Who said the summer was slow in college sports? Because that’s not the case with Syracuse this summer.
We have Boeheim’s Army, a team made up of Syracuse basketball alums, playing in The Basketball Tournament for a $2 million prize. We have former players playing in the NBA’s Summer League, and playing well.
And in perhaps the biggest news of the Syracuse summer thus far, a new athletic director was hired. And that’s where everything trickles down from.
Now, I don’t want to jinx anything, but I think we could have some stability within the Syracuse athletics for the first time in a little while. See, when I was in school not that long ago, SU had one athletic director, one basketball coach and one football coach during my four years there.
» Related: Boeheim’s Army advances with 86-82 win over North Broad Street Bullies
Since I left, they’ve hired two different football coaches and two different athletic directors.
This year will be the first year for new football coach Dino Babers, and just the other week Cuse hired ESPN’s John Wildhack as its new athletic director. Of course, Jim Boeheim is the constant in all of this.
But with his suspension last year, even he hasn’t been around all the time.
In these cases, change was good. I’m all for getting a Cuse alum with a business and media background in as the AD. And I’m hoping Babers can bring back the up-tempo offense that was great fun to watch when offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett and quarterback Ryan Nassib ran the show as recently as 2012.
You want to get to the point in football where you are consistently good, as SU is in basketball. Easier said than done. But when you have coaches and administrators who want to be there, it certainly helps.
So I think the Orange are in a good spot. It’s in the news for good reasons. Now bring on the W’s. Once summer ends, of course.
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