Does it? It does. Or does it?
Syracuse University does a lot of things well. At the very least that was the case when I went there between 2001 and 2005. Of course, that was a time before social media and Twitter. Hell, there wasn't even Facebook until my senior year, and even then it was campus e-mails only and you could only friend people at your school. Maxwell was highly regarded. Newhouse was highly regarded. Both still are. Syracuse Athletics was highly regarded, with Jake Crouthamel the chain smoking, Patton-like leader. While programs' success go up and down, overall SU is still a highly regarded institution of higher learning and athletics. So they why have I had to be so embarrassed by the things it's done over the past few years?
Yesterday was just the latest example of how things have gone so wrong on the hill. Syracuse on Tuesday pleased a good chunk of the football fan base by saying that #44 was coming out of retirement and will possibly be granted to a player in the future, should they be deemed so qualified by a panel in the Athletic Department. One of the most famous 44's, Floyd Little, will help decide. Sounded good for me. While I wasn't too upset they retired it back in 2005, I was definitely excited by the fact they brought it back. Undoing something DOC Gross did wasn't the worst idea at this point really. But then Kevin Quinn, who works at Syracuse University and not in the Athletic Department, made some comments to "clarify" the restoration of the number. He basically said the same thing the Athletic Department did the day before, but in a way that made it seem unclear. And it was totally unnecessary to do anyway. We got it the day before. Just let that excitement build. Of course, you should also be aware that Donovan McNabb, probably the school's most famous football alumni of the last 20 years, PTI, and Kieth Olbermann ripped the restoration too. Was Quinn responding to the media backlash of it all? If so, why? Why clarify? Why do anything but let the alumni and fans enjoy it?
Syracuse has a long recent history of making massive, embarrassing moments. A good number have happened on Twitter. And it has been both the Athletic Department and SU's Twitter accounts. A few off the top of my head include the Athletic Department's Twitter not knowing that a touchback on a kickoff put the ball at the 25, not knowing that Jerry McNamara wasn't a person despite Gerry McNamara being an assistant on the team, and committing NCAA Violations like tweeting out you should buy an "Ennis" jersey or tweeting at unsigned recruits. Nothing unfixable, but still stuff that shouldn't happen.
Then there was the ridiculous "Bowie" situation when Louis Orr and Roosevelt Bouie both had their jerseys retired, but the commemorative jersey given to Bouie was misspelled. The excuse that came out was that one employee was in charge of ordering them and no one thought to check it. Seriously?!? No organization exists like that anywhere!
While the Twitter stuff probably didn't reach any further than the Twittersphere (you know, except the stuff SU had to report to the NCAA as secondary violations [and believe me, I can take the heat from UConn fans who think they are smarter than they really are]), the "Bowie" incident made Syracuse look like a joke of a department on a national level for at least the day. And then we all complain online about how embarrassing it is and how stuff like that shouldn't happen. BUT IT KEEPS HAPPENING!!! Am I, and a select few of you out there, the only people left with common sense? It seems like no one working at SU has some. You'd think after the first or even second Twitter gaffe you wouldn't let student interns tweet from the account of a major university and their athletic department unchecked. You'd think that someone, ANYONE, would double check the spelling of two major icons at your school you are honoring before ordering them. Or maybe just the one person doing it double check via Google before pressing send on that order? But no, this stuff keeps happening and happening and happening over the last 3-5 years. And there is no reason for it.
Syracuse needs to either restructure things internally so that someone with brains is making some decisions on things, or pony up a check book and hire people dedicated to making sure this stuff doesn't happen. Or all of it. Or ANY OF IT. I don't have any PR background, but I'm at least smart enough to know whatever SU is doing isn't working and hasn't worked for some time. And until things change they will just keep making me have to be embarrassed.
UPDATE 6/4/15: Looks like the story with the #44 keeps being embarrassing. Might want to actually talk to Jim Brown before you declare something as big as unretiring his number.
Then there was the ridiculous "Bowie" situation when Louis Orr and Roosevelt Bouie both had their jerseys retired, but the commemorative jersey given to Bouie was misspelled. The excuse that came out was that one employee was in charge of ordering them and no one thought to check it. Seriously?!? No organization exists like that anywhere!
While the Twitter stuff probably didn't reach any further than the Twittersphere (you know, except the stuff SU had to report to the NCAA as secondary violations [and believe me, I can take the heat from UConn fans who think they are smarter than they really are]), the "Bowie" incident made Syracuse look like a joke of a department on a national level for at least the day. And then we all complain online about how embarrassing it is and how stuff like that shouldn't happen. BUT IT KEEPS HAPPENING!!! Am I, and a select few of you out there, the only people left with common sense? It seems like no one working at SU has some. You'd think after the first or even second Twitter gaffe you wouldn't let student interns tweet from the account of a major university and their athletic department unchecked. You'd think that someone, ANYONE, would double check the spelling of two major icons at your school you are honoring before ordering them. Or maybe just the one person doing it double check via Google before pressing send on that order? But no, this stuff keeps happening and happening and happening over the last 3-5 years. And there is no reason for it.
Syracuse needs to either restructure things internally so that someone with brains is making some decisions on things, or pony up a check book and hire people dedicated to making sure this stuff doesn't happen. Or all of it. Or ANY OF IT. I don't have any PR background, but I'm at least smart enough to know whatever SU is doing isn't working and hasn't worked for some time. And until things change they will just keep making me have to be embarrassed.
UPDATE 6/4/15: Looks like the story with the #44 keeps being embarrassing. Might want to actually talk to Jim Brown before you declare something as big as unretiring his number.
Labels: Athletic Department, Football, Syracuse University
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