PS: John Wildhack discusses his ACC football scheduling preference, Syracuse's future

[ssmorol]

No one cares about the pac12 but realisticly this puts the acc and sec at an advantage when it comes to scheduling and the big 10 at a disadvantage. The acc can get more home games and schedule for success. The big ten can't.

Exactly!

 

[buffalorange]

No one cares about the pac12 but realisticly this puts the acc and sec at an advantage when it comes to scheduling and the big 10 at a disadvantage. The acc can get more home games and schedule for success. The big ten can't.

But the "real Big 10" does have Rutgers in lieu of an FCS game.

 

[SU2NASA]

I think a grand total of NO ONE looks at conferences as seriously as this.

Our AD should.

 

[IthacaBarrel]

 

[HRE Otto IV]

Maybe Wildhack isn't a POD guy.

The logic makes complete sense. Get as many home games as possible to get better recruits, give us another game we can control that we can schedule and win.

What a breath of fresh air we have now at Manley, a coach who wants to us the advantages we have and and AD with a long term vision.

Pods have nothing to do with 9 conference games. They work with 8 games. That would actually be forward thinking and visionary.

Status quo isn't visionary. Our scheduling has been awful for years. If he is delegating to the people below him and trusting them, things will continue to be a mess. If we are going to stay at 8+1 we shouldn't be playing the likes of Wisconsin. Also we should have 7 home games EVERY year with an occasional 8th home game. Having 6 home games (which he talked about) at 8+1 is a fail.

 

[HRE Otto IV]

No one cares about the pac12 but realisticly this puts the acc and sec at an advantage when it comes to scheduling and the big 10 at a disadvantage. The acc can get more home games and schedule for success. The big ten can't.

We are only in competition with the other P5 conferences for one thing: the CFB playoff. The ACC having a weaker SOS and having inflated records in the Coastal because of 8+1 will hurt the ACC's chances of making the CFB playoff. We already saw this happen two years ago. Now if the ACC ADs know that the B12 is about to collapse, then 8 vs 9 doesn't matter, since there will be a P4 and the ACC has a place at the table.

 

[Chip]

Maybe Wildhack isn't a POD guy.

The logic makes complete sense. Get as many home games as possible to get better recruits, give us another game we can control that we can schedule and win.

What a breath of fresh air we have now at Manley, a coach who wants to us the advantages we have and and AD with a long term vision.

Yeah, I have no issue with his vote.

Sometimes we think selfishly (well, I do anyway). For example, I thought we'd be getting Maryland every other year. College Park was full of orange, fun time. Thought I'd get that every other year, winnable game. But they left, so now we get Louisville. Big trade up for the league's performance, but not a big trade for me personally, or for SU's winning %. And it can be frustrating to be in the ACC and almost never see games against VT, Miami, UNC, GT, UVA.

But things could be so much worse... See Conn, U.

 

[RMH44]

Our AD should.

Please...JW is a very savvy individual. I'm sure that he and his staff weighed every possible option while preparing for this vote.

Unfortunately, like most topics, it's impossible to please all the resident experts. It's really sad that JW, a very well paid AD, doesn't have the same level of experience and expertise as some of the know-it-alls that post on this forum.

It's all Coyle's fault.

 

[ssmorol]

Unfortunately, like most topics, it's impossible to please all the resident experts. It's really sad that JW, a very well paid AD, doesn't have the same level of experience and expertise as some of the know-it-alls that post on this forum.

It's all Coyle's fault.

Luckily he is a member of this board. I am sure he is weighing their expertise in all of his important decisions!

 

[SU2NASA]

Please...JW is a very savvy individual. I'm sure that he and his staff weighed every possible option while preparing for this vote.

Unfortunately, like most topics, it's impossible to please all the resident experts. It's really sad that JW, a very well paid AD, doesn't have the same level of experience and expertise as some of the know-it-alls that post on this forum.

It's all Coyle's fault.

Yes, because all ADs and football coaches know more than any lay person ever could.

Please see Brandon, Dave.

 

[HRE Otto IV]

Yes, because all ADs and football coaches know more than any lay person ever could.

Please see Brandon, Dave.

Ironically 3 months ago he did have the same level of experience and expertise as the people who posted on this forum, and was himself one of those people.

I think Wildhack will be great at his job in time. However he just started and is deferring to people at SU who have been in the business, which he has said himself. The problem with that is the people he is relying on have created a mess at SU, and have failed to deliver both here and at their prior schools.

The 9 game option wasn't passing. I am sure he knew that going in. In which case it would be politically savvy to go along with what FSU wanted. If that was his thinking, I applaud him. I am not sure why the ACC schools turned down 8+2. FSU and Clemson have to play 8+2 anyway because of SOS and the CFB playoff. So it has no effect on them. The schools that would see the biggest impact are BC, Duke, and NC State. They now have to beat real teams to get to 6-6, which is fair. It evens the playing field for the rest of the ACC, who are all competing with those schools for Bowl slots. So outside of those three scheduling frauds, 8+2 should have passed 11-3.

 

[TexanMark]

Pods have nothing to do with 9 conference games. They work with 8 games. That would actually be forward thinking and visionary.

Status quo isn't visionary. Our scheduling has been awful for years. If he is delegating to the people below him and trusting them, things will continue to be a mess. If we are going to stay at 8+1 we shouldn't be playing the likes of Wisconsin. Also we should have 7 home games EVERY year with an occasional 8th home game. Having 6 home games (which he talked about) at 8+1 is a fail.

Unfortunately the CNY fanbase demands 1 big OOC game a year...that ties our hands. I agree anything less than 7 games is a fail.

Personally speaking I wanted a 9 game ACC schedule to play Coastal teams at least once every three years. I understand his logic...the guy obviously is tapped into our TV partners mindset. Sometimes doing nothing is the best COA. We'll see...who is right in a couple seasons.

 

[TheCusian]

Pods have nothing to do with 9 conference games. They work with 8 games. That would actually be forward thinking and visionary.

Status quo isn't visionary. Our scheduling has been awful for years. If he is delegating to the people below him and trusting them, things will continue to be a mess. If we are going to stay at 8+1 we shouldn't be playing the likes of Wisconsin. Also we should have 7 home games EVERY year with an occasional 8th home game. Having 6 home games (which he talked about) at 8+1 is a fail.

It's absolutely asinine to believe he'll come in and not be able to fix scheduling if he wants scheduling fixed. If he sees at as a problem and wants it done, it will get done.

What he is advocating for is the freedom to make that choice. It's smart.

 

[Millhouse]

Unfortunately the CNY fanbase demands 1 big OOC game a year...that ties our hands. I agree anything less than 7 games is a fail.

Personally speaking I wanted a 9 game ACC schedule to play Coastal teams at least once every three years. I understand his logic...the guy obviously is tapped into our TV partners mindset. Sometimes doing nothing is the best COA. We'll see...who is right in a couple seasons.

how do you know that? they might've demanded it back when we got some combo uconn temple rutgers cincy and usf every year

 

[Chip]

Unfortunately the CNY fanbase demands 1 big OOC game a year...that ties our hands. I agree anything less than 7 games is a fail.

I don't think the CNY fanbase demands anything anymore. The only difference between the crowd size for USF this year and LSU last year was the 8-10,000 people wearing purple and gold.

We will have to play a P5 each year, so those that want the Wisconsin game to go away aren't going to get their wish. But I'd imagine you'll see more attempts at mid to lightweights in those conferences.

 

[HRE Otto IV]

It's absolutely asinine to believe he'll come in and not be able to fix scheduling if he wants scheduling fixed. If he sees at as a problem and wants it done, it will get done.

What he is advocating for is the freedom to make that choice. It's smart.

That right there is a huge question. Does he see scheduling as a problem? What is asinine is that we scheduled LSU on the road when we already had FSU and Miami on the road. Add in Louisville and we will have 4 Top 25 road games next year. It certainly will be the hardest road schedule we have ever played.

We still would have freedom to chose 3 OOC games with 9+1. It isn't like we are Clemson who has a yearly OOC game.

 

[HRE Otto IV]

Unfortunately the CNY fanbase demands 1 big OOC game a year...that ties our hands. I agree anything less than 7 games is a fail.

Personally speaking I wanted a 9 game ACC schedule to play Coastal teams at least once every three years. I understand his logic...the guy obviously is tapped into our TV partners mindset. Sometimes doing nothing is the best COA. We'll see...who is right in a couple seasons.

The TV partners wanted 10 P5 games, the conference rejected it.

 

[sutomcat]

Unfortunately the CNY fanbase demands 1 big OOC game a year...that ties our hands. I agree anything less than 7 games is a fail.

Personally speaking I wanted a 9 game ACC schedule to play Coastal teams at least once every three years. I understand his logic...the guy obviously is tapped into our TV partners mindset. Sometimes doing nothing is the best COA. We'll see...who is right in a couple seasons.

I really want to get to the point where we play all schools in the conference as often as possible.

Towards that end, would love to do away with the rival in the other division and would love to add another conference game.

But doing that is not good for Syracuse right now. John is right and I support his thinking for now. Hope in a couple of years, the program will be established and we can actively support this.

 

[Janner]

Personally I don't think there is anything wrong with discussing the merits of both the 8 and 9 game schedule. Bringing up the various view points provides a open forum for discussion and sharing of thoughts/ideas which I personally enjoy reading.

My question for those with a good grasp on the 8 vs 9 games schedule is how could it possibly effect future conference expansion and/or the addition of ND as a full member (should it ever occur)?

 

[javadoc]

Personally I don't think there is anything wrong with discussing the merits of both the 8 and 9 game schedule. Bringing up the various view points provides a open forum for discussion and sharing of thoughts/ideas which I personally enjoy reading.

My question for those with a good grasp on the 8 vs 9 games schedule i

Maybe he was dictating

 

[HRE Otto IV]

I really want to get to the point where we play all schools in the conference as often as possible.

Towards that end, would love to do away with the rival in the other division and would love to add another conference game.

But doing that is not good for Syracuse right now. John is right and I support his thinking for now. Hope in a couple of years, the program will be established and we can actively support this.

FSU/Miami, Clemson/GA Tech, UNC/NC State, Duke/Wake need to be played. SU/Pitt should be played. If you swap divisions with Louisville and Pitt it would fix that mini problem. Then SU, Pitt, Louisville, BC, UVA, VA Tech would not need cross over games. By eliminating those we will see over a 6 year period:

Louisville 2.66 times vs 6 times.
UVA and VA Tech 2.66 times each vs 1 time each.

There still would be a problem of seeing Miami, GA Tech, UNC, and Duke more than once in 6 years, but at least you fix the problem of not seeing UVA or VA Tech.

 

[TheCusian]

That right there is a huge question. Does he see scheduling as a problem? What is asinine is that we scheduled LSU on the road when we already had FSU and Miami on the road. Add in Louisville and we will have 4 Top 25 road games next year. It certainly will be the hardest road schedule we have ever played.

We still would have freedom to chose 3 OOC games with 9+1. It isn't like we are Clemson who has a yearly OOC game.

Wildhack wasn't the AD then, right?

 

[HRE Otto IV]

Personally I don't think there is anything wrong with discussing the merits of both the 8 and 9 game schedule. Bringing up the various view points provides a open forum for discussion and sharing of thoughts/ideas which I personally enjoy reading.

My question for those with a good grasp on the 8 vs 9 games schedule is how could it possibly effect future conference expansion and/or the addition of ND as a full member (should it ever occur)?

IMO 9 games would have zero impact on ND. They are only joining a conference if they are forced to. At that point their options are stay with the ACC or go to the B1G, who is already at 9 conference games and isn't going back to 8 to accommodate ND.

 

[RMH44]

Yes, because all ADs and football coaches know more than any lay person ever could.

Please see Brandon, Dave.

We're not talking about ALL AD's here. We're talking about JW, a man who played a major role turning ESPN into one of the greatest cable success stories ever.

I'm sure he possesses the necessary shrewdness to cast a vote in SU's best interest.

 

[GoSU96]

Playing to the fanbase is a losing proposition.

Schedule as many home games and as many wins as you can.

The marginal increase in ticket sales realized by a "name" out of conference opponent is minimal.

Give me two lower tier home games at 30K each and two W's vs one name OOC at 40K and a likely loss and a return away beatdown.