Popular NBC Sports broadcaster and Syracuse alum Mike Tirico shared his insight on two major recent hirings within the university community in an appearance on ESPN Radio Syracuse on Monday.

Tirico has served as a member of two different selection committees over the past several months.

First, Tirico was appointed to the committee to find the next chancellor for Syracuse. That group eventually chose Mike Haynie to follow Kent Syverud as the school's next leader. Haynie, who has worked at Syracuse for the past decade, has vowed for Syracuse to be a "top-tier athletics program".

Then, Tirico also helped in the selection of Bryan Blair as the school's next athletic director. Blair was hired last week and joins Syracuse after serving as the athletic director at Toledo since 2022. John Wildhack is retiring at the end of June.

"Bryan [Blair] quickly and clearly rose up as one of the elite choices. In a really good pool of folks. And why he rose, which I'm happy to go into more detail about, was his track record. And the things that he has done and people he has been around. And the more folks we talked to to find more about Bryan, the more you can see why he clearly has earned the title of the next really terrific athletic director in intercollegiate athletics." 

A New York City native, Tirico graduated from the S.I Newhouse School of Public Communications in 1988. He began his broadcasting career in Syracuse as an undergraduate at the local CBS television affiliate (WTVH), serving four years as the station's sports director.  Tirico, who just called the Super Bowl for NBC, began his radio career at Syracuse. He hosted a show on the student run station, WAER, during his time in Central New York. 

Not only did Tirico offer his insight on the Blair hiring, but the 59-year-old shared a message of positivity and excitement for alumni and fans of the Orange.

"If we show people we have as good a fan base as you can have, in a community with Micron coming in, the people are going to come in. Like, watch these people come in and just absorb Syracuse Athletics and enjoy it. It's the best entertainment in town and we have got it under our feet there. So, we need to all kind of come together and grow. And I think Bryan (Blair) is going to do that in the athletic space and I think Mike Haynie is going to do that as the new chancellor, and when we get a new basketball coach in here, hopefully he will as much success as Felisha (Legette-Jack, women's basketball coach) has had and get us back in the tournament and winning 20 games on a regular basis."

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