Toledo’s Bryan Blair has officially been named the new athletic director at Syracuse, the school announced Thursday.
It’s the latest significant move for Syracuse, which in the last 10 days has named a new chancellor, Mike Haynie, and fired basketball coach Adrian Autry.
“Bryan Blair is the athletics leader for this moment and for the future of Syracuse University,” Haynie said in a statement. “He is a fierce competitor who knows how to build winning programs, a visionary who approaches the business of college athletics with genuine creativity and ingenuity, and a leader of exemplary character who understands that athletics exists to serve students and the broader University mission.”
Blair says he’s excited to lead one of the “most iconic programs in college athletics.”
“The opportunity to lead Orange Athletics at this moment is incredibly exciting because the potential ahead is extraordinary,” Blair said in a statement. “The best days of Syracuse Athletics are ahead of us, and I am honored to have the opportunity to lead the program to new levels of excellence.”
Blair replaces John Wildhack, who is retiring after 10 years and uneven results in the school’s major sports. Wildhack’s final major action as athletic director was the dismissal of Autry on Wednesday, now arguably Blair’s first big priority as Syracuse AD.
The basketball program hasn’t reached the NCAA tournament in five seasons, with the last appearance coming in 2021. Syracuse’s football program won 10 games under Fran Brown in 2024 before slipping to 3-9 last year in the wake of an injury to quarterback Steve Angeli.
Blair, who as AD at Toledo since 2022, brings a reputation as a fundraiser, a strong football background and comes from an athletic department that won 13 MAC championships in his tenure. Toledo was the first MAC school with a collective and has a full-time executive for NIL strategy.
Blair previously worked in athletic departments at Washington State, Rice and South Carolina in various roles prior to his time at Toledo. He holds a law degree from South Carolina and played football in college at Wofford.
