Consigliere
Co 2020 Cali Award Winner, Record Thru 5 Games
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I’ve been travelling since Wednesday so apologize for the delay in posting this and the length but though you might find it interesting.
I hosted a Cuse Council Road Show event here in Binghamton last Tuesday evening. We had a good sized and very engaged group of about 20 Cuse fans, including our very own JoeCollege, storange, and giacofan as well as Dr. Sonny Spera, in attendance and were joined by Athletics Director John Wildhack, Associate A.D. Anthony DiFino and Assistant A.D. Brett Wallace. This was a very casual get together held at the iconic Binghamton Irish pub, House of Reardon to exchange ideas on how to improve the fan experience and increase visibility and involvement of Syracuse athletics in Broome County and environs.
The S.U. contingent arrived in their trademark Cuse.com RV that surely brought many stares and inquisitive minds on the east side. They brought a nice little goodie bag with some Cuse swag for each participant. After a brief meet and greet with some beverages and hors d’ouevres Anthony kicked off the session with a brief overview of the Cuse Council and some introductions. John then took the floor and walked through his background telling of his days at Syracuse and his move to a small startup in Connecticut called ESPN. He related explaining to his parents that this would not be a career defining move but that he really enjoyed it promising to leave for a “real” company after no more than 3 years. 30+ years later he stated the Cuse opportunity was the ONLY one he would have left for and that even with that he turned it down twice and only after some heavy lobbying from Mike Tirico took the plunge.
If you haven’t met him, John is very down-to-earth and initially comes off as low key but the passion that comes through is readily evident. He talked in glowing terms about his coaches calling Jim Boeheim the den mother and extolling him for his willingness to go beyond the basketball program and mentor all the young coaches in the department. John told the story of walking the campus with Jim shortly after accepting the job and coming across track coach Chris Fox. Chris and Jim talked briefly and as they walked away Jim turned to John and said “That’s the best track coach in the country. Be sure to take care of him.” John briefly talked about the assistant coaches for basketball and how important it was for him to ensure they were locked in after Hop’s departure and said the easiest decision he ever made was to call JB and ask him to stay on as head man for the foreseeable future. He then mentioned the recruit that committed earlier in the week – though not by name in case the NCAA is watching – and said he will be the most impactful newcomer we will have seen in a long, long time. Also, mentioned the ’17 class as being very under the radar and that the team will surprise people in the upcoming year. Felt basketball was in great shape and will continue to get stronger.
Moving to football, John began to discuss Dino when one of the participants interjected “You better keep him!” to which John responded we are doing everything we can to make him the happiest guy in upstate NY. He commented We will be good again, we will be good very soon and we will consistently be good for a long, long time. He mentioned the caliber of recruits Dino is bringing in in the ’17 class then mentioned before leaving he had a chance to meet with “an offensive lineman from Long Island – 4-star kid with an offer list as good as any” and a DB from Florida once again citing an impressive offer list. He stated there are no guarantees in recruiting but the Long Island kid has been up to see us FOUR times, loves the facilities, loves the coaches and loves the direction of the program. Said again, no promises but we like where we stand.
We followed with an open discussion. One participant note that the Dome is an icon of college sports but needs a little TLC. John interrupted and said “It needs a LOT of TLC.” He then went on with the same talking points we’ve heard before – incredibly complex, only facility home to 5 major sports, unwillingness to lose a basketball or football home season. A participant noted “I thought we were going to build a roof over the old dome and pull the guts out when done. John stated that is a strong option but they are still evaluating others as well. He talked about improved fan amenities – how the seating needs to be improved, how the concessions offerings are highly limited due to the facility and made it clear that air conditioning is Item 1 on his hit list. A fan noted that the early season games are tough to sit through and John described the comfort level as “brutal.” Talking more about facilities he lauded the Ensley Center as “as good as any practice facility in the country” and said it has had a big impact on recruits. Said that the facilities upgrades will be constant, ongoing, and visible.
Another participant brought up the uniforms and asked “What’s up with those grey ones?” John laughed and said he hates those too, but you know who loves them – the players! The fan then said they can wear pink, then if they want to – if they win games.
A good friend of mine cited the recent success of the women’s’ basketball program. He noted our program “used to be terrible but now we are one of the Top 10 in the country. How did we turn around that program and what did we learn that we can leverage for others?” John again gave all the credit to coaching. Said Q is one of the most dynamic people you would ever meet and that almost everyone wants to play for him. Noted that he is bringing in the Number 2 ranked class in the country, that we are averaging about 3,000 fans per game and that he expects that to grow rapidly. He mentioned the record crowd at the Notre Dame game and noted that game featured the largest attendance of any ACC women’s’ game last year.
We closed with a drawing for a couple of great door prizes – a Dino Babers autographed football and four tickets to sit in the S.U. suite for the opener against CCSU.
I talked with John, Anthony and Brett after we closed and they seemed extremely pleased with the event. I asked Anthony if he felt there were any actionable suggestions and he showed me about 6 pages of bullet point notes that they would be working on during the ride back up I-81.
Great night and though I never thought possible it made us all even more committed to Syracuse Athletics!
I hosted a Cuse Council Road Show event here in Binghamton last Tuesday evening. We had a good sized and very engaged group of about 20 Cuse fans, including our very own JoeCollege, storange, and giacofan as well as Dr. Sonny Spera, in attendance and were joined by Athletics Director John Wildhack, Associate A.D. Anthony DiFino and Assistant A.D. Brett Wallace. This was a very casual get together held at the iconic Binghamton Irish pub, House of Reardon to exchange ideas on how to improve the fan experience and increase visibility and involvement of Syracuse athletics in Broome County and environs.
The S.U. contingent arrived in their trademark Cuse.com RV that surely brought many stares and inquisitive minds on the east side. They brought a nice little goodie bag with some Cuse swag for each participant. After a brief meet and greet with some beverages and hors d’ouevres Anthony kicked off the session with a brief overview of the Cuse Council and some introductions. John then took the floor and walked through his background telling of his days at Syracuse and his move to a small startup in Connecticut called ESPN. He related explaining to his parents that this would not be a career defining move but that he really enjoyed it promising to leave for a “real” company after no more than 3 years. 30+ years later he stated the Cuse opportunity was the ONLY one he would have left for and that even with that he turned it down twice and only after some heavy lobbying from Mike Tirico took the plunge.
If you haven’t met him, John is very down-to-earth and initially comes off as low key but the passion that comes through is readily evident. He talked in glowing terms about his coaches calling Jim Boeheim the den mother and extolling him for his willingness to go beyond the basketball program and mentor all the young coaches in the department. John told the story of walking the campus with Jim shortly after accepting the job and coming across track coach Chris Fox. Chris and Jim talked briefly and as they walked away Jim turned to John and said “That’s the best track coach in the country. Be sure to take care of him.” John briefly talked about the assistant coaches for basketball and how important it was for him to ensure they were locked in after Hop’s departure and said the easiest decision he ever made was to call JB and ask him to stay on as head man for the foreseeable future. He then mentioned the recruit that committed earlier in the week – though not by name in case the NCAA is watching – and said he will be the most impactful newcomer we will have seen in a long, long time. Also, mentioned the ’17 class as being very under the radar and that the team will surprise people in the upcoming year. Felt basketball was in great shape and will continue to get stronger.
Moving to football, John began to discuss Dino when one of the participants interjected “You better keep him!” to which John responded we are doing everything we can to make him the happiest guy in upstate NY. He commented We will be good again, we will be good very soon and we will consistently be good for a long, long time. He mentioned the caliber of recruits Dino is bringing in in the ’17 class then mentioned before leaving he had a chance to meet with “an offensive lineman from Long Island – 4-star kid with an offer list as good as any” and a DB from Florida once again citing an impressive offer list. He stated there are no guarantees in recruiting but the Long Island kid has been up to see us FOUR times, loves the facilities, loves the coaches and loves the direction of the program. Said again, no promises but we like where we stand.
We followed with an open discussion. One participant note that the Dome is an icon of college sports but needs a little TLC. John interrupted and said “It needs a LOT of TLC.” He then went on with the same talking points we’ve heard before – incredibly complex, only facility home to 5 major sports, unwillingness to lose a basketball or football home season. A participant noted “I thought we were going to build a roof over the old dome and pull the guts out when done. John stated that is a strong option but they are still evaluating others as well. He talked about improved fan amenities – how the seating needs to be improved, how the concessions offerings are highly limited due to the facility and made it clear that air conditioning is Item 1 on his hit list. A fan noted that the early season games are tough to sit through and John described the comfort level as “brutal.” Talking more about facilities he lauded the Ensley Center as “as good as any practice facility in the country” and said it has had a big impact on recruits. Said that the facilities upgrades will be constant, ongoing, and visible.
Another participant brought up the uniforms and asked “What’s up with those grey ones?” John laughed and said he hates those too, but you know who loves them – the players! The fan then said they can wear pink, then if they want to – if they win games.
A good friend of mine cited the recent success of the women’s’ basketball program. He noted our program “used to be terrible but now we are one of the Top 10 in the country. How did we turn around that program and what did we learn that we can leverage for others?” John again gave all the credit to coaching. Said Q is one of the most dynamic people you would ever meet and that almost everyone wants to play for him. Noted that he is bringing in the Number 2 ranked class in the country, that we are averaging about 3,000 fans per game and that he expects that to grow rapidly. He mentioned the record crowd at the Notre Dame game and noted that game featured the largest attendance of any ACC women’s’ game last year.
We closed with a drawing for a couple of great door prizes – a Dino Babers autographed football and four tickets to sit in the S.U. suite for the opener against CCSU.
I talked with John, Anthony and Brett after we closed and they seemed extremely pleased with the event. I asked Anthony if he felt there were any actionable suggestions and he showed me about 6 pages of bullet point notes that they would be working on during the ride back up I-81.
Great night and though I never thought possible it made us all even more committed to Syracuse Athletics!
