Well... we said this would come out of nowhere. And it did.
As we said just this morning, chances are we don't know anything about who, when or how Syracuse would announce its new athletic director. ESPN's Jay Bilas tweeted the news this evening, followed within a minute by Syracuse.com's Chris Carlson.
Syracuse will name Boise State AD Mark Coyle as its new athletic director.
So now that we know who the next Orange AD will be, what should we know about him? Well, the high points:
- Served as Boise State athletic director since December 1, 2011; a tenure of just over three and a half years. While he was there, the Broncos won 31 games in three full seasons, plus three bowl games (including this year's Fiesta Bowl over Arizona).
- Previously worked at Kentucky (deputy director of athletics), Minnesota (various roles), Host Communications, Florida State (ticket operations) and Tennessee (ticket operations).
- Graduated from Drake in 1991 (BA) and 1992 (MA), plus Florida State (1993).
Again, these are just some initial takes. We'll have plenty more about Coyle next week. BUT, some thoughts on the resume:
Coyle's definitely well-traveled, having served in three different athletic departments (aside from ticket operations) since 2002. So on average, he sticks around for about three years. He's been an AD before, at a school that highly values football, while also finding ways to grow their basketball program and women's sports a ton since his arrival. At Kentucky, he obviously got exposure to a top-notch hoops program, which should serve him well in keeping the Orange afloat post-Boeheim. He was also a finalist for the Pitt job... which should tell you none of us knew what the hell we were talking about while running SU over the coals for perceived clubhouse favorites (mea culpa, gang).
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While Coyle does have some PR and marketing background (Host Communications, plus awards for top marketing staff while at Minnesota), he does NOT have a doctorate and has not shown a propensity for #BRAND at his previous stops... or at least not one that out-paces that of former Orange AD DOCTOR Gross. There's a great angle here that we'll explore further next week: the Broncos are Boise's pro team and the Orange are Syracuse's. It's a unique challenge that some programs have and others don't. So it's refreshing to see someone understand that right off the bat (something Gross never did).
Welcome aboard, Mr. Coyle! We're looking forward to your time on the Hill, and can't wait for you to get down to the business of fixing Syracuse football! (while maintaining the other sports as well, of course)
