Syracuse AD Bryan Blair officially takes over this week, beginning a new era for the Orange

Although he has been on the job making big decisions since March, Blair succeeds John Wildhack for the record on July 1.

Syracuse University Director of Athletics Bryan Blair speaks to the audience at his introductory press conference, March 19, 2026 at the JMA Wireless Dome. | Screenshot courtesy of Syracuse University Athletic Communications

As Syracuse University's relatively new (named March 3, 2026) chancellor and president Mike Haynie alluded to in his introduction of Blair in a March 19 event at the Dome's Miron Victory Court, he is just the 12th (full time) athletic director in the school's 156-year history.

Replacing the retiring Wildhack, who served 10 years in the role after departing a long production and senior executive career at ESPN, Brown officially kicks off his tenure on Wednesday, with July 1 marking the annual start of the business/fiscal cycle for collegiate sports.

With numbers as a guide, Blair will likely make a big impact on Orange athletics well into the 2030s

According to industry website Athletic Director U from Arizona State University's Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law, the average career span of a Division I athletic director is just seven years.

In Syracuse's athletic department history dating back to 1910, it is a 10 year career average over a century plus of competition, totaling the 11 previous athletic directors.

That includes the varying tenures of the three ADs prior to Wldhack's run. Jake Crouthamel served an amazing 26 years (1978-2004), Daryl Gross was right about the average (2004-2015), and the outlier was Mark Coyle who's time on campus lasted just one year (2015-16) after the AD job at his home state's flagship school - Minnesota, opened up.

Crouthamel's 26 years was one year short of Syracuse legend Lew Andreas' 27 year run as AD from 1937-1964, in which Andreas also simultaneously coached the basketball program for 12 seasons up to 1949-50.

Perhaps its is no coincidence that the two longest serving ADs in school history, Andreas and Crouthamel, also oversaw the modern era football (1959) and basketball (2003) national titles, putting Syracuse in elite company as one of only 11 Div. I schools to win those dual titles.

Plenty for Blair and his senior team to tackle within a "Top 60" athletic department ranking

The National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) released its final Learfield Cup standings last week, and Syracuse ended the 2025-26 school year with a 59th place finish out of 361 Div. I schools, which also placed SU14th among the ACC's 18 programs (including Notre Dame).

The point system is equally awarded to all men's and women's programs a school sponsors, with more points generated depending how far a team advances in its sport's post-season competition (i.e.: SU men's lacrosse to the NCAA semifinals).

Syracuse's best Learfield Cup finish was 21st nationally, which came under Gross' direction in the 2015-16 academic year, during a period of sustained emphasis he placed on supporting all the non-revenue programs.

Times have changed with NIL and budgeted, direct payments to players. Fundraising for football, basketball, then lacrosse and the other programs (in that order), and overall building back attendance (by winning games) and generating maximum revenue opportunities from the Dome are the areas where Blair and his senior team will prioritize.

In his first two months on the job, Blair announced his all-star, hand-picked senior staff that has extensive experience at schools in each of the Power Four Conferences + Notre Dame. Moving forward, Nicole Harris (women's sports), Charles Small (basketball), and Yulander Wells Jr. (football), will oversee their respective sports, working in conjunction with the Associate ADs assigned to each program.

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