Sell me on Wildhack

[OrangePA]

I was going to abstain from this thread but I can address this.

I like Bill. I like John. I worked with them both.

John was a phenomenal exec and was near-universally liked and respected. Bill was (and is) a tremendous talent who was beloved by his Grantland staff.

John was in his last position pre-AD when Bill left Grantland. JW had ultimate oversight of Grantland, a couple layers removed.

There was a lot of resentment towards Grantland among many folks in Bristol. The site got a ton of resources, was highly prioritized by some execs, yet made very little money. Bill largely refused to meet with ad clients and do ad reads on his podcasts. It makes me chuckle to see how much he does that now with The Ringer.

Bill's problems with JW are highly specific and very unique to his departure from Grantland. He had the same feelings towards John Skipper, although they mended fences years later (due to Skipper's outreach). Skipper launched a content company and had self-interest in doing so.

Point is, there's absolutely nothing to read into JW/Simmons. Bill's vitriol is particular to a certain circumstance and reveals nothing about JW's broader leadership abilities.

Again, JW was almost universally liked and respected at ESPN. That is incredibly hard to achieve at that company, where politics and agendas rule the day. Believe me, I know from personal experience.

Interesting stuff!

Thank you!

 

[Ttk.gman2]

This sold me on him I don’t see anything here that he said wrong.

 

[ar inj]

The renovation of the Dome - adding the hard roof - adding theater seats - improving the food service - getting a new naming partner - was a remarkable achievement.

The decision to hire Fran Brown was an inspired one. I still think the pick was a very strategic one that will work.

Re-setting the Men’s Lacrosse program.

Traversing the transition to NIL surprisingly well - seemingly connecting with athletic alums in that regard.

Moving the Lally Complex forward.

Presenting to the public in a professional manner.

It seems to me that he has done a pretty good job.

You lost me at theatre seats and improved food service. The uncomfortable molded plastics seats are not theatre seats. The food is not great and when I complained to Wildhack about the food he said the food was totally out of his control.

The Fran Brown hire was outside the box. Hope it works. Only time will tell.

He is saying the right things about men’s hoops. Time will tell if he gets it right.

Less than stellar management of the women’s bball and lax programs.

Some not great hires for some of the other Olympic sports.

Not saying he has no accomplishments but the grade first his tenure could go either way.

 

[Domedog84]

You lost me at theatre seats and improved food service. The uncomfortable molded plastics seats are not theatre seats. The food is not great and when I complained to Wildhack about the food he said the food was totally out of his control.

The Fran Brown hire was outside the box. Hope it works. Only time will tell.

He is saying the right things about men’s hoops. Time will tell if he gets it right.

Less than stellar management of the women’s bball and lax programs.

Some not great hires for some of the other Olympic sports.

Not saying he has no accomplishments but the grade first his tenure could go either way.

It really must be “to each their own” for the seats. I wouldn’t call them theater seats either, but for me they are way more comfortable than the benches with the padded orange seats were. But I see many, yourself included, feel differently.

I am with you on not seeing the improved food service, but all this stuff becomes very subjective.

 

[brian williams]

Step one with anything Wildhack related is to not give a sheeit what Bill Simmons says. Dude just has a personal grudge over some bs that has nothing to do with Wildhack's quality as an AD. He is an angry little man.

He must be a South Pole elf!

 

[Cusefan95]

You lost me at theatre seats and improved food service. The uncomfortable molded plastics seats are not theatre seats. The food is not great and when I complained to Wildhack about the food he said the food was totally out of his control.

The Fran Brown hire was outside the box. Hope it works. Only time will tell.

He is saying the right things about men’s hoops. Time will tell if he gets it right.

Less than stellar management of the women’s bball and lax programs.

Some not great hires for some of the other Olympic sports.

Not saying he has no accomplishments but the grade first his tenure could go either way.

I haven't gone to a stadium or arena in at least five years and viewed the food options as a positive. Its either mediocre, wildly overpriced, or both. Its so universal that I suspect Wildhack is correct, its largely out of his control - and maybe the best any team can do at this point is minimize how sucky it is. This goes in "who cares" for me -its not a pro or con.

The one clearly negative mark I'd agree to on Wildhack is the Hillsman situation. I'm not sure how much of that he had control over or knowledge of - I'm not really interested in a discussion or debate on it either. I'd say if he didn't know it was his responsibility to, and it went on too long. But this comes up close to never when people are griping about his job performance, or its an aside at best. The focus is men's basketball and lacrosse, with a dash of football thrown in since about mid-October this year.

I worry that some Syracuse fans don't recognize how much college lacrosse has changed - its unlikely we'll see anything close to the 80s/90s dominance again. I'd agree it has been disappointing...I'm not sure if we get better people have a standard that is reasonable here. We've haven't been anywhere close to "good enough" in my mind to be able to fairly judge this. Probably a slight negative - but not as big a negative as many people here think (I think).

Its absolutely wild to me that nobody has brought up the soccer national championship (at least that I've seen). I get that Wildhack started in 2016 and McIntyre has been coach since 2010 - but if we're going to take the position he's got to be in the know on everything (see: Hillsman), he's gotta get some credit for the soccer national championship.

Any time Syracuse has had great success in football, its because of outside-the-box thinking. There's a reason why the first black Heisman Trophy winner was from Syracuse and that his time here overlaps with the most successful period in Syracuse history. If we're going to see sustained success again, it will be a result of outside-the-box thinking. I will continue to defend the hiring of Brown regardless of how things go from here - if we don't support an AD making outside the box thinking we'll get "safe" decisions that leads to a bunch of 6-6, 7-5 season being viewed as success on the hill. We've already seen a significant cultural pull towards making the safe decision - If we go back to the Shaw/Jake era that was the message they kept telling the fans. The financial risk of not making safe decisions and wrecking the AD budget for years is a looming risk at a private university as well. Anyone saying "we need to see how Brown works out before we judge that hire" has the wrong mentality - Wildhack took a calculated risk in an environment where that is actively discouraged. He should be applauded for it regardless how it "works out".

 

[Bayside44]

I haven't gone to a stadium or arena in at least five years and viewed the food options as a positive. Its either mediocre, wildly overpriced, or both. Its so universal that I suspect Wildhack is correct, its largely out of his control - and maybe the best any team can do at this point is minimize how sucky it is. This goes in "who cares" for me -its not a pro or con.

The one clearly negative mark I'd agree to on Wildhack is the Hillsman situation. I'm not sure how much of that he had control over or knowledge of - I'm not really interested in a discussion or debate on it either. I'd say if he didn't know it was his responsibility to, and it went on too long. But this comes up close to never when people are griping about his job performance, or its an aside at best. The focus is men's basketball and lacrosse, with a dash of football thrown in since about mid-October this year.

I worry that some Syracuse fans don't recognize how much college lacrosse has changed - its unlikely we'll see anything close to the 80s/90s dominance again. I'd agree it has been disappointing...I'm not sure if we get better people have a standard that is reasonable here. We've haven't been anywhere close to "good enough" in my mind to be able to fairly judge this. Probably a slight negative - but not as big a negative as many people here think (I think).

Its absolutely wild to me that nobody has brought up the soccer national championship (at least that I've seen). I get that Wildhack started in 2016 and McIntyre has been coach since 2010 - but if we're going to take the position he's got to be in the know on everything (see: Hillsman), he's gotta get some credit for the soccer national championship.

Any time Syracuse has had great success in football, its because of outside-the-box thinking. There's a reason why the first black Heisman Trophy winner was from Syracuse and that his time here overlaps with the most successful period in Syracuse history. If we're going to see sustained success again, it will be a result of outside-the-box thinking. I will continue to defend the hiring of Brown regardless of how things go from here - if we don't support an AD making outside the box thinking we'll get "safe" decisions that leads to a bunch of 6-6, 7-5 season being viewed as success on the hill. We've already seen a significant cultural pull towards making the safe decision - If we go back to the Shaw/Jake era that was the message they kept telling the fans. The financial risk of not making safe decisions and wrecking the AD budget for years is a looming risk at a private university as well. Anyone saying "we need to see how Brown works out before we judge that hire" has the wrong mentality - Wildhack took a calculated risk in an environment where that is actively discouraged. He should be applauded for it regardless how it "works out".

Lax won the ACC and went to the FF. If the refs got their whistles delivered to Towson for the Denver game it would've been back to back. Agree the landscape is way way different with expectations that are rooted in something 30 years old.

Last paragraph is great.

 

[Jack_Ball]

I haven't gone to a stadium or arena in at least five years and viewed the food options as a positive. Its either mediocre, wildly overpriced, or both. Its so universal that I suspect Wildhack is correct, its largely out of his control - and maybe the best any team can do at this point is minimize how sucky it is. This goes in "who cares" for me -its not a pro or con.

The one clearly negative mark I'd agree to on Wildhack is the Hillsman situation. I'm not sure how much of that he had control over or knowledge of - I'm not really interested in a discussion or debate on it either. I'd say if he didn't know it was his responsibility to, and it went on too long. But this comes up close to never when people are griping about his job performance, or its an aside at best. The focus is men's basketball and lacrosse, with a dash of football thrown in since about mid-October this year.

I worry that some Syracuse fans don't recognize how much college lacrosse has changed - its unlikely we'll see anything close to the 80s/90s dominance again. I'd agree it has been disappointing...I'm not sure if we get better people have a standard that is reasonable here. We've haven't been anywhere close to "good enough" in my mind to be able to fairly judge this. Probably a slight negative - but not as big a negative as many people here think (I think).

Its absolutely wild to me that nobody has brought up the soccer national championship (at least that I've seen). I get that Wildhack started in 2016 and McIntyre has been coach since 2010 - but if we're going to take the position he's got to be in the know on everything (see: Hillsman), he's gotta get some credit for the soccer national championship.

Any time Syracuse has had great success in football, its because of outside-the-box thinking. There's a reason why the first black Heisman Trophy winner was from Syracuse and that his time here overlaps with the most successful period in Syracuse history. If we're going to see sustained success again, it will be a result of outside-the-box thinking. I will continue to defend the hiring of Brown regardless of how things go from here - if we don't support an AD making outside the box thinking we'll get "safe" decisions that leads to a bunch of 6-6, 7-5 season being viewed as success on the hill. We've already seen a significant cultural pull towards making the safe decision - If we go back to the Shaw/Jake era that was the message they kept telling the fans. The financial risk of not making safe decisions and wrecking the AD budget for years is a looming risk at a private university as well. Anyone saying "we need to see how Brown works out before we judge that hire" has the wrong mentality - Wildhack took a calculated risk in an environment where that is actively discouraged. He should be applauded for it regardless how it "works out".

The gamble makes sense from that perspective but i believe it was too risky for P4 job. What other program has hired a position coach to be the head coach (Besides Dabo & he was on staff already). I think we need solid hire where we can guarantee bowl game every year to change narrative about program. Since 2000 we have gone to back to back bowl games once.

I do agree he has done great job with facilities, fundraising, NIL transition but question some of the hires.

 

[cliftonparksufan]

You lost me at theatre seats and improved food service. The uncomfortable molded plastics seats are not theatre seats. The food is not great and when I complained to Wildhack about the food he said the food was totally out of his control.

I'm so much different than most people. When I go to the game, I go to watch the game. I don’t go to eat or drink. That's for before and after the game. So, the product on the field is what's most important to me.

All the upgrades are great. And way overdue. But there is no way in a million years I would ever pay $23 for an Evan Williams cocktail, but more power to the big shots that need their liquor.

So, JW has a lot on his plate with the next basketball hire. Hire a winner and the fans will come. Same thing with football. A big year upcoming for Fran Brown.

Like most fans, I like Red. When I saw him at the Crown Plaza after a good win, I insisted on buying him a drink to celebrate and thank him. But like most fans, I need JW to do the right thing.

 

[SU94]

The gamble makes sense from that perspective but i believe it was too risky for P4 job. What other program has hired a position coach to be the head coach (Besides Dabo & he was on staff already). I think we need solid hire where we can guarantee bowl game every year to change narrative about program. Since 2000 we have gone to back to back bowl games once.

I do agree he has done great job with facilities, fundraising, NIL transition but question some of the hires.

The Bowl era is ending in the next few years. The goal post for SU Football needs to be reset, for the administration (mostly new Chanellor) and the Athletics Director (he gets it). Have to shoot for the stars (10+ wins), as challenging as that will be. A 7-5 season will mean very, very little.

 

[OrangePA]

You lost me at theatre seats and improved food service. The uncomfortable molded plastics seats are not theatre seats. The food is not great and when I complained to Wildhack about the food he said the food was totally out of his control.

The Fran Brown hire was outside the box. Hope it works. Only time will tell.

He is saying the right things about men’s hoops. Time will tell if he gets it right.

Less than stellar management of the women’s bball and lax programs.

Some not great hires for some of the other Olympic sports.

Not saying he has no accomplishments but the grade first his tenure could go either way.

I haven't gone to a stadium or arena in at least five years and viewed the food options as a positive. Its either mediocre, wildly overpriced, or both. Its so universal that I suspect Wildhack is correct, its largely out of his control - and maybe the best any team can do at this point is minimize how sucky it is. This goes in "who cares" for me -its not a pro or con.

The one clearly negative mark I'd agree to on Wildhack is the Hillsman situation. I'm not sure how much of that he had control over or knowledge of - I'm not really interested in a discussion or debate on it either. I'd say if he didn't know it was his responsibility to, and it went on too long. But this comes up close to never when people are griping about his job performance, or its an aside at best. The focus is men's basketball and lacrosse, with a dash of football thrown in since about mid-October this year.

I worry that some Syracuse fans don't recognize how much college lacrosse has changed - its unlikely we'll see anything close to the 80s/90s dominance again. I'd agree it has been disappointing...I'm not sure if we get better people have a standard that is reasonable here. We've haven't been anywhere close to "good enough" in my mind to be able to fairly judge this. Probably a slight negative - but not as big a negative as many people here think (I think).

Its absolutely wild to me that nobody has brought up the soccer national championship (at least that I've seen). I get that Wildhack started in 2016 and McIntyre has been coach since 2010 - but if we're going to take the position he's got to be in the know on everything (see: Hillsman), he's gotta get some credit for the soccer national championship.

Any time Syracuse has had great success in football, its because of outside-the-box thinking. There's a reason why the first black Heisman Trophy winner was from Syracuse and that his time here overlaps with the most successful period in Syracuse history. If we're going to see sustained success again, it will be a result of outside-the-box thinking. I will continue to defend the hiring of Brown regardless of how things go from here - if we don't support an AD making outside the box thinking we'll get "safe" decisions that leads to a bunch of 6-6, 7-5 season being viewed as success on the hill. We've already seen a significant cultural pull towards making the safe decision - If we go back to the Shaw/Jake era that was the message they kept telling the fans. The financial risk of not making safe decisions and wrecking the AD budget for years is a looming risk at a private university as well. Anyone saying "we need to see how Brown works out before we judge that hire" has the wrong mentality - Wildhack took a calculated risk in an environment where that is actively discouraged. He should be applauded for it regardless how it "works out".

I am friendly with a University employee who had involvement in the Women’s BB Program at the time.

He was shocked by the Hillsman story.

He knew nothing about it.

 

[SU94]

What makes you think bowl games are coming to an end?

Just all the recent happenings in/around CFB:

• Playoff
• NIL
• Portal
• Player withdrawals/Agents
• HC hiring season run amuck
• Broken CFB calendar
• Super Conferences eliminate allure of intersectional matchups
• Lack of attendance/bowl apathy
• Broken bowl structure
  • Teams do not want to come in a week early and bask in the tradition, achievement and programming that surround the bowls
  • Most bowls lose significant money
• Lack of player incentive/injury risk (ND/2025 was not the first team to pull out)
• NFL schedule/Not exclusive to NYE

Many of these items entered the equation in the last 3-4 years, so bowls survive for now. But they are on borrowed time. The only good thing the small bowls have going for them is ESPN does somehow get decent ratings relative to their weird date and time slots.

 

[elimunelson]

I was going to abstain from this thread but I can address this.

I like Bill. I like John. I worked with them both.

John was a phenomenal exec and was near-universally liked and respected. Bill was (and is) a tremendous talent who was beloved by his Grantland staff.

John was in his last position pre-AD when Bill left Grantland. JW had ultimate oversight of Grantland, a couple layers removed.

There was a lot of resentment towards Grantland among many folks in Bristol. The site got a ton of resources, was highly prioritized by some execs, yet made very little money. Bill largely refused to meet with ad clients and do ad reads on his podcasts. It makes me chuckle to see how much he does that now with The Ringer.

Bill's problems with JW are highly specific and very unique to his departure from Grantland. He had the same feelings towards John Skipper, although they mended fences years later (due to Skipper's outreach). Skipper launched a content company and had self-interest in doing so.

Point is, there's absolutely nothing to read into JW/Simmons. Bill's vitriol is particular to a certain circumstance and reveals nothing about JW's broader leadership abilities.

Again, JW was almost universally liked and respected at ESPN. That is incredibly hard to achieve at that company, where politics and agendas rule the day. Believe me, I know from personal experience.

This is very informative. Thank you

The perception nationally is guided by podcasters now so that was my point. Rogan Simmons et al matter . Simmons basically said he was bad. Again zero context.

Wildhacks results are mixed even if he’s running the dept like a Swiss clock. Crouthamel was a crank but the results spoke for themselves.

 

[Newhouser]

Bowls aren’t dying. I agree with you on one thing. ESPN’s bowl ratings are consistently strong. That alone is a massive reason bowls aren’t going anywhere. ESPN isn’t giving up December programming that reliably fills hours and pulls millions of viewers.

Schools still want the practices, exposure and recruiting value. Opt outs have been happening for a decade and bowls have kept rolling. NIL and the portal actually give most players more incentive to play, not less. Attendance doesn’t matter because bowls are a TV product, not a gate‑revenue product.

The sport has changed but bowls have already survived every one of the things you listed. They’re too useful and too profitable to disappear.

Are they profitable for the schools if they don't sell their tickets?

 

[Cusefan95]

This is very informative. Thank you

The perception nationally is guided by podcasters now so that was my point. Rogan Simmons et al matter . Simmons basically said he was bad. Again zero context.

Wildhacks results are mixed even if he’s running the dept like a Swiss clock. Crouthamel was a crank but the results spoke for themselves.

The best executives know when it’s time to get out. Ideally it’s right before the consequences of decisions they made arrive (nobody has ever timed it better than Jack Welch at GE). While the results during Jake’s tenure were great - he also helped greatly in creating all the problem which have plagued the athletic department for two decades now.

Jake and JB are similar in that regard - both left tire fires in their wake. Jake just timed his exit slightly better so it was mostly just smoldering with small flames when he left. JB left with a raging fire already.

 

[OrangePA]

Are they profitable for the schools if they don't sell their tickets?

The schools have never made money on bowl games.

 

[CNYGuy]

The renovation of the Dome - adding the hard roof - adding theater seats - improving the food service - getting a new naming partner - was a remarkable achievement.

The decision to hire Fran Brown was an inspired one. I still think the pick was a very strategic one that will work.

Re-setting the Men’s Lacrosse program.

Traversing the transition to NIL surprisingly well - seemingly connecting with athletic alums in that regard.

Moving the Lally Complex forward.

Presenting to the public in a professional manner.

It seems to me that he has done a pretty good job.

ADs are really CEOs. Both negatives and positives brought up are probably day-to-day managed by other people. There's simply too much for one person to be truly in the weeds on any specific thing.

What I like is that we seem to operate as a legitimate P4 program and appear to run pretty professionally from the outside. I don't think John inherited a well-run organization. There haven't really been any major issues, scandals or straight up embarrassing moments in a long time and there were far too many 10 years ago.

 

[cto]

The best executives know when it’s time to get out. Ideally it’s right before the consequences of decisions they made arrive (nobody has ever timed it better than Jack Welch at GE). While the results during Jake’s tenure were great - he also helped greatly in creating all the problem which have plagued the athletic department for two decades now.

Jake and JB are similar in that regard - both left tire fires in their wake. Jake just timed his exit slightly better so it was mostly just smoldering with small flames when he left. JB left with a raging fire already.

It was a miracle that Jake Crouthamel accomplished as much as he did (consistently ranked football teams, frequent bowl appearances, a National Basketball Championship and the nation's best lacrosse program). He had no money, no staff, no fund-raising apparatus ... and a bizarre reporting relationship (to the chief financial officer) that further crippled his ability to do anything. As soon as newly-hired Nancy Cantor fired him (because she didn't like him) and replaced him with Daryl, she gave Daryl everything Jake did not have (money, staff and a direct reporting relationship to her). Jake was universally respected within the greater college athletics community (e.g., several awards and the chairmanship of the NCAA basketball selection committee). It is sad that he is so unappreciated by some newer SU fans

 

[OrangePA]

The best executives know when it’s time to get out. Ideally it’s right before the consequences of decisions they made arrive (nobody has ever timed it better than Jack Welch at GE). While the results during Jake’s tenure were great - he also helped greatly in creating all the problem which have plagued the athletic department for two decades now.

Jake and JB are similar in that regard - both left tire fires in their wake. Jake just timed his exit slightly better so it was mostly just smoldering with small flames when he left. JB left with a raging fire already.

Regarding Jake.

Sorry, but you don’t know what you’re talking about.

 

[orange79]

The best executives know when it’s time to get out. Ideally it’s right before the consequences of decisions they made arrive (nobody has ever timed it better than Jack Welch at GE). While the results during Jake’s tenure were great - he also helped greatly in creating all the problem which have plagued the athletic department for two decades now.

Jake and JB are similar in that regard - both left tire fires in their wake. Jake just timed his exit slightly better so it was mostly just smoldering with small flames when he left. JB left with a raging fire already.

Jake was holding the AD together on shoestrings with almost literally 0 support and money.

To do what he did with the cards he was given is almost unbelievable.

If he had been given what TGD was handed (and I'm not even going to get into if he had been given the support the AD has now), I can't imagine the heights he would have attained.

 

[kcsu]

If you have any knowledge of Syracuse Athletics you know that JW is an excellent AD.

 

[elimunelson]

Jake was holding the AD together on shoestrings with almost literally 0 support and money.

To do what he did with the cards he was given is almost unbelievable.

If he had been given what TGD was handed (and I'm not even going to get into if he had been given the support the AD has now), I can't imagine the heights he would have attained.

Jake was the very best AD the school ever had.

He found Mac, hired Roy jr, elevated P, allowed boeheim to flourish and saved his bacon after probation 1.

When he was ad id like to know what school
Had a fully financed AD among our peers? bc certainly did not from my direct understanding.

I’m sure Penn St wasn’t lapping us either. There was less money in college sports. It was performance on field

College sports are now massive business so wildhack runs SUAD like a division of ESPN. Which we need of course. It doesn’t mean he’s a good identifier of coaching talent. His results are very mixed so far. Objectively true statement. How he handles the next SU HOOPS coach will be very enlightening because boeheim is still around and is a trouble maker w the media and letting people know his opinion.

 

[MSOrange]

Jake was the very best AD the school ever had.

He found Mac, hired Roy jr, elevated P, allowed boeheim to flourish and saved his bacon after probation 1.

When he was ad id like to know what school
Had a fully financed AD among our peers? bc certainly did not from my direct understanding.

I’m sure Penn St wasn’t lapping us either. There was less money in college sports. It was performance on field

College sports are now massive business so wildhack runs SUAD like a division of ESPN. Which we need of course. It doesn’t mean he’s a good identifier of coaching talent. His results are very mixed so far. Objectively true statement. How he handles the next SU HOOPS coach will be very enlightening because boeheim is still around and is a trouble maker w the media and letting people know his opinion.

If we do end up needing new coach after this season and the empty seats and results don't allow ADJW the ability to do his job without interference from JB and his allies, then we might as well pack it in as a serious program. ADJW should be able to tell them to go focus on Boeheim's Army if they want life to be a nostalgia tour.

 

[007]

If we do end up needing new coach after this season and the empty seats and results don't allow ADJW the ability to do his job without interference from JB and his allies, then we might as well pack it in as a serious program. ADJW should be able to tell them to go focus on Boeheim's Army if they want life to be a nostalgia tour.

JB's current influence has been greatly exaggerated by some of the posters on this board.

 

[MSOrange]

JB's current influence has been greatly exaggerated by some of the posters on this board.

I suspected that was the case. Thanks for the info.