Syracuse athletic director John Wildhack held his annual June media opportunity Tuesday afternoon in the Iocolano-Petty Football Wing at the Lally Athletics Complex.
In his opening remarks and taking questions from media members on hand, Wildhack reviewed this past year's academic and post season success for the school's athletes and teams, the myriad of facilities improvements taking place presently and over the next two years, and looked ahead to the 2023-24 men's and women's sports seasons.
Here are four takeaways from the athletic director's press conference:
NIL was the subject that received the most attention during the Q&A portion.
By our count, seven of the some 20 questions asked of Wildhack involved Name, Image and Likeness. The AD stressed that much is going on quietly behind the scenes both adding individuals who are making significant financial contributions, educating players and their families, and appealing to more CNY businesses to get involved working with Orange athletes. "We're in a better place (with NIL) than we were 90 days ago."
The smooth transition of the basketball program under Adrian Autry.
Sure, it's been only three and a half months and no games have been played, but Wildhack "is pleased" from what he sees observing Autry and his staff since taking over for the retired Jim Boeheim on March 8. Specifically, Wildhack mentioned the strong use of the transfer portal, the coaches keeping the current roster intact, and making strong headway with the 2024 and 2025 recruiting classes.
The upcoming football season will be one to build momentum from last year's 7-6 record.
Wildhack made it clear that Dino Babers, entering his eighth season, not only has "multiple years" remaining on his contract, but that he would like nothing more than Babers being around for awhile. The AD stressed that the program has to continue to grow, with sustained success equaling annual bowl game trips and even vying for occasional ACC championship game appearances.
The ACC is "the best conference in the country matching academic and competitive success."
While the elephant in the room remains the huge disparity in annual media distribution rights fees between the SEC-Big Ten and the ACC (projected to be some $30M annually by 2026), Wildhack was not shy to emphasize and praise the league's leadership and its role to solve the financial hurdles, the strong academics among the 15 ACC schools, and the conference having won nine national championships in 2022-23.
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