Inside Syracuse’s rough off-season: How portal misses and a lack of NIL money led to a lost year

[kingtidge]

I’ve posted this before. Tom Jurich had the stones to fire Louisville legend Denny Crum back in 2001. He said it was incredibly difficult and he angered a lot of boosters and Crum allies but had to be done. Crum was only 65 and had one two national titles (to JB’s one). But Crum had fallen farther and had a number of losing seasons, whereas JB had been to two recent Final Fours in 2013 and 2016. Jurich also had Pitino waiting in the wings, which no doubt softened the blow. Still, it might behoove Wildhack to pull the plug now and take your lumps. You gotta have the courage to make the tough calls.

ESPN.com - ncb - Jurich seeking Crum's retirement

Ex-Louisville AD Tom Jurich says ending Denny Crum’s tenure was his hardest moment

Former Louisville athletic director Tom Jurich said that forcing Denny Crum into retirement was the right decision, but the hardest one he made.

www.courier-journal.com

It's ben reported here by ITKs that it's not Wildhack's decision to make (i.e. Chancelellor/BOT).

 

[Scooch]

I’ve posted this before. Tom Jurich had the stones to fire Louisville legend Denny Crum back in 2001. He said it was incredibly difficult and he angered a lot of boosters and Crum allies but had to be done. Crum was only 65 and had one two national titles (to JB’s one). But Crum had fallen farther and had a number of losing seasons, whereas JB had been to two recent Final Fours in 2013 and 2016. Jurich also had Pitino waiting in the wings, which no doubt softened the blow. Still, it might behoove Wildhack to pull the plug now and take your lumps. You gotta have the courage to make the tough calls.

ESPN.com - ncb - Jurich seeking Crum's retirement

Ex-Louisville AD Tom Jurich says ending Denny Crum’s tenure was his hardest moment

Former Louisville athletic director Tom Jurich said that forcing Denny Crum into retirement was the right decision, but the hardest one he made.

www.courier-journal.com

The JB situation was weirder than just about any other circumstance of a long-time coach nearing the end of his tenure because we had the complication of a 75 year old coaching his son(s).

Honestly, I'm not upset that Autry's going to get a third season. The past year has been so badly bungled on-and-off the court that there's copious rationale to let him go now.

But I also understand that SU wants to give him one last chance with a much more robust infrastructure in place around (understanding several of those deficiencies are of Red's own making).

We'll know how this all goes soon enough. It's just one season, and SU seems willing to accept the short term hit to revenue.

 

[IthacaMatt]

We can argue this all day, but unless you have the data on redemption rate I stand by my statement. Over 20k in the building for Duke and UNC. At least 10k for every other conference game and most, if not all out of conference.

Was this 10,000?

https://x.com/BrentAxeMedia/status/1894899949273243809?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1894899949273243809%7Ctwgr%5E4c53626fbbebf4bfd37ade925832bd28e5528d60%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.syracuse.com%2Forangebasketball%2F2025%2F02%2Fwhat-was-attendance-for-syracuse-nc-state-at-the-jma-dome.html

 

[Sherman20]

It's ben reported here by ITKs that it's not Wildhack's decision to make (i.e. Chancelellor/BOT).

Wildhack could do it if he wanted, imo. He’s the AD. When insiders say that, I think they mean that politically he needs to get buy-in from the higher ups like Kent and the BOTs. Ultimately, though, he has the power. He’d have to deal with the fallout, but no one (save JB) would publicly come out against him if he fired Red. They’d make the situation worse. And if he had a home run hire waiting in the wings, no one would bat an eye. Can you imagine if Wildhack was fired for simply doing his job and trying to improve the program? Considering all the equity he’s built up especially with Fran and football. Yes, it would be a risk that you’d anger certain BOTs, but he must have full responsibility for athletic department personnel.

 

[Cusefan0307]

Say we up our NIL this year to be more near the top of the ACC. We are still likely going to have to overpay for players as long as Red is coach because he's shown no ability to build a competitive team nor have any of our players improved or played up to their ability.

 

[Red2003]

Say we up our NIL this year to be more near the top of the ACC. We are still likely going to have to overpay for players as long as Red is coach because he's shown no ability to build a competitive team nor have any of our players improved or played up to their ability.

Yes and when that happens he'll be canned. We'll know in November at the Players Era tourney in Vegas.

Then you can say told you so over and over again.

 

[kingtidge]

Wildhack could do it if he wanted, imo. He’s the AD. When insiders say that, I think they mean that politically he needs to get buy-in from the higher ups like Kent and the BOTs. Ultimately, though, he has the power. He’d have to deal with the fallout, but no one (save JB) would publicly come out against him if he fired Red. They’d make the situation worse. And if he had a home run hire waiting in the wings, no one would bat an eye. Can you imagine if Wildhack was fired for simply doing his job and trying to improve the program? Considering all the equity he’s built up especially with Fran and football. Yes, it would be a risk that you’d anger certain BOTs, but he must have full responsibility for athletic department personnel.

Can he do that? Probably.

Would he get fired for doing that? Probably.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Can he do that? Probably.

Would he get fired for doing that? Probably.

That's really sad. Amateur hour.

 

[DilemaCuse]

That's really sad. Amateur hour.

I know, we probably have people who don't know much about athletics trying to tie the hands of someone (JW) who hopefully knows about athletics.

 

[orangecuse]

Was this 10,000?

https://x.com/BrentAxeMedia/status/1894899949273243809?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1894899949273243809%7Ctwgr%5E4c53626fbbebf4bfd37ade925832bd28e5528d60%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.syracuse.com%2Forangebasketball%2F2025%2F02%2Fwhat-was-attendance-for-syracuse-nc-state-at-the-jma-dome.html

That's what you call an outlier.

 

[capeorange]

Was this 10,000?

https://x.com/BrentAxeMedia/status/1894899949273243809?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1894899949273243809%7Ctwgr%5E4c53626fbbebf4bfd37ade925832bd28e5528d60%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.syracuse.com%2Forangebasketball%2F2025%2F02%2Fwhat-was-attendance-for-syracuse-nc-state-at-the-jma-dome.html

Is that during warm-ups?

 

[djcon57]

That's what you call an outlier.

At the core of the issue, the issue is we have a group of people with the admin and the fanbase who just can't admit they were wrong. Be it hubris or whatever, I'm not sure

 

[Millhouse]

Is that during warm-ups?

Yeah I have seen this trick before, sabres attendance is bad but people always try to make it look worse

 

[310Pigpen]

Is that during warm-ups?

3 min before tipoff

 

[Cusefan0307]

Is that during warm-ups?

It may have been right before tip off. It did not get much better.

 

[IthacaMatt]

Is that during warm-ups?

You’ll have to ask Brent Axe, but I believe the answer is “no”, based on the point of his post.

 

[Dmcnabbrules]

Like I said they are always reacting. They are never out in front of anything.

For those asking about distribution- I was told initially basketball is getting $4m of the 20. Let’s see if that comes to fruition

They better give 15 million to Fran.

 

[capeorange]

You’ll have to ask Brent Axe, but I believe the answer is “no”, based on the point of his post.

I watched it again, there's players in warm-ups on the court but another poster said that it didn't get much better after the game started.

 

[Sherman20]

Can he do that? Probably.

Would he get fired for doing that? Probably.

That’s the thing. Would he?

Very transparent from Georgia on how they are going to use the 20.5M

Since this upcoming football season will be mediocre at best, due to the impossible schedule, Wildhack and the athletic department should allot half of the NIL funds to basketball ($10 million) in order to get the program back on track and get the buzz back. And then donations will hopefully start flowing once the wins come. Of course they should also replace Red with an experienced coach, and a big NIL war chest will hopefully help attract a really good coach to start things off with a bang. We could have a Louisville like turnaround.

 

[Sherman20]

Yes very transparent ha. Now for the other perks they get in SEC land creating an uneven playing field.

Feel free to keep hammering me on just how stacked the deck is against us with the money. These articles go on and on.

Georgia may change law so it can coddle rich college athletes with huge tax break

A new bill proposed in the Georgia legislature aims to eliminate the state’s 5.49 percent income tax for college athletes on their NIL deals.

www.usatoday.com

Really? Because the columnist seems to be mercilessly mocking the idea of a state income Tax exemption for NIL, as he should.

 

[kirbivore]

Really? Because the columnist seems to be mercilessly mocking the idea of a state income Tax exemption for NIL, as he should.

Changing tax laws is small potatoes in SEC country. UGA athletes can kill and maim each other with impunity as the result of drag races and nobody cares.

 

[CuseIn282xx]

Unless they’re finding a whole new flow of donations, we’re in big trouble.

Big NIL donors are usually successful area businesses or successful area business owners. To have those, you need to have a successful area business environment.

I saw a recent video with Marc Andreesen, the Silicon Valley VC. His suggestion is for colleges to sell 49% of their sports programs to hedge funds, billionaires, venture capitalists, etc. I gotta say it's an intriguing idea. It brings in big money and real management expertise.

And I would add, like most professional sports (because that IS what we're talking about here now), a "salary" cap would be required.

 

[BillSU]

I don’t believe this for a minute. The top programs are retaining their guys for multiple seasons and not just ratcheting up their payroll.

Who are the top programs and why are they staying for multiple seasons?

 

[IthacaMatt]

Big NIL donors are usually successful area businesses or successful area business owners. To have those, you need to have a successful area business environment.

I saw a recent video with Marc Andreesen, the Silicon Valley VC. His suggestion is for colleges to sell 49% of their sports programs to hedge funds, billionaires, venture capitalists, etc. I gotta say it's an intriguing idea. It brings in big money and real management expertise.

And I would add, like most professional sports (because that IS what we're talking about here now), a "salary" cap would be required.

Wealthy Syracuse alumni are very heavily concentrated from Boston to NYC to Philly to DC and the northern VA suburbs. They're not in Camillus and Victor.

 

[HRE Otto IV]

Wealthy Syracuse alumni are very heavily concentrated from Boston to NYC to Philly to DC and the northern VA suburbs. They're not in Camillus and Victor.

I do think it hurts engagement only having one conference road game in that area. And it is a hike for the southern area folks. Plus a conference tournament too.