As we continue to wait for actual news about Syracuse Orange athletic director candidates, today we look at a little bit about what the job entails and what awaits.
Today’s college athletics department looks a lot more like a professional sports organization. You have a lot of new roles specifically related to roster spending and revenue generation. The athletic director is less like a General Manager and more like a Team President in the sense that they are going to focus on the business and let the coaches
and GM’s focus on the roster construction.
The first bit of business at Syracuse is the men’s basketball program. No matter when the new AD is named, or starts, men’s basketball is going to consume everything around Orange athletics for the near future. Even if the next AD isn’t in place when the coaching decision(s) is made, they are going to have to hit the ground with a focus on restoring the program to the level it needs to be at- on the court and in the stands.
Gone are the days of expecting 20,000 fans to show up no matter the day, time, or opponent. There’s a lot of work to be done to repair damage done over the last 20+ years. It won’t be easy to try and mend some of those wounds. You can’t go back to the Big East. Lowering ticket prices significantly comes at a cost (although we do need to talk about this dynamic pricing nonsense). Fans aren’t going to remain patient- they want to be in the NCAA Tournament right away.
From my perspective, someone has to engage men’s basketball alums/boosters in a way that football has done recently. If those constituents can come together in an organized manner, basketball will benefit.
Of course if you focus everything on basketball, what about football? Can you take advantage of the ACC payout structure and find a way into the CFP? In an era where money matters more than anything, this is an revenue stream that has to be considered when you are determining how to fund/budget for sports. Lately it seems like football got more support than others, but was that driven by internal or external factors.
Jersey ads are coming next season and that’s another immediate area of focus. This is a new opportunity to generate revenue and comes at a time where there is some optimism in the area with Micron and other businesses moving in. Can Syracuse capitalize on this opportunity? It doesn’t have to be an all or nothing with Micron, but as companies look to establish their brand in Central New York, there is a chance to add a new sponsor and grow a new revenue stream.
An athletic director has to balance between respecting the past and embracing the future. Fans love to hold onto traditions and it certainly makes sense to honor the legends and legacies who make the program special. At the same time, you can’t be afraid to adapt. Renovations in the Dome have allowed Syracuse to do more in terms of fan experience, so pushing to find ways to make coming to games more appealing is a must. You won’t satisfy everyone, but ultimately you need to do what it takes to grow attendance and make the home advantage bigger.
While in the short-term, the next Syracuse AD has to be focused on fund-raising and other forms of revenue generation, they can’t lose sight of what’s coming down the road in college athletics. We are heading towards another conference shift and the AD has to position Syracuse to not just stay at the top level (whatever that looks like), but have a suitable safety net prepared. Relationship building is important. We’ve seen that you have to be careful not to burn bridges as you push your program forward.
And while they are doing all these things to secure the current and future of the program, they have to make sure people are in place who can monitor the daily work and do a better job of dealing with off-field issues before they build to a point where it becomes a bad mark against the program. College athletics has become less about what happens on Saturday and more about what the AD is doing the other 300+ days of the year. Balancing the needs and wants of all these different entities has made the job more lucrative, but also a lot more complicated.
As you think about the current Syracuse situation, do you think the Orange should focus on someone with AD experience, or should they look outside of college athletics again?
