SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) — Syracuse athletic director John Wildhack announced on Wednesday that he will retire this summer after running the Orange athletic department for 10 years.
The former ESPN executive is a 1980 graduate of Syracuse’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.
“It has been the greatest honor of my career to lead Syracuse Athletics,” Wildhack said. “Syracuse University shaped the trajectory of my life, and to spend nearly a decade serving my alma mater has been an extraordinary privilege.”
Wildhack started at ESPN as a production assistant and rose over 36 years to executive vice president for programming and production before returning to Syracuse. He oversaw improvements of the former Carrier Dome, the home of the Orange football, basketball and lacrosse teams, and an athletics complex serving all 20 teams and more than 600 athletes.
In his tenure, the school earned its highest Academic Progress Rate scores. Wildhack has also served as the Atlantic Coast Conference’s representative on the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee.
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