it all, but I have spoken to many people associated with the team, and the program, and he needed to go. These are all people who once supported him.

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

Yes. He denied a player, who has asthma her inhaler, when she was having trouble breathing in practice. And yes he used language beyond the realm of normal. If our players are going to places like Louisville, S. Carolina, Duke etc because they feel safer, than it is beyond normal higher level playing. Already I have seen posts about how much happier of an environment they are in, and how it is nice to have positive reinforcement, something he never used. He also hired a known s e x offender because they were friends. I am not going to rehash it all, but I have spoken to many people associated with the team, and the program, and he needed to go. These are all people who once supported him.

Thanks. I found he had hired someone accused of harassment, but not someone who was a convicted sex offender. Is it someone else.
“hiring a staff member, previously accused of sexual harassment, who made players uncomfortable with his actions.”
Those are very different things.
That said, don’t hire creeps.
The inhaler thing is very disturbing.

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

I was getting upset that the softball situation was being ignored. I wrote when Q was let go that softball was on the clock.

I read SU (not the AD) did an investigation. Also found this article. SU softball players defend coach Shannon Doepking

 

[dasher]

I read SU (not the AD) did an investigation. Also found this article. SU softball players defend coach Shannon Doepking

2 players. I would hope any coach could have at least two players defend them. But there is zero excuse fro making them play with wet uniforms. I wasn't there so I can't say anything for sure. But that article was damning. And seeing how the AD has handled the WBB team, color me not impressed.

 

[RoofBeam]

I had no idea that WBB was so viciously corrupted but I declared several years ago that Hillsman should be fired purely on basketball grounds- horrible game coach, marked inability to create strategies designed to optimize individual talents, fairly good recruiter but teams were poorly constructed and typically too unbalanced to challenge upper echelon teams, etc. Petey and Tiana unfortunately saved his derriere. ...See what you get, SU, for not listening to me?

 

[Newhouser]

The bigger question remains - if The Athletic hadn't reported it - when would action have been taken? Or would action even had been taken? I don't trust that it would have and that is why some changes need to be made.

 

[crazycassie]

Local reporters should be asking why the AD continues to blow up women's basketball. We all knew Hillsman was a dead man walking, did they even considee hiring new coach? So we have Vonn and 2 assts left? What's the plan to fix the program?

 

[baggerbob]

That's another reason to bring her in to replace Hillman. JW needs to get it done now.

 

[AngryOtto]

That's another reason to bring her in to replace Hillman. JW needs to get it done now.

He clearly does not want to be rushed in to selecting a coach.
She had a great career at su but we need to evaluate all candidates to make the best long term selection. In the end maybe she is offered the job but clear JW wants to conduct a complete search.

 

[illestcuse]

He clearly does not want to be rushed in to selecting a coach.
She had a great career at su but we need to evaluate all candidates to make the best long term selection. In the end maybe she is offered the job but clear JW wants to conduct a complete search.

Yeah, after thinking this one through a little further, I think I'm in this camp right now as well. With all due respect to FLJ, she has had a great career here and I love the fact that she was born and raised here which means that she would ride this thing until the wheels fall off.

However, we need to be bringing in a someone that is not only going to prevent another mass exodus from happening with this newest class, but recruit top classes in the future. I'm not so sure that FLJ is that person. I may get s*** for saying that on here, but I said what I said and I'm going to stick to it.

It has already been said on here that basically all of the newer commits want out. We have already lost Latasha and Shy that we know of, we cant really afford to lose any more. We need someone with a big name, that has a great track record and is going to come in and get these girls to stay and buy in quickly so we can be competitive this upcoming season.

Sometimes the most obvious choice, isn't always the wisest choice. I really hope whoever is doing the hiring is thinking outside the box here and looking at a bunch of great quality candidates.

 

[crazycassie]

He clearly does not want to be rushed in to selecting a coach.
She had a great career at su but we need to evaluate all candidates to make the best long term selection. In the end maybe she is offered the job but clear JW wants to conduct a complete search.

The problem with waiting is what are we losing, already 2 top recruits, most likely several more in portal, no recruiting for 21-22 season. Most like 2 consecutive bad seasons which will only make it even harder to recruit.

SU hasn't shown they care enough about the program and can't see them making a splash for a name coach like So Carolina did w/Staley or Duke w/Lawson.

 

[jr4750]

All good points above. Q was an assistant for a coach that was fired. Success doesn't have to be found with a big name. Right fit is more important.

That said, the timing is also important. I agree it will be very hard/impossible to recruit until someone is named. The longer that takes, the harder it will be to dig out. I feel for the players who are in limbo.