It sounds like things could potentially move rather expediently in the search for both a new Syracuse University chancellor and a new SU athletics director, which is important for many reasons, one of which centers on the future of the Syracuse basketball program.
Earlier this week, per The Daily Orange, Syracuse University chancellor Kent Syverud said that he anticipates the committee tasked with finding his replacement will make an announcement sometime "next month."
Syverud, by the way, is leaving the Hill by July 1 to become the next president at the University of Michigan. Whether the next SU chancellor will be an internal or external hire remains to be seen, but it's encouraging to see that the next chancellor should come along soon.
Syracuse Orange athletics director John Wildhack is retiring on July 1 after roughly 10 years in that post. Not too long ago, Syverud named a search committee to find Wildhack's replacement. Syverud says that the process to hire SU's next athletics director should move along "quickly," and "in coordination with the chancellor search, given the competitive AD market," according to The Daily Orange.
That, too, is highly encouraging to hear, because timing is of the essence in both searches. Stakeholders want to get these critical hires right, but given that the 2025-26 college basketball season will culminate in the coming weeks, it would be ideal to have a new chancellor and athletics director in place when the current hoops campaign ends.
It should be quite an interesting next several weeks for Syracuse Orange sports.
Similar to the search for a new chancellor, the search for the next 'Cuse athletics director probably includes both internal and external candidates. From my perspective, it might be good to start fresh with new leaders from outside the SU family.
I say this because of the ongoing, transformational landscape in collegiate athletics brought on by the House antitrust settlement, schools paying their players directly, the transfer portal's explosion, and the evolution of third-party name, image and likeness ("NIL") deals.
Given the rough 2025-26 season that Syracuse basketball is having, combined with an awful 2024-25 campaign and an absence from the NCAA Tournament since 2021, the sentiment appears to be that third-year head coach Adrian Autry likely won't be back in 2026-27.
Wildhack, in a recent interview, made it sound like if there were to be a head coaching change, he would be the one to make that decision on Autry's future. However, because Wildhack is retiring in a few months, he should not be hiring the next head coach.
Therefore, the next Syracuse Orange athletics director must be hired by mid-March, and ideally, the new chancellor should be in place by then, too. The ACC Tournament in men's basketball runs from March 10 to March 14 in Charlotte, N.C.
Assuming Syracuse basketball's 2025-26 season ends there, things have to be determined rather quickly on the program's future, as the 15-day transfer portal window in men's college basketball will be open from April 7 to April 21.
If there isn't clarity around SU's next athletics director, along with the head coach and assistant staff of the hoops squad, by the time the portal opens, that would put the Orange at a huge disadvantage with its transfer portal recruiting efforts this offseason.