Wildhack Press Conference | June 28

[rrlbees]

I'm all for it but what makes me mad is the wasted seasons of having a chitty coaching staff and him making very questionable calls. It seems like he is only changing now is because forced to do it. Like I said glad its getting done now but man so frustrating that he couldn't open his eyes sooner.

He’s made some bad hires, but the significant uptick in quality of assistants is also an increased budget for assistants. JW seems to have opened the wallet.

 

[kcsu]

Oh snap!!!

Im sure you and many others on this board have hired, been hired and gone through the whole process multiple times. In my case i believe its so important to get a good fit. Im sure Gilbert is a good coach. But culturally he might as well have landed on Mars when he came to Syracuse.
Joe Moorhead is a hell of a coach in my opinion but he went to Mars in Mississippi. Fits matter, culture matters. Especially in relating to recruits.
I think one reason Nick does well at SU is that he has roots here. He gets SU and the region. Same with Red and Gmac. One City kid one upstate. Ny guys.
I knew that Grob would fail. He was a fish out of water. Glad to see a staff that has a little more east than West.

 

[Jake]

We’ve reached the point where every JW press conference, no matter the subject matter, is going to be met with a “what’s the future of Jim Boeheim” question.

 

[TheCusian]

Dinos going into his 7th year with 1 winning season at a Power 5 D1 program. That's pretty much the definition of patience as he would have been fired at probably 90% of the other P5 programs. I don't know know how much more "realistic" you can ask the few big boosters we have to be at this point if were not at least .500 this year.

We’ve done this dance over and over. The extension was at the right time (a good decision) - that 2019 sucked and the pandemic 2020 hit - makes it nigh impossible for a school like ours to fire him at any point until last season. And I think the determination was made that we should get him better help. It was a good decision; paying a guy not to coach is bad.

So you can try to ratchet up the rhetoric all you want - unless the wheels comes off completely - the case isn’t that hard to make

 

[MadNY3]

We’ve done this dance over and over. The extension was at the right time (a good decision) - that 2019 sucked and the pandemic 2020 hit - makes it nigh impossible for a school like ours to fire him at any point until last season. And I think the determination was made that we should get him better help. It was a good decision; paying a guy not to coach is bad.

So you can try to ratchet up the rhetoric all you want - unless the wheels comes off completely - the case isn’t that hard to make

Well said.

And watching the full PC a little bit ago, the patience Syracuse has had at the P5 level and the support has clearly continued to. JW completely took hot seat talk off the table; a lot of ADs would appease fan bases by doing the opposite.

Wildhack is great. Literally. We are all passionate and point own the faults/losses, but he’s great.

 

[JeremyCuse]

We’ve done this dance over and over. The extension was at the right time (a good decision) - that 2019 sucked and the pandemic 2020 hit - makes it nigh impossible for a school like ours to fire him at any point until last season. And I think the determination was made that we should get him better help. It was a good decision; paying a guy not to coach is bad.

So you can try to ratchet up the rhetoric all you want - unless the wheels comes off completely - the case isn’t that hard to make

You were talking about Boosters having patience with Dino, no one faults the extension it looked good at the time unfortunately its been a disaster. I am not trying to ratchet up anything, the record is what it is. Bottom line is if he doesn't get to .500 this year he will have 1 winning season in 7 years, it's untenable for a D1 P5 program.

 

[JeremyCuse]

Well said.

And watching the full PC a little bit ago, the patience Syracuse has had at the P5 level and the support has clearly continued to. JW completely took hot seat talk off the table; a lot of ADs would appease fan bases by doing the opposite.

Wildhack is great. Literally. We are all passionate and point own the faults/losses, but he’s great.

Not to be that guy but what D1 P5 AD in late June is going to publicly admit his Football coach is in major trouble? I really like Wildhack but that was clearly AD speak.

 

[TheCusian]

You were talking about Boosters having patience with Dino, no one faults the extension it looked good at the time unfortunately its been a disaster. I am not trying to ratchet up anything, the record is what it is. Bottom line is if he doesn't get to .500 this year he will have 1 winning season in 7 years, it's untenable for a D1 P5 program.

That’s a factual record, there’s no arguing it... but I don’t think it’s exactly how Wildhack is evaluating and I think it’s smart. I think the case can be made to boosters similarly to how I just did.

Saying the record over and over again without context isn’t how Wildhack explains it to the public; I bet he explains it even better to boosters.

I also think you’re right that 4-5 wins on into the future is untenable at a certain point, regardless of the circumstances

 

[kcsu]

Dino is very fortunate. He caught lightning in a bottle with Eric and capitalized on it.
JW decided to spend a fraction of what firing Dino and the current staff would have cost on upgrading the staff which is money well spent. The kids seem to really like and respect Dino which is huge in todays NIL and Portal environment. Let Dino manage culture and let the OC and DC manage the X and Os and we might have a solid combination.

 

[elimunelson]

Dino is very fortunate. He caught lightning in a bottle with Eric and capitalized on it.
JW decided to spend a fraction of what firing Dino and the current staff would have cost on upgrading the staff which is money well spent. The kids seem to really like and respect Dino which is huge in todays NIL and Portal environment. Let Dino manage culture and let the OC and DC manage the X and Os and we might have a solid combination.

I think this is the calculus Wildhack took. It may be the right move but it could be an abject disaster too. I think JW has to pivot if we don't win 6 games this year because at some point the definition of insanity begins to take shape if the only constant is the HC and that may be where the problem is.

 

[cusefan88]

You were talking about Boosters having patience with Dino, no one faults the extension it looked good at the time unfortunately its been a disaster. I am not trying to ratchet up anything, the record is what it is. Bottom line is if he doesn't get to .500 this year he will have 1 winning season in 7 years, it's untenable for a D1 P5 program.

I agree with you on this. From what I hear, I know the AD and university leadership all absolutely love Dino. That's why they increased the $$$ for staff etc. They think he's the guy and needed the wallets opened to get the right coaches/support staff around him. Took longer than we like but now Dino is in a close to make-or-break season.

 

[IthacaBarrel]

Not to be that guy but what D1 P5 AD in late June is going to publicly admit his Football coach is in major trouble? I really like Wildhack but that was clearly AD speak.

I think Wildhack's actions speak louder than his AD speak. Basically doubled down for at least 2 more years by opening the coffers to pay and retain and hire assistants. Obviously, the university saw this as a better financial investment as opposed to cutting bait. Instead of cutting losses he's staying at the table and trying to recover them. He may wind up on top could be down even more in 2 years. Not what he says it's what he's done. It's obvious that Dino has a lot of support from the AD and the University in general regardless of a rough record to date. Clearly he is well liked and respected by the people that matter with regard to his employment

And again, I don't care who comes next, the struggles will always be there absent an ALL ACC type QB

And when people talk about Syracuse spending money it's still a drop in the bucket compared to most, so it really does not mean much in the grand scheme. They aren't trying to win a 1 man race and it has gotten harder to compete the past 15 years not easier.

 

[kcsu]

Id like to see JW continue on this path. SU needs to compete via good coaches. It doesn't do anything to have a great head coach without the supporting staff.
3 m or so on a head coach. 1m or so on each coordinator and 500k or more on top assistants. Then spend money on support and recruiting resources.
I believe this is the best model for SU.

 

[IthacaBarrel]

Id like to see JW continue on this path. SU needs to compete via good coaches. It doesn't do anything to have a great head coach without the supporting staff.
3 m or so on a head coach. 1m or so on each coordinator and 500k or more on top assistants. Then spend money on support and recruiting resources.
I believe this is the best model for SU.

It makes a ton of sense really when you think about it and I think at this point it has become clear what Dino's strength and weaknesses are. You also have a HC that isn't getting any younger. Hopefully it proves successful because as it stands today it's still the clearest and most straight forward path to success. Is the improvement in staff enough to turn the 5 win seasons into 6 win seasons? Does it elevate the floor and ceiling? Hopefully it does. As you said, I like the model.

 

[HRE Otto IV]

Agree 100%, How good can any salesman be when selling an inferior product 9.5 out of 10 times? I really don't think there are many head coaching candidates that could turn Syracuse into a consistent winner and as you said just one man's opinion. If Dino loses the next two seasons I would imagine we will find out once again but not looking forward to it.

I would want the next coach to have a better understanding of the shortcomings of the football program whether it be a prior stop here or not but that would be beneficial IMO. And again I don't think 5 win seasons are a total failure and Dino had some nice wins the first couple years which as a fan I really enjoyed, that means something to me

5 Ws isn't a failure but 4 IMO is. Most years we should go 3-0 against the G5/FCS. Going 3-6 (which is only .3333) gets you to a Bowl. Heck we stunk in 2019 and still got to 5-7 on the year. It is pretty hard to not go 5-7.

As a program, we probably should be 5-7 to 8-5 range. When we have a young team or get the injury bug, it will be 5-7. When we have upperclassmen and catch a few breaks, it will be 8-5. I think over a 4 year period a decent HC should be able to get to 26-25 here. If you take away 2020, the last 4 seasons Dino is 24-25 which is slightly under achieving IMO.

 

[IthacaBarrel]

5 Ws isn't a failure but 4 IMO is. Most years we should go 3-0 against the G5/FCS. Going 3-6 (which is only .3333) gets you to a Bowl. Heck we stunk in 2019 and still got to 5-7 on the year. It is pretty hard to not go 5-7.

As a program, we probably should be 5-7 to 8-5 range. When we have a young team or get the injury bug, it will be 5-7. When we have upperclassmen and catch a few breaks, it will be 8-5. I think over a 4 year period a decent HC should be able to get to 26-25 here. If you take away 2020, the last 4 seasons Dino is 24-25 which is slightly under achieving IMO.

good way to look at it for sure.

 

[orangepassion]

It's amazing to me that many here made fun of the constant 6-6 Addazio seasons at BC and now 5-7 isn't considered a failure. Our expectations should be to finish at least .500 most years with some better seasons mixed in there. The schedule should be easier with the 3-5-5 and we put 2 gimmes in every year. Even Shafer went 4-4 in the conference one year.

 

[HRE Otto IV]

It's amazing to me that many here made fun of the constant 6-6 Addazio seasons at BC and now 5-7 isn't considered a failure. Our expectations should be to finish at least .500 most years with some better seasons mixed in there. Even Shafer went 4-4 in the conference one year.

BC's record was always inflated by having an extremely weak OOC schedule. I don't know what SU was thinking adding Purdue and Tennessee when we already had ND those seasons. When you play teams like Kansas, Rutgers, UMass, Army, UConn it is a lot easier to make a Bowl.

 

[upperdeck]

5 Ws isn't a failure but 4 IMO is. Most years we should go 3-0 against the G5/FCS. Going 3-6 (which is only .3333) gets you to a Bowl. Heck we stunk in 2019 and still got to 5-7 on the year. It is pretty hard to not go 5-7.

As a program, we probably should be 5-7 to 8-5 range. When we have a young team or get the injury bug, it will be 5-7. When we have upperclassmen and catch a few breaks, it will be 8-5. I think over a 4 year period a decent HC should be able to get to 26-25 here. If you take away 2020, the last 4 seasons Dino is 24-25 which is slightly under achieving IMO.

and if the FG kicker had stayed the course we probably had those 3-5 more wins..

 

[IthacaBarrel]

It's amazing to me that many here made fun of the constant 6-6 Addazio seasons at BC and now 5-7 isn't considered a failure. Our expectations should be to finish at least .500 most years with some better seasons mixed in there. The schedule should be easier with the 3-5-5 and we put 2 gimmes in every year. Even Shafer went 4-4 in the conference one year.

There are expectations or the reality of the current situation or the reality of the past 20 years depending on how you would like to look at it. I don't care about Addazio or BC nor I am thrilled with what has transpired the last 20 years with regard to the football program

 

[elimunelson]

It's amazing to me that many here made fun of the constant 6-6 Addazio seasons at BC and now 5-7 isn't considered a failure. Our expectations should be to finish at least .500 most years with some better seasons mixed in there. The schedule should be easier with the 3-5-5 and we put 2 gimmes in every year. Even Shafer went 4-4 in the conference one year.

Addazio's run of 6-6 seasons usually included a high profile win like against USC, Vtech, FSU, Miami, etc. Their issue wasn't competing against the heavyweights it was consistency.

My guess is if Addazio put up that run at SU he'd still have his job vs at BC where their expectations are a tough higher than ours now because they didn't have to deal with the dark ages period (GERG)

 

[Dick_in_MI]

Perhaps the biggest problem I have is our lack of success vs our peers during Dino's tenure; our fellow ACC schools and some of the schools within the conference that we compare closest to.

You can spin schedules, OOC foes, etc all you want, but our performance in-conference has been putrid. Except for our magical year when we were good (and went 6-2 in the ACC), we have not won more than 2 conference games in a season. Those seasons were 2-6,2-6,2-6,1-9 (ND counted as ACC game), and 2-6.

It gets even worse. Except for GT, whom we have only played once, we have a winning record only against VT (2-0). All of these records include the magical season. We are .500 vs BC, Duke and UNC (both of whom we have only played twice). The rest is very grim. 1-5 vs Louisville. 2-4 vs Wake. 1-5 vs Clemson. 1-5 vs NC St. 1-4 vs FSU. 1-5 vs Pitt. Etc.

We have won more than 2 conference games only once in six years. We only have a winning record vs VT (and GT) and we have sucked canal water vs most of the rest.

"But, but, some of those teams were good! Our division of the conference was harder!" Yeah? Here's a cookie and your blanket. Get over it and put on your big boy pants. This is the ACC we are talking about, not the SEC. There is simply no way to spin four 2-6 conference records and one 1-9 in six seasons. I fully admit that Clemson, FSU, and now Miami treat football more like SEC schools do. We should still have a better record than we do against them. As for the rest? No excuse to be a doormat.

To me, that is the thing that needs to change the most. We might need to walk before we can run with regard to the overall record, but we simply have to do better in-conference.

 

[richmondcuse03]

He seems to be on that trajectory and really close to being an OC, really really soon.

I would think it would be here and taking over for Anae. It would be a solid tradition and one that would position Beck very well long term too.

 

[HRE Otto IV]

Perhaps the biggest problem I have is our lack of success vs our peers during Dino's tenure; our fellow ACC schools and some of the schools within the conference that we compare closest to.

You can spin schedules, OOC foes, etc all you want, but our performance in-conference has been putrid. Except for our magical year when we were good (and went 6-2 in the ACC), we have not won more than 2 conference games in a season. Those seasons were 2-6,2-6,2-6,1-9 (ND counted as ACC game), and 2-6.

It gets even worse. Except for GT, whom we have only played once, we have a winning record only against VT (2-0). All of these records include the magical season. We are .500 vs BC, Duke and UNC (both of whom we have only played twice). The rest is very grim. 1-5 vs Louisville. 2-4 vs Wake. 1-5 vs Clemson. 1-5 vs NC St. 1-4 vs FSU. 1-5 vs Pitt. Etc.

We have won more than 2 conference games only once in six years. We only have a winning record vs VT (and GT) and we have sucked canal water vs most of the rest.

"But, but, some of those teams were good! Our division of the conference was harder!" Yeah? Here's a cookie and your blanket. Get over it and put on your big boy pants. This is the ACC we are talking about, not the SEC. There is simply no way to spin four 2-6 conference records and one 1-9 in six seasons. I fully admit that Clemson, FSU, and now Miami treat football more like SEC schools do. We should still have a better record than we do against them. As for the rest? No excuse to be a doormat.

To me, that is the thing that needs to change the most. We might need to walk before we can run with regard to the overall record, but we simply have to do better in-conference.

On top of the record, the games haven't been all that close. Dino has the better of only 3 teams, vs 10 teams getting the better of him.


VA Tech (2-0) 26.5 to 36
GA Tech (1-0) 20 to 37
Duke (1-1) 22 to 36.5
BC (3-3) 27.2 to 24.2
UNC (1-1) 34 to 23
Wake (2-4) 37.3 to 30.5
FSU (1-4) 29.4 to 23
NC State (1-5) 33.7 to 25.3
Pitt (1-5) 37.2 to 28.2
Clemson (1-5) 35 to 15.2
Louisville (1-5) 44.7 to 21.5
Miami (0-1) 27 to 19
Notre Dame (0-3) 43.7 to 19

 

[money3189]

Im sure you and many others on this board have hired, been hired and gone through the whole process multiple times. In my case i believe its so important to get a good fit. Im sure Gilbert is a good coach. But culturally he might as well have landed on Mars when he came to Syracuse.
Joe Moorhead is a hell of a coach in my opinion but he went to Mars in Mississippi. Fits matter, culture matters. Especially in relating to recruits.
I think one reason Nick does well at SU is that he has roots here. He gets SU and the region. Same with Red and Gmac. One City kid one upstate. Ny guys.
I knew that Grob would fail. He was a fish out of water. Glad to see a staff that has a little more east than West.

All good points. Monroe seems like he can fit in anywhere but he's at his best here. lol