Very insightful article about Jake Crouthamel from Dartmouth area newspaper.

[cto]

Worth reading. A Life: ‘Jake’ Crouthamel, 1938-2022; ‘I learned a lot of football from him’

 

[CuseCrew08]

Good read. The Valley News is my hometown paper!

 

[Cheriehoop]

I couldn’t help but be somewhat sad reading it. Wish his departure was a happier time for him and that he and his family could have enjoyed his retirement more. He deserves a lot of credit for the era he created while here.

 

[Sherman20]

Jake was pushed out the door at Syracuse? I don’t ever remember hearing that. I always read that he planned to retire when he was 65 and gave the school plenty of notice to find his successor. Sad to hear about his cognitive decline. I always thought something might be awry when we rarely heard from Crouthamel during big moments like Syracuse’s departure from the Big East for the ACC. Not that he would speak out on his own or seek the spotlight, but you imagine reporters calling him to get his views. And I don’t think he appeared in Requiem for the Big East.

 

[cto]

Jake was pushed out the door at Syracuse? I don’t ever remember hearing that. I always read that he planned to retire when he was 65 and gave the school plenty of notice to find his successor. Sad to hear about his cognitive decline. I always thought something might be awry when we rarely heard from Crouthamel during big moments like Syracuse’s departure from the Big East for the ACC. Not that he would speak out on his own or seek the spotlight, but you imagine reporters calling him to get his views.

Yes, he was pushed out by Nancy Cantor. A very sad situation. He was quite unhappy and refused to have a "retirement party" because he did not consider it a retirement. While he was AD, he reported to the chief financial officer who was very miserly when it came to the athletic department, causing Jake to operate on a virtual shoestring with practically no staff. When Nancy Cantor forced out Jake and hired Daryl Gross, she had Daryl report directly to her ... and gave him all the money and staff he wanted. I was very close to Jake during this period. It was very sad.

 

[elimunelson]

Yes, he was pushed out by Nancy Cantor. A very sad situation. He was quite unhappy and refused to have a "retirement party" because he did not consider it a retirement. While he was AD, he reported to the chief financial officer who was very miserly when it came to the athletic department, causing Jake to operate on a virtual shoestring with practically no staff. When Nancy Cantor forced out Jake and hired Daryl Gross, she had Daryl report directly to her ... and gave him all the money and staff he wanted. I was very close to Jake during this period. It was very sad.

What a strain on the history of the program:

Cantor and Gross just destroyed what was built because football felt some growing pains. The money infusion instead of blowing it up would have been the move in hindsight.

Just a moronic era in SU sports. Thankfully boeheim was anchored in hoops. Who knows who those buffoons would have hired

 

[AlaskaSU]

Nancy. Rutgers deserves her. In her wokeness she did what she could to lower the value of a Cuse degree.

 

[Eric15]

I didn't realize that Jake was both an All-American as a player and also a successful head coach at Dartmouth.

 

[Chip]

Yes, he was pushed out by Nancy Cantor. A very sad situation. He was quite unhappy and refused to have a "retirement party" because he did not consider it a retirement. While he was AD, he reported to the chief financial officer who was very miserly when it came to the athletic department, causing Jake to operate on a virtual shoestring with practically no staff. When Nancy Cantor forced out Jake and hired Daryl Gross, she had Daryl report directly to her ... and gave him all the money and staff he wanted. I was very close to Jake during this period. It was very sad.

Nancy making the AD report directly to her and giving him money and staff is exactly what we needed. And I think exactly what Jake wanted. He would have just preferred to have that in place when the sport was shifting.

The old way of reporting through the conservative CFO is what helped sink the program to mediocrity, and allowed regional competitors to build up around us. GRob was gasoline on the fire.

Jake was a good company man, but I'm pretty sure he knew that Buzz was taking the football program for granted in changing times.

 

[Dick_in_MI]

Some years ago I was at a meeting at a resort in Tucson. Unbeknownst to me, a bunch of AD’s were attending a conference in the same resort.

I was waiting in the lobby to go out for a run with some colleagues and I was wearing a Syracuse shirt. Suddenly I heard a voice say “where did you get that shirt?” I turned and it was Jake with a big smile on his face. We shook hands and had a great conversation. From time to time I would send him an email about something or other and I always got back a personal, well thought-out reply. Good man.

 

[kirbivore]

Yes, he was pushed out by Nancy Cantor. A very sad situation. He was quite unhappy and refused to have a "retirement party" because he did not consider it a retirement. While he was AD, he reported to the chief financial officer who was very miserly when it came to the athletic department, causing Jake to operate on a virtual shoestring with practically no staff. When Nancy Cantor forced out Jake and hired Daryl Gross, she had Daryl report directly to her ... and gave him all the money and staff he wanted. I was very close to Jake during this period. It was very sad.

Another good soldier who should have gone public about the restrictions placed on him by the CFO.

 

[Millhouse]

Yes, he was pushed out by Nancy Cantor. A very sad situation. He was quite unhappy and refused to have a "retirement party" because he did not consider it a retirement. While he was AD, he reported to the chief financial officer who was very miserly when it came to the athletic department, causing Jake to operate on a virtual shoestring with practically no staff. When Nancy Cantor forced out Jake and hired Daryl Gross, she had Daryl report directly to her ... and gave him all the money and staff he wanted. I was very close to Jake during this period. It was very sad.

It was one of Jake's Takes where mentioned seemingly in passing how crazy their org structure was. I don't remember all the details of it but there were all kinds of terrible incentives for different departments. I wondered if he hoped that people would notice it and scream about it on his behalf where he would've had plausible deniability.

it was just crazy that tickets, parking, and concessions weren't working together or caring about how much the whole bundle costed

a lot of those old links are broken and not archived

 

[Millhouse]

Another good soldier who should have gone public about the restrictions placed on him by the CFO.

he kinda put it out there hoping anyone would notice

 

[Millhouse]

Nancy making the AD report directly to her and giving him money and staff is exactly what we needed. And I think exactly what Jake wanted. He would have just preferred to have that in place when the sport was shifting.

The old way of reporting through the conservative CFO is what helped sink the program to mediocrity, and allowed regional competitors to build up around us. GRob was gasoline on the fire.

Jake was a good company man, but I'm pretty sure he knew that Buzz was taking the football program for granted in changing times.

Yeah, it's worth mentioning that it was Buzz Shaw who was in charge when they treated the athletic department like a cookie jar for everyone else

 

[Chip]

Yeah, it's worth mentioning that it was Buzz Shaw who was in charge when they treated the athletic department like a cookie jar for everyone else

Lou M’s General Fund.

 

[Sherman20]

Yes, he was pushed out by Nancy Cantor. A very sad situation. He was quite unhappy and refused to have a "retirement party" because he did not consider it a retirement. While he was AD, he reported to the chief financial officer who was very miserly when it came to the athletic department, causing Jake to operate on a virtual shoestring with practically no staff. When Nancy Cantor forced out Jake and hired Daryl Gross, she had Daryl report directly to her ... and gave him all the money and staff he wanted. I was very close to Jake during this period. It was very sad.

Thanks for sharing, cto. I always liked Jake. He got a bum rap. It wasn’t his fault the purse strings were so tight. Man, Nancy Cantor really managed to screw things up at Syracuse, didn’t she? If Jake had eventually decided to part ways with Coach P at some point down the road (not the terrible timing that Gross orchestrated),he would have made a good coaching hire because he understood football and the university. We def wouldn’t have had the GRob implosion.

 

[rrlbees]

Thanks for sharing, cto. I always liked Jake. He got a bum rap. It wasn’t his fault the purse strings were so tight. Man, Nancy Cantor really managed to screw things up at Syracuse, didn’t she? If Jake had eventually decided to part ways with Coach P at some point down the road (not the terrible timing that Gross orchestrated),he would have made a good coaching hire because he understood football and the university. We def wouldn’t have had the GRob implosion.

Gross didn’t orchestrate anything in letting Coach P go. Cantor instructed him to do it.

 

[Cusefan95]

Yeah, it's worth mentioning that it was Buzz Shaw who was in charge when they treated the athletic department like a cookie jar for everyone else

I’ve watched numerous times the highly regarded CEO of a company step down just as the impact of all his bad decisions are about to hit…then the poor SOB who took over after him is left holding the bag.

In this case, Cantor took the bag Shaw handed her, filled it with tires and lit it on fire - so while I appreciate she took over a situation that wasn’t ideal, she should still get plenty of credit for making it far, far worse.

 

[Millhouse]

I’ve watched numerous times the highly regarded CEO of a company step down just as the impact of all his bad decisions are about to hit…then the poor SOB who took over after him is left holding the bag.

In this case, Cantor took the bag Shaw handed her, filled it with tires and lit it on fire - so while I appreciate she took over a situation that wasn’t ideal, she should still get plenty of credit for making it far, far worse.

Pete Carroll thinks we should hire his college roommate and that guy thinks we should run the west coast offense and boy does he have just the guy to do it, the Texans tight ends coach

Ok you guys run with that and I'll take care of the other big problem at Syracuse, those pesky admission standards that unfairly limit the Syracuse experience to people who have any reasonable hope of graduating