Alex Kline Article

[Nicknack]

Autry coached that team to a 20-12 (.625) record which was higher than Boeheim had it in his last 5 years in coaching.

Seems like the only positive I hear from within the Orange program are former guys talking about the 20 win season as positive, and I guess it was compared to the last two seasons. The thing is, Mintz helped mask some of Red's offensive deficiencies. I don't mean this as a jab at Red but that was a perfect marriage... a coach who didn't have much of an offensive plan and a player who didn't seem to want much of a plan so he could just drive and get fouled.

 

[Ernie4459]

I disagree with one thing. I do not believe the job was impossible to follow JB. Difficult sure. But not impossible. A good coach with good recruiting (portal and otherwise) could have been successful and the fans would have embraced him. Don't forget this was not following terribly successful years by JB. The bar was somewhat lower than if JB had gone out with tournament teams. It could have been done with the right coach. Many here saw early on that Adrian Autry wasn't that person; wasn't the right coach. I first saw it in the first game of his second year when the team struggled against LeMoyne. And it never got better although there were a few moments of it early this year. Hats off to Red for a valiant effort. You just weren't the right person for that job.

Totally agree. I for one was somewhat encouraged by Reds first year. He won 20 games-something that hadn’t been done in two years. Had a couple of decent wins. Didn’t make the tournament but things seemed to be ticking up. Last year was a disaster. Blame it on a myriad of reasons but it was what it was

This needed to be the year. And it simply wasn’t. If fans had continued to see incremental progress and a tournament bid I think most would’ve accepted that. Maybe not all but most. If people are being personally insulting on social media it sucks. I’ve been critical of coaches before but it’s never personal. The article was a nice reminder that Autry got his dream job and I’m sure worked very hard to succeed. It’s not the first time it didn’t work out. We should all wish the best for him and the whole staff. Go !!

 

[Orangezoo]

I mean, he's 29, not 14. I would expect more maturity and worldliness from a 29 year old.

Everyone says he a wonderful guy, so I don't want to pile on too much.

I get that - and we see a ton of 14 year old level statements from much older and higher level professionals and leaders across the spectrum these days. I don’t agree with him doing that and think it was short sighted but just saying if we are going to be honest about it in a comparative standpoint it’s just a poor decision that’s a nothing burger in today’s world.

He’s not had to face public adversity in his career and his first go around now he’s got egg on his face with this and just needs to learn from it. It doesn’t ruin his resume by any stretch.

 

[powdersmack]

You all need to stop talking about "he won 20 year one". One was Chaminade, he won 19 games year one.

 

[Ottoman]

It is surprising to Alex that a job that pays $2 million per year is very challenging and exposed to high, and perhaps unrealistic, expectations? While I'm sure this was written with the best of intentions, I sense a bit of entitlement and naivety.

 

[tptcuse]

That opinion piece is straight up weird. I try to be as cordial as I can on here and other online platforms. But, if you're in a public position and social media posts are affecting your mental health, it's time to stop reading them. Equating angry or classless social media posts with lack of support is backwards. Apathy would be much worse.

Putting fans in quotes at the end of this piece is insulting to people who pay a lot of money for the program while the coaches (and newly added GM and players) get paid. In the last three years, we've had our worst attendance since the dome opened, and it was still more than most places in the country. Syracuse fans spend money traveling all over the country to see Syracuse teams play. I see Syracuse merchandise all over the country.

We are being told that we should feel lucky to have what we have because the people involved are nice? The premise behind this article just reinforces that everyone needed to be let go. It also reinforces that we need to hire outside the family. There is no way an article about the coach being nice and the fans being mean would be posted if an outside hire were to fail.

Do we need to change the name of the forum to Syracuse"fan".com? Asking for a friend.

 

[Willy75]

I was surprised at how naive Kline seems to be. College revenue sports have morphed into a fairly cutthroat business model manned by mercenaries, many of whom have their eyes fixed on the next and more lucrative destination. Fans are not supposed to comment on their performance or lack thereof?
I'm reminded of Tom Hanks in that gangster movie with Paul Newman, where he said "this is the life we chose."

 

[llandz]

That opinion piece is straight up weird. I try to be as cordial as I can on here and other online platforms. But, if you're in a public position and social media posts are affecting your mental health, it's time to stop reading them. Equating angry or classless social media posts with lack of support is backwards. Apathy would be much worse.

Putting fans in quotes at the end of this piece is insulting to people who pay a lot of money for the program while the coaches (and newly added GM and players) get paid. In the last three years, we've had our worst attendance since the dome opened, and it was still more than most places in the country. Syracuse fans spend money traveling all over the country to see Syracuse teams play. I see Syracuse merchandise all over the country.

We are being told that we should feel lucky to have what we have because the people involved are nice? The premise behind this article just reinforces that everyone needed to be let go. It also reinforces that we need to hire outside the family. There is no way an article about the coach being nice and the fans being mean would be posted if an outside hire were to fail.

Do we need to change the name of the forum to Syracuse"fan".com? Asking for a friend.

As I said early on in all of this...nice guys finish last. I am no longer looking for nice. I am looking for someone who really knows the game, and can coach the heck out of the players.

 

[Guinness]

unless you accept the fact you are already dead, you will not be able to fight.

Easy there, LT Spiers.

 

[M2MPrinciples]

I don't care how much or little truth there is to it, you will never get anyone to your side by publicly blaming fans for lack of success. It's also a bad career move if Kline ever wants to work for a P4 program or NBA team with a passionate fanbase.

Put a competitive product on the floor and people will come. We're a proud program with lots of history and recent success (though not as recent as we'd like), but we aren't Kansas or Duke where it's Final Four or bust every year. The expectations are high, but as Don Draper said, that's what the money is for. And Kline wasn't even the person most accountable for the results.

 

[Ottoman]

This article highlights a larger point: many folks at SU have enjoyed well-paid, powerful positions they inherited rather than earned. Others earned it initially but stopped giving their best to the job decades ago. Some were literally born into the job.

I am an alumn and I love the school and the people that make it special, but we seem to be coasting on our past success instead of striving for more.

 

[Owens guy]

You all need to stop talking about "he won 20 year one". One was Chaminade, he won 19 games year one.

I agree. Red's first year had Mintz, Copeland, Maliq Brown, JJ, Cuffe, and Chris Bell on the roster. There was some talent there.

Many of the 19 (or 20) wins were due to Mintz and/or Copeland not following Red's offensive plan.

Mintz often looked right past Red and to his relative for on court instructions. I would argue that Red's head coaching career got off to a mediocre start due to the players not fearing Red's discipline right away.

And I'm not even bringing up everything around Benny Williams that first season.

 

[Cuse99&01]

Supposedly from a Kline post

 

[cliftonparksufan]

I was surprised at how naive Kline seems to be. College revenue sports have morphed into a fairly cutthroat business model manned by mercenaries, many of whom have their eyes fixed on the next and more lucrative destination. Fans are not supposed to comment on their performance or lack thereof?
I'm reminded of Tom Hanks in that gangster movie with Paul Newman, where he said "this is the life we chose."

At one time not that long ago, players were students-athletes that if they wanted to transfer needed to sit out a year.

Now they are 20 year old professionals that in most cases are making more money than the lunch pail fan who has been toiling at his or her job in some cases 30 or 40 years and if they are season ticket holders, pay pretty good coin to watch these professional athletes play 30 or 35 minutes in a game at the most.

Do the fans have expectations? More than ever.

Now let's talk about the coaches and staff. Could be one of the worst jobs in the world in 2026. Except for the fact, even the bad ones make millions until they get fired. They chose the profession. They chased the opportunities. And a few become successful.

A while ago, I posted an article that I think was from the USA Today that listed all the head coaches and their salaries and who from the list would you want as the next Syracuse head coach. There were very few, less than 5%, that have had consistent success in their years of coaching.

So do fans have rights to boo and post malicious comments about players and coaches. I would say in good taste if they are trying hard to become winners.

What got frustrating at Syracuse is the players they brought in as transfers weren't from winning programs and the coaches couldn't teach them how to win, and the high school kids followed the same path. Red wasn't innovative and kept trying the same thing over and over. The players got frustrated. No one likes losing, coaches, players and the "fans".

So Red gets fired and hopefully the new regime will be better than the old regime. And that's why it's important to hire a proven winner.

 

[Nicknack]

You all need to stop talking about "he won 20 year one". One was Chaminade, he won 19 games year one.

Yep. My opinion on year 1...

Without Judah Mintz, we wouldn't have won ten efffng games that year. Not ten. Red wasn't ready (never was). They needed Judah. Without him there, not ten.

 

[elimunelson]

Wins and loss business. The veneer that this is college is bs to me. Anyone getting paid in an entertainment business like basketball has to be ready for the worst of society.

It’s funny the games are much more antiseptic than when I went to Sullivan stadium and the boston garden in the mid 80s. Really disgusting things said and done back then. We are a more civilized society in a lot of ways and some not so much.

Everyone operates in a now now now world. So anything bad that happens is always the worst. People need to breathe more and not be consumed by media so much.

 

[Ottoman]

Who's going to tell Alex that Ted Lasso isn't real?

 

[Starman]

Who's going to tell Alex that Ted Lasso isn't real?

Pft, next you're going to say that Richmond FC isn't real.

 

[CardiacCuse]

That opinion piece is straight up weird. I try to be as cordial as I can on here and other online platforms. But, if you're in a public position and social media posts are affecting your mental health, it's time to stop reading them. Equating angry or classless social media posts with lack of support is backwards. Apathy would be much worse.

Putting fans in quotes at the end of this piece is insulting to people who pay a lot of money for the program while the coaches (and newly added GM and players) get paid. In the last three years, we've had our worst attendance since the dome opened, and it was still more than most places in the country. Syracuse fans spend money traveling all over the country to see Syracuse teams play. I see Syracuse merchandise all over the country.

We are being told that we should feel lucky to have what we have because the people involved are nice? The premise behind this article just reinforces that everyone needed to be let go. It also reinforces that we need to hire outside the family. There is no way an article about the coach being nice and the fans being mean would be posted if an outside hire were to fail.

Do we need to change the name of the forum to Syracuse"fan".com? Asking for a friend.

i hear you but i think it sheds light on just how deep the impact of losing the fanbase was on this team. i think it destroyed them and their ability to compete.

argue all day if it shouldve or not...IT DID. and this article confirms that.

personally, I am very sympathetic to the players in this regard. I totally get it.

all of them had options and none of them wouldve signed up for this season if they knew how it would go back when they were getting recruited by a bunch of other schools. losing sucks.

it not about blame. i know everyone will just say man up and that thts what you get paid for etc etc

for me, its not about who to blame.

i appreciate this window on the inner workings of what went down...we dont usually get this kind of vulnerability and openness (even though i agree it is weird how out of touch he is about winning and its importance - its like he only cares about his personal experience when he has a role that is extremely public, and wants us all to see it his way)

that said, what are fans really doing when they crap on a team/coach? applying pressure, venting, letting out emotions, trying to force change, etc...and thats all valid...

but I also thougt during the season...what do fans want to happen? does skewering these guys and coach really help the team succeed? i participated too...it really hurt them and they felt it.

they needed a ton of support and didnt get it.

im not saying fans are necessarily wrong. i am glad autry wont be back above all else. he was in way over his head. so glad its over.

i think the time to crap on a team is the offseason...once its all said and done...esp if you know the school will not make a midseason change. as we knew. but thats just me.

 

[OptimusOtto]

People love nice guys as head coaches but if they don't win, they bump that priority down.

Wins are only thing that matter. People excuse bad behavior and everything else if you win. They overlook how nice you are when you lose.

Titus and Tate used to talk about this on their podcast back in the day. Never worse than be labeled a “good guy.”

Once that label takes hold in the press might as well write your obituary as a coach.

 

[tptcuse]

i hear you but i think it sheds light on just how deep the impact of losing the fanbase was on this team. i think it destroyed them and their ability to compete.

argue all day if it shouldve or not...IT DID. and this article confirms that.

personally, I am very sympathetic to the players in this regard. I totally get it.

all of them had options and none of them wouldve signed up for this season if they knew how it would go back when they were getting recruited by a bunch of other schools. losing sucks.

it not about blame. i know everyone will just say man up and that thts what you get paid for etc etc

for me, its not about who to blame.

i appreciate this window on the inner workings of what went down...we dont usually get this kind of vulnerability and openness (even though i agree it is weird how out of touch he is about winning and its importance - its like he only cares about his personal experience when he has a role that is extremely public, and wants us all to see it his way)

that said, what are fans really doing when they crap on a team/coach? applying pressure, venting, letting out emotions, trying to force change, etc...and thats all valid...

but I also thougt during the season...what do fans want to happen? does skewering these guys and coach really help the team succeed? i participated too...it really hurt them and they felt it.

they needed a ton of support and didnt get it.

im not saying fans are necessarily wrong. i am glad autry wont be back above all else. he was in way over his head. so glad its over.

i think the time to crap on a team is the offseason...once its all said and done...esp if you know the school will not make a midseason change. as we knew. but thats just me.

I’d be more with you if 1. Red tried to hire more assistant coaches or got rid of the ineffective coaches. 2. They spent all their NIL money (we’ve been told they didn’t) 3. The staff tried anything different and didn’t make light of the lack of offensive sets, while the defense simultaneously worsened.

Obviously, Red is a nice guy and doesn’t deserve the more extreme posts and that completely classless radio call-in show comment.

 

[OptimusOtto]

Also what’s ironic in this is Red’s branding of returning to the #OrangeStandard and then acting surprised when the fanbase is frustrated you cannot deliver on what you promised to deliver.

That standard is being in the tournament, competing for a conference championship and playing deep into March.

Each year under his leadership we have fallen further and further from that standard - as someone previously posted the worst 3 year stretch since the 60s.

 

[rrlbees]

sorry if this has already been said but in an interview, kline said he had gotten real close to red and the other assts and if they got let go he would have resigned if asked to stay.

 

[CardiacCuse]

I’d be more with you if 1. Red tried to hire more assistant coaches or got rid of the ineffective coaches. 2. They spent all their NIL money (we’ve been told they didn’t) 3. The staff tried anything different and didn’t make light of the lack of offensive sets, while the defense simultaneously worsened.

Obviously, Red is a nice guy and doesn’t deserve the more extreme posts and that completely classless radio call-in show comment.

yeah im thinking of it more from the player side...it mustve been brutal reading all the criticisms of your coach that has been there guiding you and you beleived in and watching it crumble

i remmber goerge saying just give red a chance

and donnie sayin these are the guys he loves etc

red lost me...from the first season...

i think the noise really got to the players and shattered any illusions they had about red...but they entered the season fully buying in to what he was selling...

 

[Cuse117]

ALSO, just so we clear this up… 20 win seasons are not good seasons at Syracuse. 25+ is acceptable and 30+ in what every Syracuse team should strive for. 30 is a real contender.