We've gotten to know new Syracuse Orange athletic director Mark Coyle a little bit so far since he was hired.
We've learned he's going to be his own man. He clearly wants to put the focus back on local SU fans. He's all about talking to people and understanding issues before acting. He liked root beer. He may or may not have a thing for men's ice hockey. And he's got to work on his pitching wind-up.
AD Mark Coyle throwing out the first pitch for tonight's @SyracuseChiefs game! ⚾️ #OrangeNation pic.twitter.com/TP7tmNO0F9
— Syracuse Athletics (@Cuse) August 29, 2015
Now that his first athletic season as AD has begun, Syracuse.com checked in with the newbie to see how he's getting on. What did they learn?
His family is living in Jamesville and has a Boeheim-esque view on meal importance.
Selfishly I can get home in 10 minutes if I want to run home for dinner.
He knows how to say Wegmans, which we didn't realize was up for debate.
You'll see us at Wegmans — do I say that correctly? (Note: He did) — and grab a meal. We spent three weeks in the Sheraton when we first got here and got to know them really well. They were great. But we sneak over to Wegmans to grab breakfast or lunch. Our youngest loves the Coke distributor, you know, with the touch screen? That has really captured his attention.
He's starting with the bottom line.
We just had a senior staff meeting and, first off, I want to understand the budget.
When it comes to The 44 Solution, he's still Switzerland.
We need to keep having conversations about what is the best way to continue that tradition at Syracuse.
He's all about "access points" for fans and, unlike his predecessor, he seems to want to focus on giving everyone a way in, not just rich donors.
At Kentucky, we had the 110 percent club. I think people think donors need to be giving like $100,000. That type of thing helps, but the 110 percent club is a $110 donation. We recognized those folks at basketball games.
He's still getting a sense of what he can do to help football grow and Friday will be a big litmus test.
I think what I want to see is, what is the run of show on game nights? What does it look like when recruits come into the Dome? I want to spend time with recruits. I've talked to recruits that have come into our office. Our goal is to support everything we can with Coach Shafer.
The Wisconsin series was before his time. As for his thoughts on football scheduling, he continues to be mostly vague about exactly what he's thinking, other than to say it's harder than it looks (which it is).
Wisconsin was done prior to my arrival. It's interesting, we're going into Year 2 of the College Football Playoffs. The hot topic a year ago was strength of schedule. It's important to all institutions to gather information and weigh that. As Scott and I move forward we'll work together. The ACC is a grind, especially the division we're in, it's a grind. We have to be strategic about who we play. But when you play Wisconsin and LSU, it's part of your recruiting process. It's all things you have to figure into the puzzle. If the fanbase understood how hard it is, that all the other schools have needs and strategies, and it's not just a simple pick up the phone and it's done. It's trying to find that balance. I recognize it's a hot topic and it's our job to schedule competitively to help us grow.
Coyle is also keenly aware of the sense of urgency in the Syracuse fanbase to succeed sooner than later.
We want to go. We need to focus. And effort is the one thing we can control. If we do those things let's see what happens. The challenge is, sure, you can focus on five wins, six wins, seven or eight but we haven't played a game yet. I get that's what fans want. But we haven't played a game yet. What are things we can control? We can control effort. We can control being competitive, attention to detail and sense of urgency. Results are part of that, but there's other things that add up to that.
Go read the whole thing here and get a sense of what else Coyle might be thinking about his new gig.