Syracuse is now searching for three head coaches

The focus around Syracuse Orange head coach openings has focused on the open women’s basketball job and speculation of Jim Boeheim’s retirement. John Wildhack now has two other head coaches to replace as volleyball head coach Leonid Yelin and women’s ice hockey head coach Paul Flanagan have both announced their retirements.

Yelin has been at Syracuse for 10 years and has used his connections to bring in a number of international players. During the 2017-18 seasons he led the Orange to a 26-12 ACC record and an appearance in the 2018 NCAA Tournament. Associate HC Andrea Beaty has been named interim HC at this time but at first glance this would appear a situation where Syracuse needs an external hire.

Paul Flanagan just led the Orange to their 2nd CHA title and NCAA appearance. He has been the only head coach in program history as he came from St. Lawrence to take over the new program. During his fourteen years at Syracuse, he took the Orange to the CHA title game in nine of those seasons. Associate HC Brendon Knight has been designated the interim HC and with ten years at Syracuse preceded by a six-year stint as HC at Hamilton College he’s going to be a likely candidate to succeed Flanagan. Another candidate to watch is former Orange assistant and current Providence associate HC, Ali Domenico. Domenico also served as an assistant with the Canadian women’s Olympic team this past winter.

With three openings for women’s sports this is an opportunity for Syracuse to improve the diversity among the current coaches in the athletic department. The Orange have just two women (Editor’s Note: terrible mistake on my part here and my apologies. Thanks to @Berg_Ryman for catching this) four women serving as head coaches: Ange Bradley for field hockey, Nicky Adams for women’s soccer, Shannon Doepking for softball and Kayla Treanor with women’s lacrosse. This isn’t to say that Syracuse should hire women just to check boxes but it’s an opportunity for the athletic department to work with these teams to find the leadership to bring success beyond wins and losses.