Retiring athletics director John Wildhack, who will leave his post on July 1, has said that he'll make any necessary and difficult decisions regarding SU sports programs ahead of his departure. That could include firing Syracuse basketball head coach Adrian Autry at the end of the 2025-26 season.
I'm not wishing Autry to be fired. I'm rooting for him and the rest of the staff to succeed. But let's get real. Barring something miraculous transpiring over the next thee to four weeks, the Orange is going to end the current campaign with a sub-par record, and the team will miss the NCAA Tournament for the fifth straight term.
The fan base is fed up, and a change is expected to occur. That being said, Wildhack has not said whether he, or the new SU athletics director, would be the one to hire the next Syracuse basketball head coach, should a change be coming soon.
The answer to that discussion point, though, is simple and straightforward. It can't be Wildhack making that decision.
The next AD has to hire the next Syracuse men's basketball head coach.
If Wildhack is going to make the final decision on Autry's future come next month, so be it. But it would be super odd and super weird for Wildhack to then hire the next Orange head coach and bolt the Hill a few months later. That makes no sense, as former Syracuse basketball standout Eric Devendorf recently opined.
SU's current AD John Wildhack told @ccarlsononSU that he would make the final recommendation on the future of the Syracuse Men's Basketball program. Today on the Orange Zone Podcast, Eric Devendorf gave his thoughts.
— Samantha Croston (@SamCroston1) February 17, 2026
"It doesn't make sense." pic.twitter.com/IqvUnxSdFF
Devendorf, who is a college basketball analyst for the ACC Network and ESPN, correctly notes that a potential candidate for the Syracuse basketball head coaching position would view it as a red flag if the athletics director who would be hiring him, Wildhack, would then no longer be his boss come July 1.
Devendorf is spot on: The prospective next head coach of the Orange should be negotiating his contract, NIL and other issues with the new athletics director, who will be his boss on July 1 and into the future.
Not too long ago, SU chancellor Kent Syverud announced a search committee to find Wildhack's replacement. This search committee wants to get things right in finding the next 'Cuse athletics director, but time is also of the essence.
The ACC Tournament runs from March 10 to March 14. As post-season conference tournaments wrap up, the coaching carousel will kick into high gear, with head coaching changes made, including potentially at SU.
The 15-day transfer portal window in men's college basketball will commence the day after the championship game of the 2026 Big Dance. This spring, it will be open from April 7 to April 21.
In a perfect world, so to speak, the next Syracuse Orange athletics director will be revealed by the time the 2025-26 regular season ends, so that this new AD can be the one to then expediently hire the next men's basketball head coach.
That brings up another question: If a new athletics director is hired relatively soon, should he or she be the one to determine the future of Autry and the current Syracuse basketball staff? I get that Wildhack isn't retiring until July 1, and who knows when a new Syracuse University chancellor will be announced.
There are just a lot of moving parts at SU these days, and all the relevant stakeholders need to act quickly, responsibly and with a sense of urgency to best ensure that Syracuse men's basketball and 'Cuse athletics as a whole are in a strong position heading into the 2026-27 sports season.