Feelings of Hopelessness for this Program amidst the Gaslighting

[JeffCuse]

Different dynamic at a private school at SU. In another month + the season will be over and the casual fan will be onto Lax and the football team. Wildhack has zero pressure internally.

If this was happening at Duke we wouldn't be having this discussion. Private or otherwise

 

[sufan59]

Now that would be next level diabolical

I doubt our AD is playing chess to that level but maybe

Just a theory. But I hope either way we get the vote of confidence or the door. Silence does no one any good.

 

[JeremyCuse]

If this was happening at Duke we wouldn't be having this discussion. Private or otherwise

Well coach K voluntarily retired and the transition was pretty seamless and pre-planned, that's not what happened here.

 

[Red2003]

I think JB should be at the bottom of the list when it comes to people chosen to decide when it's time for a coach to leave.

Would be the same as me asking my 89 year old grandma about politics and her telling me to vote for Eisenhower.

 

[sufan59]

Well coach K voluntarily retired and the transition was pretty seamless and pre-planned, that's not what happened here.

Remember when we had a plan that was pre-planned and supposed to be seamless. Planned years in advance. Better times for the program….

 

[Red2003]

Do you continue to pour resources into a floundering company?

If you saw one glimmer of hope, sure. If you saw one thing that you could point to and say "look, improvement" or "look, we are really improving in this area". But does anyone really see anything like that?

We just lost to the last-place team in the ACC. But what's worse? That last-place team has as many Top 100 wins this year as Syracuse.

Honestly I’ve worked for several clients and places in Corporate America. Yes they put resources into sinking ships every day all day long for years.

Also they almost always go with continuity hires even in the face of knowing it’s likely a mistake. It’s only after that internal hire fails miserably that they are scapegoated before hiring a real turnaround person.

I worked for a company for years and watched this happen real time. The stock price cratered to under 5$ with an old aging out of touch CEO, the internal hire sucked and then the next guy with a proven record crushed it. Stock today is over 350$.

You asked the question so thought I’d answer. It happens all the time.

 

[Red2003]

Money always has a seat at the table.

What does the old money (people who have financed the program for decades) think?

What does the potential new money (Melo and LaLa, etc...) think?

If the big money wanted Red gone, he would be gone already.

Upvoting just for LaLa. She does not mess around when you hear her talk about Kiyan. I’d put her in the locker room to get them to play defense.

 

[Red2003]

The thing on this - the needle was never going to start moving until it reached a point of JW facing down national discourse on the programs embarrassing state.

We're there now, and all eyes turn to Wildhack. The longer it drags downward, the more blame and negative perception becomes placed on him.

This is true. I said before I thought there was a a less than 1% chance for Autrys removal this year. Now it’s probably 1% but if they lose out which really could happen it may be a 5-10% chance. Just for the reason you said. Wildhack doesn’t want to be thrown out with along with the basketball staff.

 

[Gr8rph]

Now that we are well past the Boeheim family era, at least we do not have to place our hoops hopes in the sons of famous alums anymore...

/s

The team with buddy and jimmy would beat this team by 20

 

[JeffCuse]

Disregard...think it was a misunderstanding

 

[IthacaMatt]

I'm referring more to the general sentiment. It seems there are MANY members of the media who are convinced it can't happen. It also seems that fans are buying that line. It has to coming from somewhere.

If it's because of an extra year on a contract that pays $2-3M, compare that to lost attendance and concessions, lost season ticket sales next year. Big gamble.

 

[grepal]

I don't believe in many absolutes in this world. Almost everything is and should be up for discussion or consideration.

• Fans that shout from social media that Adrian Autry absolutely cannot get the job done and 100% should be fired are extreme. And that is a non-productive stance to take.
• Fans (and apparently administrators) that take the position that Adrian Autry absolutely cannot be fired and 100% must be given the job next year? That's wrong too.

Why are so many so damm entrenched, so unable to have a real, level-headed discussion of the pros and the cons of making a change? I hear so many people calling into radio sounding like their best friend has died, saying this is the worst they have seen this program in 50+ years, saying they have no interest any more, and then saying "We have to give him one more year". Its gaslighting to the Nth degree. No we don't. Maybe we should. Maybe that's where we land after a discussion of all options. But NOTHING is entitled in this world, especially when it comes along with offensive and defensive schemes that look dusted off from the days of underhanded free throws. Nothing innovative is happening under Autry. It's awful. We lose to bad teams, and get destroyed by good ones.

I believe Autry is likely in way over his head and like Jerod Mayo, the beloved but unqualified former Patriots coach, likely needs to be relieved of his duties. That's not an absolute, but I feel confident enough about it that I believe it needs serious consideration.

But that said, I'm not even saying a change MUST be made. But I'm so tired of this defeatist attitude that we have NO choice but to eat one more season of terrible basketball, taking us one season farther from competitiveness.

I saw a social post that was a mind fark. It said that this current graduating class will have NEVER seen this team in a Tourney. That's INSANE. We need to do everything to make sure next year's doesn't suffer the same fate. That may include Autry and this staff, if may not. But ALL OPTIONS need to be considered at the highest levels.

There has GOT to be a way to save the incoming class without sacrificing the future of the program. Isn't it worth even trying?

It just feels so hopeless.

Cheer up, If UCONN rose from the ashes we can too.

 

[kcsu]

I suspect Jesse Edwards leaving was a really pivotal moment in the program, for a couple reasons.

First, it took us from a situation where we would have had one of the best centers in the country and a really experienced player to having to shoehorn a talented guy into the spot. Maliq played well but that wasn't the ideal scenario. As I've mentioned in other threads, I think if Jesse was our center we make the tournament.

Second, I think him taking a deal from WFVU put blood in the water for portal sharks. Once that happened, we could not work from a position of strength. It was known that guys could be taken from us. That also meant that we could be leveraged (more or less how it seems to have gone down with Lampkin). It translated into a reputation as not being a serious player in the portal for the top guys.

There's an alternative timeline where Jesse stays, we make the tournament, maybe the program stays together better, and overall we're in a stronger position to be more enticing in the portal and we're not coming across as much like a wounded animal. That leads to a better roster this year, which is more forgiving of some of the learning on the job Red's clearly going through.

I'm not saying that fully gets us back to high level competitiveness, but it could be some effort to reverse some of the trends we've been watching for a decade now.

No Jesse and his family were a holes. Karma took care of it

 

[kcsu]

I think JB should be at the bottom of the list when it comes to people chosen to decide when it's time for a coach to leave.

He won't have a say

 

[grepal]

Also for the record, I appreciate everything did for this program and what it means to Syracuse. What he did up until the last 7 years was remarkable. Little, old Syracuse, NY. In the middle of nowhere and he turned Syracuse into a basketball powerhouse. The last 7 years and turning the program over to Autry is a shame cause it’s going to overshadow his legacy a bit. JAB is a stubborn man and the last few showed it. You have to know when to walk away and he just didn’t. He obviously wanted to coach his kids and he was willing to bring the program down with it, in order to do so

JB is a loyal man. Some see it as stubborn and he can be at times. His overwhelming personal characteristic is fierce loyalty, not stubbornness.

 

[kcsu]

Well Allen Griffin, one of my favorite players, just challenged me to a fight I think so maybe close the thread?

What in the world is going on???

Kick his arse.

 

[kcsu]

Yikes...

Year 3 will matter. Today won't

 

[OttoinGrotto]

No Jesse and his family were a holes. Karma took care of it

Jesse leaving hurt us far more than it hurt him.

 

[W'boro'Cuse315]

Well Allen Griffin, one of my favorite players, just challenged me to a fight I think so maybe close the thread?

What in the world is going on???

You won’t post it!

 

[RF2044]

Year 3 will matter. Today won't

It sure will.

Because then it will be do or die. No more excuses, and no more people pointing to vague reasons why the AD can or can't do anything, or pointing to vague reasons why he needs more time.

Red is very likely to finish year 3 with an overall losing record. He either gets back to the NCAA tournament ending what will then be a 5 year drought, or he will be shown the door.

 

[AcAndAc]

In 2025, it is so incredibly easy to just walk away. I had season tickets from about 2001-2020, switched to just a couple single game tickets after that, didn’t bother getting any tickets this year. Haven’t really bothered watching games this year; I flipped on the Miami game with about 6 minutes left, thought “you gotta be kidding me” and flipped it off.

The likelihood I’ll ever be a season ticket holder again is negligible. That’s one of the problems - it costs far more to acquire new customers than it does to retain old ones. It’s a big risk for Syracuse basketball - JB was worried about no home court advantage playing in front of 14,000 fans when the Dome was built. That didn’t happen regularly, but may in the very near future - that would likely accelerate the decline of the program. The Dome has been a huge asset to basketball; it may be about to become a massive liability.

14,000 is going to be high. We have seen games that look like 5k there.

People just do not get it. When you convince a fan that they can live without your program, they never come back in the same way. They do not encourage others to go. You need to keep giving people the energy to keep attending/promoting/etc. The Dome used to sell out at 26k and kept increasing capacity to add another 9k. Now we are back to where we started--a program that some nights would not come close to filling Manley.

 

[Scooch]

Well Allen Griffin, one of my favorite players, just challenged me to a fight I think so maybe close the thread?

What in the world is going on???

You can't just leave us hanging.

Did you guys bump into each other in the parking lot of Big Al's? Was there singing and dancing before the fight?!

When you're a jet, you're a jet all the way...

 

[JeffCuse]

You won’t post it!

You can't just leave us hanging.

Did you guys bump into each other in the parking lot of Big Al's? Was there singing and dancing before the fight?!

When you're a jet, you're a jet all the way...

I've sent it to a couple folks here. I think it was a misunderstanding upon reflection. I hope so at least.

 

[Ghost]

You can't just leave us hanging.

Did you guys bump into each other in the parking lot of Big Al's? Was there singing and dancing before the fight?!

When you're a jet, you're a jet all the way...

That's how we should decide who coaches next year (whether Red gets to stay)!

A parking lot fight! We could raise some serious NIL!

 

[JeffCuse]

Pretty sure it was a misunderstanding as we have exchanged friendlier messages now.