Mike Tirico, NBC sportscaster and host and a Syracuse graduate, is among the seven people appointed by chancellor Kent Syverud as members of the search committee to find the university’s next athletic director.

The university announced the committee membership on Thursday, a day after John Wildhack said he plans to retire on July 1. He was hired as the Orange’s AD in July 2016.

“John Wildhack has been an exceptional leader for Syracuse Athletics,” Syverud said in a university statement. “The next director of athletics will build on a strong foundation and lead us into an exciting new era of Orange Athletics.”

The committee is made up of university trustees, administrators, former athletes and alumni. The group will be chaired by Steve Ballentine, Class of 1983, who is member of the Board of Trustees and the chair of the trustees’ Athletics Committee.

Other members are:

“This search process will be both comprehensive and expeditious,” Ballentine said in the school statement.

“Syracuse Athletics has tremendous assets: a storied athletic history, passionate fan base, exceptional talent, world-class facilities and affiliation in the ACC, one of the nation’s premier conferences. This is a pivotal moment in the rapidly evolving world of college athletics. We’re committed to finding a visionary leader who will help write the next great chapter of Syracuse Athletics.”

Notable among the committee members is Lally, who along with his wife, donated $25 million to Syracuse in 2019 for what he called at the time “first-class facilities, operations and support” for student-athletes. He was a guard on the school football team from 1977-81.

McNabb is the wife of former Syracuse quarterback Donovan McNabb and was the point guard for the Orange’s women’s basketball team in the mid-1990s.

CSA Search & Consulting will assist with the national search. University community members have been encouraged to provide input via a confidential survey, responses to which will assist the search committee.

One of the questions on the survey asks the respondents to detail “the background, experience and skills” the next athletic director should possess.

Wildhack was an outside-the-box hire when he was tabbed for the job. A 1980 graduate of Syracuse, he had spent the past 36 years working at ESPN, rising to the role of executive vice president for programming and production.  

At the time of his hiring, Syverud said this:

"John is an entrepreneurial, outside-the-box leader who brings an unparalleled set of skills and experiences to the director of athletics position," he said. "As a leader at ESPN, he has demonstrated a keen ability to identify and implement strategies aimed at elevating the entire organization. That record of success, combined with his extensive history of building and inspiring teams, will allow him to immediately and positively impact the lives of our student-athletes.”

Syverud won’t work long with the new athletic director, if at all. He will begin his new job as the president of his alma mater, Michigan, on July 1.

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