Things i'm hearing...

[richmondcuse03]

Maybe my SU friends are outliers, but I haven't seen a single one of them say they're upset with how this went down. Most of 'em are longtime JB fans, and basically all of them said "it's sad but it's time".

Would be surprised if there's any blowback on SU over this.

Agree. More of the obnoxious comments are about Autry. Most of my diehard alum friends get it and knew it was time. None of them are upset at the university after that press conference. JB did his own damage, again.

 

[br801]

I believe the agreement was he would announce it at the last presser of the season (whenever they lost in the ACC's). Something was mismanaged somewhere along the line, but it may just be JB going rogue as he's known to do.

I also know the SU Comms people and Advancement are L-I-V-I-D with the athletic department. They're concerned about how this may affect donors and, obviously, media perception of the university.

Yeah, it was shocking how this went down because the university and the athletic department had never screwed up anything in the past.

 

[Col. Bleep]

Seems plausible, but some of Boeheim's answers in the press conference were just too weird. But, given the nature of the loss and the circumstances, it's not surprising things came off the rails. It really was a little too much to expect him to gracefully bow out at the press conference immediately following a bitter loss in a game I think he expected to win (and we should have won). If this is all true, SU screwed up by not setting it up as a stand-alone press conference a day or two later allowing coach to get his emotions in check.

There doesn't seem to be any reason that this couldn't have waited until Monday...after the conference tournaments and NCAA selections. A relatively slow day before the NCAA's get underway.

But that would have made too much sense.

And if the university brass was really really really angry at Boeheim they could have let him twist for a few days after his Greensboro news conference.

 

[Scooch]

Agree. More of the obnoxious comments are about Autry. Most of my diehard alum friends get it and knew it was time. None of them are upset at the university after that press conference. JB did his own damage, again.

Interesting. All my pals seem happy that the job is being kept in the family. Of course Autry's playing career overlapped with my time at SU, so perhaps my crew has fonder feelings for him than others.

 

[OrangePA]

This is from a few "friends of the program" and a couple of people in the AD's office (who might be susceptible to spin, so I take what they say with a bit of cynicism).

The retirement plan had been locked in for a few weeks. Not many knew much about it, just that it would happen after the season's end.

The plan included the coach essentially confirming his retirement in whatever post-game presser was the last of the season. Boeheim had gone along with this. There was a press release ready to go last week with quotes from Boeheim and the word "retirement" all over it.

The presser comes, and according to some folks in the AD's office, Boeheim decided to softshoe it. Now I've heard conflicting stories on why that was. One person told me coach was concerned he wouldn't be able to handle his emotions if he announced in that way, that quickly after his last game. Whether he told people of these misgivings or not is up for debate.

The AD's office was furious at the way it went down and had to change the press release completely. It was supposed to come out right after the presser, but instead, they had to re-edit it and release it a few hours late.

A friend of the program says it wasn't intentional to make the university look bad, but who knows for sure.

Go ahead and kill the messenger, but this is what I've heard from a handful of people who should know.

Obviously, the deal with Adrian Autry was in place well before last night.

 

[orangecuse]

I believe this to be 100% true or true-ish. You can't promote somebody to be head coach unless they have agreed to it and all the contractual terms are worked out. Like I said in another thread 2 minutes ago, Autry didn't work this out in the Greensboro locker room.

Can you imagine after the press release if Autry is like, "woah wait a minute, this is news to me, I'm not sure I want to be the head coach, and what exactly does it pay ?"

Ha. Autry, while at 30,000 feet over Albany in route back to Syracuse checking his phone on the plane, dang, I'm the new head coach of Syracuse University!

 

[gilardino]

This is from a few "friends of the program" and a couple of people in the AD's office (who might be susceptible to spin, so I take what they say with a bit of cynicism).

The retirement plan had been locked in for a few weeks. Not many knew much about it, just that it would happen after the season's end.

The plan included the coach essentially confirming his retirement in whatever post-game presser was the last of the season. Boeheim had gone along with this. There was a press release ready to go last week with quotes from Boeheim and the word "retirement" all over it.

The presser comes, and according to some folks in the AD's office, Boeheim decided to softshoe it. Now I've heard conflicting stories on why that was. One person told me coach was concerned he wouldn't be able to handle his emotions if he announced in that way, that quickly after his last game. Whether he told people of these misgivings or not is up for debate.

The AD's office was furious at the way it went down and had to change the press release completely. It was supposed to come out right after the presser, but instead, they had to re-edit it and release it a few hours late.

A friend of the program says it wasn't intentional to make the university look bad, but who knows for sure.

Go ahead and kill the messenger, but this is what I've heard from a handful of people who should know.

this is going to gey messy. he wants a job in athletics, and SU said no

 

[Bayside44]

There doesn't seem to be any reason that this couldn't have waited until Monday...after the conference tournaments and NCAA selections. A relatively slow day before the NCAA's get underway.

But that would have made too much sense.

And if the university brass was really really really angry at Boeheim they could have let him twist for a few days after his Greensboro news conference.

Transfer portal opens Monday I believe?

Unpleasant things shouldn't fester, IMO.

 

[721Comstock]

this is going to gey messy. he wants a job in athletics, and SU said no

And rightly so.

It would be an impossible situation for Red & staff to have the HOF legend hovering over everything they do.

They took the keys away from Grandpa, and sold the car.

These things often need to be done this way when an older person is blind to their own shortcomings and limitations.

 

[Orangezoo]

this is going to gey messy. he wants a job in athletics, and SU said no

Let's hope emotions that run raw initially settle down. It always trends ugly when things are contentious at first. Generally speaking that works its way out.

Hopefully hooking up with a network can be a realistic possibility..

 

[orangecuse]

this is going to gey messy. he wants a job in athletics, and SU said no

Yeah, that seemed quite apparent yesterday in his post game remarks relative to UNC offering Roy a position and same with K at Duke. His hope the university and I can reach some agreement of sort or something along those lines is about as much proof as anyone needs to connect the dots here.

 

[rrlbees]

According to this Ch9 article the announcement was going to be a few days later.

Boeheim waves but skips questions upon arrival home after final game

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) — Jim Boeheim threw a wave when asked if had a message for fans after he arrived back on the Syracuse University campus Wednesday night. The wave was his substitute …

www.localsyr.com

 

[djcon57]

And rightly so.

It would be an impossible situation for Red & staff to have the HOF legend hovering over everything they do.

They took the keys away from Grandpa, and sold the car.

These things often need to be done this way when an older person is blind to their own shortcomings and limitations.

Not to mention I'm sure the AD isnt budgeted for a high salary position to basically do nothing

 

[Orangezoo]

According to this Ch9 article the announcement was going to be a few days later.

Boeheim waves but skips questions upon arrival home after final game

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) — Jim Boeheim threw a wave when asked if had a message for fans after he arrived back on the Syracuse University campus Wednesday night. The wave was his substitute …

www.localsyr.com

Hope he, Red, JW etc get to sit down and talk plus talking with the team etc. Sucks it didn't go as planned it appears.

 

[SUFan44]

As a comms professional, I think the AD handled it properly if that was truly the original plan as stated above. This was never going to go down correctly unless JB did it himself. And he's just not capable of it.

The only thing I disagree with on the approach is having him announce it in the press conference. He can't do that -- we all know he'd struggle with that. He should have agreed to punt on the topic when it was over and said he needs some time, will reflect and come back. Then put out a controlled release.

But if SU Comms was aware of the approach, they share blame too. the AD course corrected best they could.

The approach you propose works with rational individuals. JB, as we all know, is not rational.

I don't think any plan that was agreed to was going to be followed to a T. Agree with the many that nobody I'm friends with cares about the way it went down. And 99% of the blame goes to the man himself. Which is a shame.

 

[Dmcnabbrules]

Not to mention I'm sure the AD isnt budgeted for a high salary position to basically do nothing

I don’t think $$$ is the issue

 

[A Clockwork Orange]

Eye roll at them, not you
What exactly should the AD have done

I agree. The best crisis comms people know that you can't predict everything. It's not like they could have just held him out of post-game pressers. He's gonna find a way to say what he wants, and there's not a lot of PR that can be done to fix that.

 

[Tom W.]

Tom W is about to have a meltdown once he sees this.

Haha. I legit laughed out loud when I scrolled by this. For real, I’m not being snarky.

I show back up on the boards for one night, and I have a whole new reputation. Jeeze.

Haha honestly though, I have no problem with the OP post. It prefaced who sources were, why there might be a reason for some cynicism, etc. OP didn’t grandstand and boldly claim it was 100% fact, nor did he try to proclaim what anyone’s personal motivations or intentions were.

I actually find it quite believable as well, for what it’s worth.

 

[Cusefan0307]

Not to mention I'm sure the AD isnt budgeted for a high salary position to basically do nothing

Ehhh we found a position for Floyd Little. There’s something else at play here.

 

[SUFaninNJ]

I think at this point that a lot of this is just Monday morning quarterbacking. Does it really matter that much who broke up with whom? I don't think that there was any damage done or any donors or players are going to be scared off for any reason. I'm ready to move on and see what Red can do.

 

[A Clockwork Orange]

Why would SU require JB to announce his retirement in the presser following the last game of his career which would have to be a loss unless they won the Natty. That is asking a lot IMHO.

Why not have the plan in place, have JB say at the presser that we will talk about it and then have a presser today or Friday and announce it all so that AA is in place before the portal opens Monday.

This is where I get hung up as well. This is why I mentioned above that it may not have been an agreed "you WILL mention you're retiring in your last PC." I assume (again, this isn't coming from sources at this point, just my reading of tea leaves) they wanted him to leave the retirement question at "it's something I need to think about and will decide in the coming days." JB, being JB, decided to air out some of his issues (not having a job at SU lined up after his retirement) in the presser. JB does things, and I think this is a case of that.

I am not 100% sure it was supposed "to happen at the last presser of the season," but that's the exact wording used when describing it to me. I assumed that they meant a presser after the last loss. That may be my bad in reading into that statement. I'll reach out for clarification on that.

 

[Brian Orange]

100 percent believe this.

 

[pearl31]

yeah I'm hoping the school/ad didn't actually plan to have JB announce during a presser following an ACCT loss. that would be a bad plan. I do agree this seems to be almost entirely on JB as to how it went down yesterday - as others have stated best thing would have been him to "no comment" the Qs on his job status and then have a statement and/or planned presser happen today.
JB gonna JB

 

[heresjohnny88]

i believe most of this. i will say, i think the loss angered JB to the point where it brought out certain feelings, and then he kinda went off the rails from there. i think his intention was to communicate his retirement, and then he couldn't do it. he's been upset the last few weeks about how this has played out.

 

[EnviroSciGuy]

Daryl "Two Phones" Gross?

Well, now we know who was on one of the lines.