John Wildhack - Director of Athletics - Staff Directory

Staff Directory

John Wildhack

Title:
Director of Athletics
Email:
Phone:
8705

A uniquely qualified leader with a vast knowledge of and passion for Syracuse University Athletics, Wildhack was named Syracuse’s 11th director of athletics in July 2016, following a long tenure as an executive at ESPN.

At Syracuse, Wildhack leads the daily operations of a 20-sport athletics department with more than 550 student-athletes. During his time, he has worked diligently to create an environment that fosters academic and athletic excellence, which prepares student-athletes to be leaders in our global society. Those efforts have resulted in tremendous success both on and off the field.

In Wildhack’s nine years, 94 teams have represented Syracuse at national championship events, including 85 NCAA competitions. The 2022 men’s soccer team won the National Championship, while the men’s lacrosse team returned to the final four in 2025, women’s lacrosse team has advanced to Championship Weekend in three of the last five years, and the football team has reached three-straight bowl games, it’s longest streak in two decades.

The Orange have won 32 conference championships (nine team, 23 individual) in that span, and three national championships (one team, two individual). The most recent title came by way of the men’s soccer team’s first NCAA Championship in 2022, while both individual national titles were courtesy of Justyn Knight, who won the NCAA Cross Country Championship and the NCAA Indoor Championship in the 5,000-meter run during the 2017-18 academic year.

Syracuse student-athletes are succeeding at a high rate in the classroom, as well. The Orange have had at least four teams receive perfect four-year scores in the NCAA’s Academic Progress Rate (APR) for six-straight years. This past fall saw new heights in the classroom for Syracuse student-athletes. A new semester GPA record was set in the fall, with the average GPA across all student-athletes being above a 3.3. Seventy-one percent of student athletes were above a 3.0, and 45 student-athletes earned perfect 4.0s. The football team has seen significant academic success, after posting the single-year, fall (2024) and spring (2025) GPAs in program history.

Wildhack has been an instrumental leader in the dynamic landscape of intercollegiate athletics, including time as the chair of the ACC Athletic Directors (2023-24) and most recently being appointed to the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee, among other roles.

Since his arrival on campus, Wildhack has overseen multiple strategic initiatives to ensure the future success of the department. Among the most impactful have been the construction of the John A. Lally Athletics Complex, facilitating a new 10-year naming rights agreement for the JMA Wireless Dome, securing $118 million investment from the University for enhancements to the building, and the formation of an in-house production unit, increasing visibility of Syracuse student-athletes on ESPN and the ACC Network.

Named after alumnus and three-time football letterwinner John Lally ‘82, the state-of-the-art academic and athletics village is home to 20 Syracuse University athletics teams. The hub of activity and the center of student-athlete life for Syracuse University athletics, the John A. Lally Athletics Complex supports the academic and athletic experience of the Orange 550+ student-athletes. The new entranceway to the building was opened during a ribbon-cutting ceremony in February 2023, while the new football operations center was completed in April, 2025 and “One Team” Olympic Sports Center construction is currently under construction.

Authorized by the Board of Trustees in May 2018, the $118 million in funds enabled the University to move forward with improvements to the Dome. The upgrades included a new fixed roof, vertically-hung scoreboard, and state-of-the-art sound and lighting systems, which were completed in September 2020.

The iconic building got a new name in May 2022, as the University and JMA Wireless announced a 10-year partnership for the naming rights of the University on-campus stadium, just the second name since the venue opened its doors in 1980. The two Central New York organizations also announced that Syracuse-based JMA will support the Dome’s digital infrastructure transformation by establishing the most advanced connectivity offerings for fans and other users while at the Dome. Ahead of the 2024 football season, upgraded chairback seating and new premium offerings will be installed throughout the venue.

During his distinguished career at ESPN, which spanned more than 30 years, Wildhack held a number of leadership roles and was responsible for several firsts at the network. Those firsts included producing ESPN’s first live regular-season college football game in September 1984 and its first live NFL game in August 1987.

Before joining the Orange, Wildhack most recently served as the network’s executive vice president for programming and production. He was responsible for oversight of all ESPN and ABC game, event and studio production work for domestic and international television and radio, as well as programming acquisitions, rights-holder relationship management and scheduling. He managed all league and conference relationships, negotiated all live sports television rights and was responsible for 50,000 hours of on-air content annually.

From 2007 to 2012, Wildhack was ESPN’s executive vice president for programming and acquisitions. In that role, he oversaw all rights negotiations and managed relationships with rights holders for all ESPN entities. These included ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Classic, ESPNews, ESPN Deportes, ESPNU, ESPN International, ESPN Radio, ESPN.com, ESPN3, ESPN Mobile Properties, print and more. In 2009, he began leading strategic program planning for all ESPN television networks, ESPN on ABC and ESPN’s digital platforms.

Wildhack’s managerial role at the company began in 1990 when he was named director of event productions. In 1991, he was promoted to vice president for remote production, a position he held through 1993 when he became senior vice president for remote production. In September 1994, he moved to the programming department as senior vice president for programming, and in 2005 he became senior vice president for programming acquisitions & strategy. Wildhack was directly involved in the renewal and expansion of many ESPN and ESPN2 programming agreements for the NFL, MLB, NBA, Bowl Championship Series, NCAA, tennis’ four Grand Slam events and a variety of major college conferences. His efforts were integral to the increase of live and original programming on ESPN and ESPN2. Under his direction, the evolution of ESPN2’s programming lineup included an extensive commitment to auto racing and college football and basketball, leading to ESPN2 becoming the fastest growing network of the 1990s.

Wildhack first joined ESPN as a production assistant in 1980. He served in a number of production positions prior to his move to the management track, including production assistant, associate producer, senior associate producer, producer, coordinating producer and director of event productions. Among the sports he worked on were college football, NCAA basketball, boxing, golf and auto racing. He served as coordinating producer for ESPN’s “Sunday Night Football” and NFL Draft telecasts in 1988 and 1989 and produced NFL games for the network – the first NFL games on cable – from 1987-89.

A native of Buffalo, New York and a 1980 alumnus of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications with a degree in telecommunications, Wildhack joined ESPN in its first year of operation immediately following his graduation. An active alumnus of the University, he sits on the Advisory Board for the David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics and was an honoree at the “Newhouse at 40” Gala.

He and his wife, Amy, have two sons, Tommy ‘26 and James ‘27. John is also the father of a son, M.J.