This was a taxing year for Syracuse. From early in the season it was apparent this would be rocky. The Orange just avoided a calamitous loss to LeMoyne in the opener, got drummed in Brooklyn, were beaten by a Georgetown team that would finish in the bottom half of the Big East, and began the ACC campaign with consecutive losses. Nothing would be easy.
The defeats piled up in conference, and blown leads grew more absurd by the week. Adrian Autry, a coach widely applauded during a 20-win season in his first campaign, became the object of derision and scorn. By the end of the year, a poll showed the majority of respondents wanted him gone.
That sentiment is far too reactionary. While frustration with continual late-game mishaps was valid (and even shared by Etan Thomas), suggesting he should be fired after his first losing season is hyperbolic. But while Autry came in with a bucket of goodwill for his loyalty to the program, his tone this season grew combative.
Maybe Autry didn’t have answers for why his players couldn’t execute the way he wanted them to. But when asked throughout the winter for ways the Orange could improve, there weren’t many specifics, mostly just coach speak. And when he dismissed the outside criticism by saying, “I’m from the hood so I’ve seen a lot worse,” it didn’t come off well. No one believes losing basketball games is akin to the horrors of inner city life. This showed a coach who had put up personal walls. His interviews and post-game press conferences became brusque, a far cry from the smiling “Red” who pumped needed optimism and energy into the program a year ago.
Then the underwhelming final salute. After the Orange were eliminated by SMU in the ACC Tournament, Autry was asked what his message would be for disappointed fans for next year.
“I can answer that question at another time. Right now, I just choose not to answer that question.”
He ended his press conference on that note. Fans and media have stewed over this non-answer for the last 48 hours. Part of Autry’s response is understandable. An exhausting season comes to an abrupt, sullen end. It’s hard to gin up a smile in that moment and convince everyone brighter days are ahead. But there seemed again to be a dash of defiance in the answer. Almost as though Autry was firing back at those who had pummeled him all season, and now were asking him to make them feel better. “I just choose not to answer that question.”
It was earlier in the press conference when Autry actually showed his hand. Part of the reason he may have seemed defiant during appearances was because he thought the team was unfairly condemned in the media.
When Donna Ditota of Syracuse.com asked Autry about the difficulty (10:30 mark) of being an alum and handling a season like this, Autry paused and collected his thoughts. He clearly wanted to say something but knew he had to choose his words carefully.
“It was a little disappointing to be honest with you, going through some tough times. I just think, I’ll learn a lot from that. I have learned a lot from that. I’ll just leave it at that. It was disappointing to be honest with you. Not to say that you gotta be happy, but I just think as an alum you’re disappointed in yourself that you cant get your team to play well as a coach. Just the way the team was covered was a little disappointing… and that obviously is struggling. But I thought some of it was a little too much.”
Well, this was certainly interesting. Boeheim attacked the media at every turn, at times making it a personal crusade to point out how unenlightened everyone else was. It had become part of his sniffling, dismissive DNA, and perhaps Autry had those same grievances ingrained by Boeheim. Autry felt the love last year, and maybe the pendulum swung so drastically to the other side he suffered emotional whiplash. “You’ve turned on me in just one season?” It’s also an intense media town for college basketball comparatively in the ACC. Syracuse has hard winters, hoops has been religion for decades, and there is no pro team in town. Aside from Duke and UNC, most schools get apathy instead of anger with lost seasons in this league. Go 14-19 at Wake Forest or Virginia Tech and they just ask what time the NASCAR race is on Sunday.
But it’s hard to make the case the coverage has been unfairly negative, unless you’re counting social media as “the media.” You have to go back to the early ’60s for a time when the Orange lost 19+ games in a season. Syracuse finished 14th in an 18-team conference and two of the three newcomers to the ACC ended the year ahead of SU. Yes, today’s sports landscape is far more daunting than 60 years ago. But how many positive opinions could one have about a 14-19 season with multiple late-game collapses, frustrating results in the transfer portal, and empty seats at the Dome?
It’s not healthy for Autry oor the program if old embers of Boeheim’s “media as the enemy” smolder again. The school is ranking in “Milwaukee Brewers territory” of NIL money and is looking for $50M of investment in the next three years. Everyone grew tired of Boeheim’s surliness, and Autry’s vigor last year was refreshing. A coach with only one “negative year” is a little premature in blaming critics for overreacting. Especially a coach at a program that has not made the tourney in four seasons. Fans are not happy, but they want to cheer for you. The media was critical, but that magnifying glass also makes SU an important program. It was the worst season since JFK was in office, so it would benefit Autry to move past the exasperation and into the fresh start of next year with a dynamic recruiting class. Then choose a good time to finally answer that question.
