If you’re going to run athletics at Syracuse University in 2026, you better understand two things:
How the ACC works.
And how big-time football money flows.
That’s why Nick Carparelli’s name isn’t just floating around — it’s gaining traction.
Carparelli isn’t some outsider résumé-drop. He has Syracuse DNA.
From 1992–94, he was a graduate assistant coach with Syracuse football. He earned his MBA on The Hill in 1994. He also has Syracuse football swag all around his office (as seen in this pic). He understands the campus, the Dome, the winters, the expectations. That matters. This isn’t a place you fully “get” from afar.
But here’s where it gets interesting.
Carparelli now serves as Executive Director of the Coca-Cola Bowl Season, overseeing operations and direction for 41 bowl games this past season — including the 12-team College Football Playoff. That’s not ceremonial work. That’s navigating television partners, corporate sponsors, playoff logistics, and the power brokers who actually steer the sport.
Before that? Nearly 30 years building a résumé that reads like a college athletics power map: roles with the New England Patriots, Notre Dame, the Big East Conference, Under Armour, and senior leadership work within the Atlantic Coast Conference ecosystem.
Translation: he understands both sides of the modern equation — tradition and revenue.
With John Wildhack stepping down, Syracuse doesn’t just need someone to hire the next basketball coach. It needs someone who can:
• Navigate NIL realities
• Position football within a shifting ACC
• Protect Syracuse’s standing amid realignment anxiety
• Restore brand relevance in two flagship sports
Carparelli checks more of those boxes than fans might initially realize.
He knows what high-level football infrastructure looks like. He’s worked around NFL professionalism and Notre Dame scale. He’s seen the Big East rise and fracture. He’s helped operate postseason systems at the highest level of the sport.
And unlike a pure conference bureaucrat, he’s got Syracuse roots. He wouldn’t be learning the culture on the fly.
He’s been part of the ACC’s event machine. The football title game. The basketball tournament. Major neutral-site showcases. Those aren’t just games — they’re branding exercises. Syracuse desperately needs someone who can restore brand relevance.
Relationships matter more than ever. Conference politics are real. Grant of Rights debates are real. Revenue distribution conversations are real. Hiring someone already wired into league leadership gives Syracuse an immediate seat at the table instead of playing catch-up.
This hire won’t be about nostalgia. It can’t be.
But if Syracuse wants someone who understands both where it came from and where college athletics is headed — especially in football’s playoff-driven economy — Nick Carparelli makes strategic sense.
He’s not flashy.
He’s wired in.
And in this moment, that might matter more than anything.
