Rapid Reaction: GM Alex Kline a smart hire for Syracuse Basketball

Syracuse athletics announced Friday morning that the men's basketball program has hired Alex Kline '16 as the program's first General Manager. Kline, a Newhouse School graduate, served as a scout for the New York Knicks the past four years.

After his initial season as head coach, one of the administrative items on Adrian Autry's priority list for was making sure Syracuse joined the legions of other major Div. I basketball programs filling the newly-created position of program general manager.

Friday's announcement that four year New York Knicks scout and 2016 SU alum Alex Kline has been hired as the GM, comes at the perfect time for Autry and his current staff when you consider that transactionally this is a brand new SU team in the new world of college hoops. The Orange lost seven players to the transfer portal, one to the NBA Draft, and gained four players through the portal in exchange.

Add to the fact that four other current players on the roster transferred into the program in 2023, and it leaves Chris Bell (excluding the incoming two freshmen) as the only organically recruited player on the likely 2024-25 roster.Kline seems like the perfect hire at this stage of his career, and for the coaching staff that evolved in the spring with Dan Englestad succeeding Gerry McNamara.

As a talent evaluator for the Knicks, Kline's work was evident in draft preparation, trade deadline intelligence, free agency and behind the scenes handling of special projects for team executives.

In other words, just the skill set Kline will rely on in his new role at his alma mater which will encompass primarily scouting and recruiting, handling NIL and the eventual model for how players will be compensated, transfer portal management (see above), and the necessary institutional fundraising which comes with a "front office" position.

Also credit John Wildhack and Autry for keeping pace in a rapidly-changing college hoops landscape, and investing in the resources necessary to help get the program back to national relevance.

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