Syracuse University athletic director Bryan Blair said he's ready to jump into the search for a men's basketball coach, as well as improve the schools fundraising to support athletics. Blair was introduced Thursday before a near-capacity audience in the Miron Victory Court just outside the JMA Wireless Dome.
Blair takes over for John Wildhack on July 1 after a four-year run at Toledo. In his introductory press conference, which can be heard in its entirety below, he addressed the search for a new men's basketball coach after Adrian Autry was fired last week. He also discussed plans for fundraising to support name, image and likeness (NIL) payments to athletes at Syracuse, considered key to competitiveness in major sports.
Among the highlights from Blair's introduction were comments on the coaching search, his experience working in college athletics — a diversion from SU's hire of Wildhack, who came from ESPN, a decade ago — and plans for women's sports at SU.
REPORTER: What lessons from your time at Toledo will help you succeed at Syracuse?
BRYAN BLAIR: I think this role is bigger than a lot of people understand, relative to the number of stakeholders. You go from talking to a parent to talking to a CEO, talking to a high-level donor and then talking to a football coach. Having gone through that experience, you learn a lot about what to do and what not to do. I also think we were at a place with less resources, so we had to outmaneuver and out-strategize our opponents many times. I don't always want that to be the case at Syracuse, but I do think we're going to have to outthink and out-strategize and out-people some others.
REPORTER: Are you working in conjunction with John Wildhack and [chancellor-elect] Mike Haynie? Can you speak to the what the basketball coach search process looks like?
BLAIR: Chancellor Haynie, John and I are locked at the hip in terms of what this could and should look like. Certainly, some work started before I arrived. I'll have a strong opinion on what that looks like. But collectively, we all understand what the moment is and what we need to get to.
REPORTER: Are you splitting time between the two schools, or are you here full-time?
BLAIR: My full focus is on Syracuse University and this basketball program right now. Certainly, there will be a time where I go back to Toledo and certainly I want to leave things the right way for whoever comes behind me, but right now my 110 percent focus is on Syracuse.
REPORTER: It takes a lot of money to make Syracuse athletics great. Where does that money come from?
BLAIR: It comes from you and everybody else. I say that felicitously, but if you can buy a t-shirt or you can buy a ticket, you can help us get to where we want, even if you can just buy popcorn. That's the message we've got to share with people. I think there's an understanding that, if I'm a donor, I've got to write a $5-million check. That's not the reality. Everybody's got a role in helping us reach out true potential. If it's popcorn, if it's a t-shirt or if it's a $20-million check, we need everybody all in at this moment.
REPORTER: What are the ways you can bring more energy to sports like women's basketball and others that don't get as much attention?
BLAIR: That's one of the things we've done the best at [Toledo]. We've been top-30 in attendance, we've led the MAC for a really long time, and we've led a lot of Power 4 programs in women's basketball attendance. One, you have to say 'hey, it's important.' Two, you have to look at what fan base is most likely attracted to that sport. I think our fan base in women's basketball will look far different from our fan base for men's basketball, which absolutely is ideal. You don't want that crossover. You want a new set, because all of those individuals can be major donors going forward if you think about it correctly. Investing in women's sports makes dollars and cents right now.
