Syracuse athletic director John Wildhack announced Thursday that basketball coach Adrian Autry will return next season, but that the second-year coach “understands that we need to fix it.” The Orange (12-18, 6-13 ACC) are on track to finish with their fewest victories in a season since the 1969-1970 season.
“We need to fix it now for next year, and we need to get this program back to the standard and the performance level that we expect as a program, that he expects, the staff expects and our fans expect,” Wildhack told Cuse Sports Talk.
Autry, 53, played for legendary former Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim in the early 1990s and was a longtime assistant for the program before Boeheim retired following the 2022-2023 season. The Orange debuted with a 20-12 (11-9 ACC) mark under Autry last season but have struggled to be competitive this season, even during a down year for the ACC.
Between the final two years of the Boeheim era and the first two years under Autry, Syracuse is on the cusp of going four straight seasons without reaching the NCAA Tournament for the first time in more than 50 years.
“Obviously, I understand the disappointment and the expectations that we had,” Autry said on Cuse Sports Talk. “They didn’t come to fruition this year. But to be able to sit down and talk with John, and we both understand moving forward what we need to do. We both are committed to it.”
Key to all of Syracuse’s ambitions is the competitiveness of its NIL situation. Wildhack said the Orange are going to be full participants in the expected revenue-sharing model created by the House v. NCAA settlement. As such, the athletic department will have roughly $20.5 million to disperse between its programs.
Wildhack declined to say what percentage he expects to go toward men’s basketball but did highlight the importance of the program continuing to foster third-party NIL opportunities, in addition to revenue-sharing.
“The third-party NIL is going to continue to be very, very important to make us competitive, particularly in football and men’s basketball,” Wildhack said. “That corporate support of third-party NIL on a regional basis, on a local basis is going to be absolutely essential to our competitive success.”
What else do the Orange need to do in order to return to the ACC’s upper echelon as they move into Year 3 of the Autry era? Part of the potential solution is already in place.
Leaning on the general manager
Syracuse hired veteran NBA scout Alex Kline last July to be the program’s general manager. Wilhdack noted that Kline “got here too late” to impact the program’s roster this season; the transfer portal cycle was essentially complete by the time he arrived. Now, after several months on the job and plenty of time study college personnel, Kline should have the Orange positioned to attack the offseason.
“He’s been here now,” Wildhack said. “I think we’re much better prepared for the portal from a personnel standpoint. I think Alex has also helped us in terms of recruiting and identifying the type of player our staff wants at Syracuse.”
Portal season looms large for Orange
As with many programs, portal season will determine a lot about Syracuse’s outlook next season. If the Orange are able to retain leading scorer JJ Starling and promising forward Donnie Freeman, fielding a competitive roster would get simpler. Starling is averaging 18 points per game, and though he’s been inefficient offensively, that’s partly the byproduct of how significant a load he’s been asked to carry.
Freeman, a former McDonald’s All-American, was one of the ACC’s top freshmen before a season-ending leg injury ended his campaign after just 14 games. If Freeman returns, the Orange could have an interesting crop of young talent next season. If Starling and/or Freeman depart, it will simply require Syracuse to be significantly more aggressive in the portal.
Talented young core is best-case scenario
Syracuse’s 2025 signing class ranks No. 10 nationally, per 247Sports, and includes a pair of top-40 prospects in Sadiq White Jr. and Kiyan Anthony, the son of program legend Carmelo Anthony. If the Orange can coax substantive contributions out of White and Anthony, the two could combine with Freeman to give the program a talented young core around which to build a contender.
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