All season long, Adrian Autry’s seat as head coach of Syracuse basketball has gotten hotter and hotter. The more late-game collapses and media conversations, the more SU fans’ anger continued to grow. Not only that, but many have also called for the sophomore coach’s job at the end of this season. It was a matter of time before we got an answer to that question, and today, Syracuse University athletic director John Wildhack put his foot down.
“This season has been disappointing to everybody,’’ Wildhack said to syracuse.com. “It’s frustrating. However you want to categorize it, right? … We’re going to correct it and we’ve got to correct it and Adrian’s going to come back, he’s going to be our coach next year.’’
The struggles for Coach Autry and his team are coming at a tough time for the university. Barring a miracle, this team missing the NCAA Tournament marks the fourth straight year without a berth, the longest drought since the 1960’s. This graduating class of SU students will be the first of many to never see the Orange play important basketball in March (sorry fellow staff member, Tyler Aitken.) If you’re hearing this news and you’re upset as a fan that Wildhack doesn’t see the issues, that was also addressed.
“We need to fix it, and Adrian knows that,’’ Wildhack said. “The staff knows that. And that’s what we’re going to focus on.’’
Wildhack also acknowledged that he thinks Autry is doing a good job leading the team, despite the outcomes we’ve seen all season long (12-18, 6-13 in conference play, barely in a spot for the ACC Tournament, for those of you that may have tuned out for the rest of the year.)
“I see the attention to detail at practice,’’ Wildhack said. “I see the detail in the scout report. I see what the staff does. I mean, it’s in depth. It’s intense. He challenges. The staff challenges. I think our team is well-prepared. I really do. What we need to do is we need to perform better.”
Only time will tell if the program finds the turnaround Wildhack believes in Autry to do, but this kind of statement lights the fire on Adrian Autry’s chair even bigger going into 2025-26.
