We can talk about what happened yesterday until we're blue (platinum?) in the face. Perhaps we already have. But all the focus on Mark Coyle and where he's going ignores the small collection of things he set into motion. Or more specifically, what questions he'll leave behind at his now former employer, Syracuse University.
This list could go much longer than five items. But for our sake here, let's keep it at that for now.
Five Questions Mark Coyle Leaves Behind at Syracuse
What happens to the full athletics staff revamp?
Coyle was brought in to clean house in the athletic department, to an extent. And he largely did that. Out were previously ineffective staffers under DOCTOR Gross. And in came a host of former colleagues that helped him succeed at Boise State. What do those people do now? Yesterday, Floyd Little told Syracuse.com that "no one had an inkling" of this move at all -- not even his right-hand man John Cunningham. These were people that relocated from Idaho to New York over the course of the last 10 months. Is he going to ask them to join him in Minnesota? In short order, Syracuse could be left at square one in terms of most of its athletics staff.
What's going to happen on that "No Huddle Tour" we heard all about?
The university's already announced that the "No Huddle Tour" will continue as planned, sans Coyle and plus Little. That's good for fans and alums that planned to join Dino Babers and Jim Boeheim already for several stops on the trip. It's also good that Syracuse isn't just abandoning Coyle's ideas to reconnect Orange athletics with the surrounding region. It's hard to see how this works out well for both attending coaches and the university in the short-term, however. The tour begins in five days -- that's six removed from Coyle's departure. You can't ask fans to congregate and then expect them not to bring questions along. Even if the inquiries mean well, Babers and Boeheim could be in for a slew of requests they'd rather avoid.
What's next for the athletic fee plan for basketball and football tickets?
The Daily Orange asked the Student Association and Otto's Army yesterday, and they're concerned about the future of said initiative now that one of its champions is no longer at the university. For now, the plan's on hold, and based on the rapid timeline Syracuse will need to operate on to get a new AD in the fold, there's no telling where this will fall on the agenda now. Obviously it was ambitious to include season tickets in student fees, but it was a better idea than most to get the school's undergrad population to games. It may be back to the drawing board there under a new regime.
Will Carrier Dome renovation plans proceed as assumed?
Coyle and Pete Sala were major players in the ongoing conversation around Carrier Dome renovations. The Syracuse University Board of Trustees was set to vote soon on a course of action to renovate the beloved building, but could this shift in leadership mean it's hitting a snag? Sala's long tenure probably keeps it moving. But you'd still have to think SUA's most powerful voice for one plan or another (the AD) being absent from conversations could hurt progress. This is an issue worth keeping an eye on.
Does this change Babers's long-term outlook at Syracuse?
This might be on everyone's mind, but it's tough to gauge if it's a legitimate point of conversation. Clearly Babers was brought in by Coyle, and had some amount of trust in his new boss. We don't know to what extent Coyle's presence sold Babers in, nor what Babers thinking was before yesterday's news about his long-term plans as Orange head coach. What we do know is that he's on the first year of a six-year deal and faces a gauntlet of a schedule. New ADs typically want "their guys," but football success will likely be prioritized over that desire. If Babers starts collecting early wins, this question goes away quickly.
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Like we said: Plenty more questions left behind beyond these five, and a whole lot more set up for Syracuse and Coyle in their respective futures as well. What other lingering questions might we be forgetting? Go ahead and share below.