Nancy Cantor, Chancellor and President of Syracuse University
Also - Lou Marcoccia, Senior Vice President for Business, Finance and Administrative Services
Nancy Cantor, Chancellor and President of Syracuse University
Opening Statement:
“We are thrilled to be here to recognize someone of extraordinary excellence who has led this department in such an amazing way. As you all know, in the world of college athletics, it is rare to be able to hold on to an athletic director for a very long tenure, more less more than two and a half decades. It’s incredible, and SU is so fortune to have Jake (Crouthamel). You may not be aware, but Jake has been planning his retirement for quite some time now. We knew this day had to come eventually, and it is here today.
“He has informed me of his intention to retire as of June 30, 2005. (laughing) I know you all know how much Jake loves to be in the spotlight and have the attention on him, but we are going to do that and you will help us do that in the spring. We are going to do an incredible roast of this wonderful man who has just been really amazing in SU athletics.
“Just before I came here, people from all over told me about Jake. I worked with an athletics director at Illinois who is an old colleague of his, and he said that you will be in great hands with Jake, and they were right. Following in his footsteps will be a daunting task, finding a successor unto him will be incredible. As you know, under Jake’s leadership, SU Athletics has enjoyed extraordinary success – national title in men’s basketball, nine national titles in men’s lacrosse, 14 football bowl appearances and 22 overall BIG EAST Conference championships. The facilities have been expanded in extraordinary ways – building the Carrier Dome, construction of the football wing and a coaches wing at Manley, a softball stadium, a soccer stadium, the incredibility lush outdoor practice facility, and many more underway. There are so many things we can point to, but the one thing I really want to point to is how many thousands of student-athletes lives have been changed by their connection to Jake over these nearly 27 years. It’s really amazing, you walk around this facility, you talk to teams in the locker room and they all know Jake and he knows them, and they really do feel like they have a grandfather in Jake. We are going to work really hard to keep that connection and we are going to work really hard to make him proud of the next person we find to lead Syracuse’s Athletics Department.
“We hope to get a new AD on board as soon as possible because we have this incredible institutional knowledge in Jake, and we really want to get some interaction and some involvement of the new AD in decision-making and really sitting by the side of this extraordinary leader.
“Now I know the future of the football program is very much on all of your minds. I want to reiterate, as Jake outlined at the end of last football season, that he will closely review the program’s progress at the conclusion of this season. Following the Boston College game, Jake will make a recommendation to me about how he believes we should go forward.
“In terms of the AD search, Associate Dean Mike Wasylenko, from the Maxwell School, will be the chair of the search. He is the perfect person to chair the search because he has been intimately familiar with the workings of the Athletics Department in several roles. First of all, as chair of the SU Athletic Policy Board and as SU’s faculty athletics representative to the NCAA. He is also very intimately connected as a faculty member to the faculty and students at SU more broadly across campus. I am thrilled that among his many different tasks, Mike has agreed to chair this search committee.
“This is a very important search. There are few people who can comprehend how critical an AD is, and my view is that there are very few positions in the University as important and as challenging right now as being an athletic director. Conferences are changing their structures, the external pressures are enormous, the issues about gender equity, issues about how to support student-athletes and really integrate them into the University, questions of raising funds for facilities, and just on and on. It is really a very tough position in terms of being in the public light all the time, really being the bullseye if you will. There is no question that all of this describes Jake to a tee and that is the model we want to have going forward. He has left an indelible mark of long-term success. He is a real builder of programs and that is what we want going forward. His devotion is absolutely unending, this guy lives and breathes SU athletics and SU as a University, and that is what we want.
“Jake, you have our extraordinary thanks. We are not going to let you fade to Cape Cod without a lot of long-term connection. I know having just been at the BIG EAST meetings with Jake how beloved he is there and how much they will work to keep him active in intercollegiate athletics in the BIG EAST. We are not going to lose him but we do want him to be here as a model for our next wonderful AD going forward.”
Lou Marcoccia, Senior Vice President for Business, Finance and Administrative Services
“It is virtually impossible to be on the university campus at any specific spot and not be reminded of what Jake Crouthamel has accomplished. The Carrier Dome looms large on the city skyline. The south edge of campus has the SU softball complex. To the east the hookway renovations offer fields for intercollegiate athletics and intramurals. And right here we have the expanded Lampe Athletics Complex and soccer stadium. But Jake’s touch has affected much more than bricks and mortar, Jake is the individual most responsible for the accomplishments of Syracuse University athletics in the modern era. Jake has guided the program through a monumental time of transition to its status of being a signature Division I program competing on a national stage. Three final fours and one NCAA Championship in men’s basketball. Numerous football bowl appearances and nine men’s lacrosse national titles, and the list goes on. All of that has been earned under Jake’s watch.
“Jake, most importantly, has kept the athletics’ program mainstreamed to the university’s mission. In addition, he has embodied and instilled, in those under his guidance, a strong commitment to excellence in all aspects of Syracuse University athletics. This shared commitment over the past 27 years has provided thousands of student-athletes, past present and future, fond memories of their Syracuse University experience. Jake’s decision to announce his retirement now, will allow us to publicly celebrate his achievements and service during his remaining term as athletics director. For those of us at the institution and for many student-athletes, the reminders of Jake will remain for a long time. For that we are fortunate and grateful.”
