You don’t trust him based on what exactly? This will be the first decision on the basketball side that is his to make in his entire time at Syracuse. People that think otherwise are willfully ignorant of the politics involved and reality.
I am probably ignorant of the politics. It seems to me that the AD should be able to hire a coach of his university’s signature program which is men’s basketball. If he did not want Red, his vote should be the ultimate decision maker as the head of the department.
I also think that he had an out when Boeheim was suspended by the NCAA the last time and could have asked Jim to go at that point. Instead he kept his buddy on the payroll. When Hopkins spurred our plans ADJW could have gone in a different direction. Again, I am probably ignorant of reality but you hire an AD to lead in those moments. Instead he let Boeheim do whatever he wanted. That assessment is my perception based on limited knowledge.
For the men’s lacrosse “search” it appeared like Wildhack went down the hallway of Manley and asked Gary Gait if he wanted to coach the men instead of the women’s team. I do not recall anyone else being rumored for the job or us conducting a national search. We went within the family again. SU lacrosse would have attracted some top names to consider. Maybe they did look at others and it wasn’t public but it felt like they had already made the decision. As I recall, we knew Gait was the next head coach before Desko, a lifer who was part of 10 national titles and the head coach for 3, was even announcing his retirement. Gary went to the final four last year and this year should be competing for the title so maybe it worked.
Football search led to a high risk - high reward hire. Which after year one looked good and the jury is still out. Fran promoted himself and sold himself like a good salesman and recruiter. Maybe this hire will work out but things are trending poorly. Fran contacted Wildhack and was not in the normal search process. It was not like Wildhack had a file of contacts that led to the decision. I think we need a leader who has contacts outside of alumni/ESPN universe.
Wildhack was involved in extending Quentin Hillsman and the mess with Women’s basketball. He did not exactly walk away from that looking like he knew what was going on with the program.
Kayla Traenor with Women’s lacrosse was another questionable character hire. She was another alumni selection. There were a lot of rumors about her behavior as a coach and some questionable personal decisions off the field. It appeared she left under pressure. I could be ignorant but that is my perception.
Dino’s extension did not work out but I would say we all wanted him signed long term at the time. The AD could have waited it out but might have overreacted to his 10 win season and the idea that other schools were interested in poaching him. The extension is a decision ADJW made so he should own it.
I just don’t trust Wildhack based on this track record.
