Syverud retiring in June 2026

[AZOrange]

Clearly the two biggest priorities for the next Chancellor are to game the US News rankings and pledge a billion dollars of his own money to NIL. I’m not sure folks here will be happy with anything else.

Tell cto if they need me to apply I would consider. In all seriousness I’d look to someone with a deep business background. The world of higher education is about to change drastically.

 

[HtownOrange]

I thought "CTO" was an acronym for "Chancellor To the Orange!". I mean, if the shoe fits...

 

[0.2 YNdeeR]

Tell cto if they need me to apply I would consider. In all seriousness I’d look to someone with a deep business background. The world of higher education is about to change drastically.

Soneome who can navigate the purchase of SUNY Upstate medical and get us back in the AAU?

 

[AngryOtto]

Tell cto if they need me to apply I would consider. In all seriousness I’d look to someone with a deep business background. The world of higher education is about to change drastically.

Agree. You need an experienced ceo. Someone in the medical or tech field. In the current climate a pure academic won’t work. Similar to an AD. Need someone like JW with extensive business and media experience.

 

[oldpinepoint]

I would merge SUNY upstate into Syracuse similar to how there the SUNY ceramics school at Alfred university

 

[Corpi33]

This change has been needed, IMHO, for a while. The new Chancellor must be cogizant of the changing tides of Major college athletics.

 

[elimunelson]

Georgetown getting a new president. Heard rumors about who will fill it . I wonder if Kent is looking to go back. May be delaying who I heard was taking the job

 

[OrangeinBoston]

This change has been needed, IMHO, for a while. The new Chancellor must be cogizant of the changing tides of Major college athletics.

Where on earth is there any evidence that Syverud isn't?

 

[721Comstock]

Where on earth is there any evidence that Syverud isn't?

Yeah, the whole”Syverud hates sportz!! “
has become a bizarre board trope.

We’ve had BIGLY capital campaigns, all kinds of UUUUUGE facilities upgrades, but apparently the only thing stopping us from spending $ on sports like a Clemson or Alabama was Kent.

 

[FloridaCuse]

Georgetown getting a new president. Heard rumors about who will fill it . I wonder if Kent is looking to go back. May be delaying who I heard was taking the job

Doubtful Kent will be interested. I heard he wants to go back and teach law and has been been teaching a course in the SU Law School. I just checked and he currently is listed as being on the faculty of the law school. I wonder if he and his wife are going to stay in Syracuse and teach. He did say they are going to stay as part of the Syracuse community. He probably could get a teaching job at a more highly rated law school if he wanted it.

 

[AZOrange]

Agree. You need an experienced ceo. Someone in the medical or tech field. In the current climate a pure academic won’t work. Similar to an AD. Need someone like JW with extensive business and media experience.

Ha a tech CEO is nothing like what the university needs…

 

[shandeezy7]

Soneome who can navigate the purchase of SUNY Upstate medical and get us back in the AAU.

It seems as though the state hasn't had much interest in that, no? I'm not totally familiar, but I'd assume the med school is a revenue generator for the state (even if comparably miniscule, it's probably not losing money).

 

[0.2 YNdeeR]

It seems as though the state hasn't had much interest in that, no? I'm not totally familiar, but I'd assume the med school is a revenue generator for the state (even if comparably miniscule, it's probably not losing money).

Pretty sure it's a big revenue generator. There's a substantial payroll for the (?) 12,000+ jobs, alumni physicians in the area, taxes collected, etc. It would be a massive merger, perhaps dwarfing the Dome reno. A revenue sharing agreement might be needed . . . big numbers and lots of moving parts.

Edit: https://www.cnybj.com/upstate-medical-university-contributes-3-2-billion-to-state-economy-report-finds/#:~:text=Upstate Medical University contributes $3.2 billion to state economy, report finds,-July 30, 2025&text=SYRACUSE, N.Y.,and academic and research endeavors.

 

[elimunelson]

Where on earth is there any evidence that Syverud isn't?

People like to talk w zero context.

School has come further on sports I ever thought they would. ROI is debateable since the programs are not nearly as good under prior leadership (Jake and Shaw/Eggers)

I hope next chancellor figures out how worth it sports are vs ranking academically. It may be one and the same now.

 

[oldpinepoint]

Ha a tech CEO is nothing like what the university needs…

What about a scrap yard ceo….

 

[orangefog]

What about a scrap yard ceo….

 

[dollarbill44]

Agree. Good riddance. Haven’t stepped on campus to give the University one dime of my $$ since 2018 because of his actions.

I wonder what your action accomplished. Did you communicate your displeasure with the administration before withholding your money ( did you get a reply)? Or did you give an earful to the student caller during a fundraising drive? Or, did you just tell your friends that you were mad and aren't giving any more to SU? (I know some people who have taken this route).
The answer to the question gives insight into the motive behind the action.

 

[Scooch]

Yeah, the whole”Syverud hates sportz!! “
has become a bizarre board trope.

We’ve had BIGLY capital campaigns, all kinds of UUUUUGE facilities upgrades, but apparently the only thing stopping us from spending $ on sports like a Clemson or Alabama was Kent.

It’s among the weirder takes on this board.

I won’t pretend to know how Syverud has performed in terms of academics. I’m sure he has his fair share of supporters and detractors, and both likely have legit opinions.

However, his tenure has coincided with a golden age of SU Athletics funding. We’ve built amazing facilities, paid coaches more than we ever have and committed to paying players as much as the school possibly can. The idea that he doesn’t “get” major college sports is so inane to me.

 

[sutomcat]

It’s among the weirder takes on this board.

I won’t pretend to know how Syverud has performed in terms of academics. I’m sure he has his fair share of supporters and detractors, and both likely have legit opinions.

However, his tenure has coincided with a golden age of SU Athletics funding. We’ve built amazing facilities, paid coaches more than we ever have and committed to paying players as much as the school possibly can. The idea that he doesn’t “get” major college sports is so inane to me.

Totally agree.

 

[Lord Ashby]

I would merge SUNY upstate into Syracuse similar to how there the SUNY ceramics school at Alfred university

The fact that a SUNY school has a ceramics school is part of the problem. If my son or daughter wanted to major in ceramics I would get them a DVD of Ghost and a $50 gift card to Hobby Lobby.

 

[richmondcuse03]

It’s among the weirder takes on this board.

I won’t pretend to know how Syverud has performed in terms of academics. I’m sure he has his fair share of supporters and detractors, and both likely have legit opinions.

However, his tenure has coincided with a golden age of SU Athletics funding. We’ve built amazing facilities, paid coaches more than we ever have and committed to paying players as much as the school possibly can. The idea that he doesn’t “get” major college sports is so inane to me.

Yup. I understand he very much cares about them because he knows how important they are to the students we want attending the school. Obviously it’s not unlimited money but very few places are.

We’ve basically become the only big time sports university in the northeast outside of Penn State. And we’ve done a great job recruiting students from the west coast and Southeast to backfill from the traditional grounds. I think some of the metrics have suffered as we’ve prioritized full paying students and different geographical areas.

 

[oldpinepoint]

The fact that a SUNY school has a ceramics school is part of the problem. If my son or daughter wanted to major in ceramics I would get them a DVD of Ghost and a $50 gift card to Hobby Lobby.

Yea it’s not that kind of ceramics, ceramic engineering. Kids who leave that program get paid

 

[Cheriehoop]

The fact that a SUNY school has a ceramics school is part of the problem. If my son or daughter wanted to major in ceramics I would get them a DVD of Ghost and a $50 gift card to Hobby Lobby.

I agree regarding pottery is a difficult way to earn a living like in most art fields. However ceramic engineering is a worthy major and have good jobs in the biomedical, aerospace, electronics, automotive fields etc.

 

[Hawknate144]

Has he been perfect, no, but people complain that we can't get our facilities up to standards with big public schools with twice the enrollment and donors that have wealth that makes Lally look like a homeless man by comparison, for what we are dealing with in terms of funding ability, we have done about as well as we can.

the 2 sports teams that have "fallen off" in Men's BBall and Lax are both largely the fault of a legendary coach, on the level that you can't really fire them, just "ask them to retire" staying on for too long and leaving the program in a bad state, the chancellor is not really the problem there.

As for the rankings, they incorporate so much more stuff than they used too, and most of it is completely irrelevant to the average person, and to be honest have always been a hot mess and using rankings of the overall school as an end all be all is a bad idea anyways.

for example, if I went solely by rankings, I could be somewhere much higher ranked than Syracuse, but I am in the best place in the world for my major, so I don't care.

 

[FloridaCuse]

It’s among the weirder takes on this board.

I won’t pretend to know how Syverud has performed in terms of academics. I’m sure he has his fair share of supporters and detractors, and both likely have legit opinions.

However, his tenure has coincided with a golden age of SU Athletics funding. We’ve built amazing facilities, paid coaches more than we ever have and committed to paying players as much as the school possibly can. The idea that he doesn’t “get” major college sports is so inane to me.

plus he co-chaired a group proposing the reorganization of college football that got some national attention. One way to have tried to make sure SU would be part of what surivives.