Syracuse, N.Y. — Syracuse athletic director John Wildhack didn’t wake up feeling dangerous on Thursday.
At a press conference in the Iocolano-Petty Football Wing Auditorium, Wildhack kept his answers close to the vest and milquetoast on a variety of topics, including the status of his head football coach.
It was a different tone than the strong backing Wildhack gave Dino Babers, unprompted, in a press conference back in June when he proclaimed that his head football coach was not on the hot seat.
A 5-0 start tends to cool off such talk.
Wildhack wasn’t in the mood to brag about that on Thursday. It was time to spread out the credit as far as it could go.
“The offseason was really good,” Wildhack said on Thursday. “Winter conditioning, spring ball, camp. That’s carried over into the fall. It’s a credit to the entire staff. Not just the coaching staff. It’s the support staff. It’s strength and conditioning. It’s sports medicine. Our athletic training staff. Academic advising. Across the board. They all deserve credit for being 5-0.”
After Syracuse’s electric 10-3 season in 2018 -- Babers only winning season at Syracuse to date -- he was rewarded with a contract extension.
Asked on Thursday if the topic of another extension has been broached, Wildhack swiped one right out of the football coach cliche playbook.
“We’re focused on N.C. State,” Wildhack said. “Really focused on N.C. State. All you had to do is watch those linebackers against Clemson and that defensive front. We’re focused on N.C. State.”
It was a smart answer on Wildhack’s part because, as exciting as SU’s 5-0 start has been, things get real when the Orange get back at it next week after a bye this weekend.
It wasn’t the time for Wildhack to put the chips in the middle of the table on Babers, though Syracuse fans are starting to believe again.
The Orange are back in the Top 25 polls and more football patrons will be in the JMA Wireless Dome to be witnesses to it all.
Wildhack revealed Thursday that more than 40,000 tickets have been sold for the N.C. State game at the JMA Wireless Dome next Saturday. That game has the potential to be the first between two ranked teams at the Dome since 2001.
Wildhack also said ticket sales for SU’s game against Notre Dame on Oct. 29 at the Dome were “going well.”
Attendance for Syracuse’s first four home games of the season did not top the 37,110 fans that saw the Orange beat Louisville 31-7 in the season opener.
While the second half of Syracuse’s schedule will not provide any room for error, all Babers needs is one more win to lock in a return for the 2023 season.
Wildhack isn’t going to fire a coach that gets Syracuse to a bowl game, especially with a reported $10 million buyout that would come with Babers’ removal this year.
The only thing now that could possibly trigger that thought is an 0-7 run in SU’s final seven games.
That’s a mark that’s not out of the realm of possibility, but it’s difficult to imagine given how Syracuse has played so far.
N.C. State, Clemson, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, Florida State, Wake Forest and Boston College.
It won’t be easy for Syracuse to navigate that seven-game stretch, but it’s doable. Not one team on that list is out of Syracuse’s league right now.
“The second half of the schedule is a gauntlet,” Wildhack said. “There’s two ways to look at that. Is it a challenge? Yeah, but it’s also a tremendous opportunity. We put ourselves, and the team and staff, put themselves in that position to do something pretty special.”
Wildhack placed his bet on Babers back in June by saying his coach wasn’t on the hot seat.
As of now, Babers is a hot commodity again.
The next seven games will determine what the temperature of Wildhack’s next statement about Babers will be from behind the podium.
Contact Brent Axe: Email | Twitter
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