John Wildhack (born October 23, 1958) is the 11th
director of athletics at
Syracuse University. Prior to this position, Wildhack was the executive vice president for programming and production at
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...
, where he had worked for 36 years.
Career
ESPN
Wildhack career at
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...
spanned 36 years, in which he held a number of leadership roles.
He started at ESPN in 1980 as a production assistant and steadily rose through the ranks to become the executive vice president for programming and production in 2014.
In his role as executive vice president, Wildhack was responsible for 50,000 hours of content annually and reported directly to ESPN President
John Skipper
John Skipper is an American television executive, former executive chairman of DAZN Group, and former president of ESPN.
Career Education and early career
Skipper attended Lexington Senior High School in Lexington, North Carolina. He the ...
.
Wildhack was in charge of all production efforts at ESPN, in addition to content acquisitions and scheduling. He managed all league and conference relationships and negotiated all broadcast rights, including the
NBA,
SEC,
College Football Playoff
The College Football Playoff (CFP) is an annual postseason knockout invitational tournament to determine a national champion for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), the highest level ...
,
ACC
ACC most often refers to:
* Atlantic Coast Conference, an NCAA Division I collegiate athletic conference located in the US
*American College of Cardiology, A US-based nonprofit medical association that bestows credentials upon cardiovascular spec ...
,
Big 12
The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its f ...
,
US Open Tennis
The US Open Tennis Championships is a hardcourt tennis tournament held annually in Queens, New York. Since 1987, the US Open has been chronologically the fourth and final Grand Slam tournament of the year. The other three, in chronological ord ...
,
Rose Bowl,
Sugar Bowl,
WNBA,
AAC, and
MWC.
He was responsible for several firsts at the network, including producing ESPN’s first live regular-season college football game in September 1984 (
BYU
Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day S ...
Pitt) and its first live NFL game in
August 1987.
Wildhack was an honoree at the "Newhouse at 40" Gala in 2005.
Syracuse
In July 2016, Wildhack was announced the 11th
director of athletics at his alma mater, Syracuse University.
He replaced
Mark Coyle, who had spent only 11 months with the
Orange
Orange most often refers to:
*Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis''
** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower
*Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum
* ...
before leaving for the same job at
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. ...
.
He had no prior experience in athletic administration, but his experience in the sport business industry and his connections with Syracuse University made him a preferred candidate for the job.
At Syracuse, he is responsible for leading the daily operations of a 20-sport athletics department with more than 600 student-athletes. During Wildhack’s four-year tenure (), Syracuse athletes competed in 39 NCAA national championship events (42 total), won 23 conference championships (four team, 19 individual), and two national championships.
Wildhack secured a $118 million investment from the University for renovation of the
Carrier Dome, which underwent a roof replacement, air conditioning, and facilities upgrade. It reopened in Fall 2020.
Off the field, he helped launch an in-house production unit in 2017 that has broadcast 301 live events and generated nearly 1,000 hours of content on the ACC Network and the conference’s digital platform, ACC Network Extra. Multiple teams registered perfec
Academic Progress Reportscores and in 2018 the university’s four-year average of 987 was the highest since tracking began.
In August 2020, SU extended his contract through 2025.
In September 2020, he donated $1 million to SU athletics.
He is a member on the Advisory Board for the
David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics
Falk may refer to:
* Falk (name)
Falk is a given name and surname cognate with the word falcon.
Surname
* Adalbert Falk (1827–1900), Prussian minister of culture
* Adam Falk (born 1965), Physicist
* Alexander A. Falk (1900–1975), New Yo ...
at
Syracuse University.
Personal life
Wildhack was born in
Kenmore, New York
Kenmore is a village in Erie County, New York, United States. The population was 15,423 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area.
Kenmore is in the south part of the town of Tonawanda, and together with t ...
and graduated from
Kenmore West Senior High School
Kenmore West Senior High School (nicknamed Ken-West) is one of two public high schools in the Kenmore-Town of Tonawanda School District. The other is Kenmore East Senior High School.
History
Founding
In 1938, a WPA grant of about $700,00 ...
in 1976.
He attended Syracuse from 1976 to 1980, earning a bachelor of arts degree in
telecommunication
Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...
s from the
S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications
The S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, commonly known as Newhouse School, is the communications and journalism school of Syracuse University in Syracuse, NY. It has programs in print and broadcast journalism; music business; graphic ...
.
Wildhack is married to Amy (née Swanson), and they have two sons: Tommy, James. He is also the father of a son, M.J. The family lives in
Jamesville, New York
Jamesville is a hamlet made up of the outskirts of five towns: DeWitt, LaFayette, Manlius, Pompey and Onondaga. Jamesville is located in Onondaga County, New York, United States, part of the greater Syracuse area.
History
The hamlet was na ...
and has a summer home on the
Sodus Bay
Sodus Bay is a bay on the south shore of Lake Ontario, one of the Great Lakes. Sodus Bay is located in Wayne County, New York, USA. Most of the bay is in the Town of Huron, however, the western part is in the Town of Sodus.
Sodus Bay has some ...
.
Wildhack's father, sister, brother, two nephews, and sister-in-law are all Syracuse graduates.
His older brother, Henry, previously worked in the SU athletic department from 2006 to 2011 with AD
Daryl Gross.
References
External links
Syracuse bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wildhack, John
1958 births
American Broadcasting Company executives
ESPN executives
Living people
People from Bristol, Connecticut
S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications alumni
Sportspeople from Buffalo, New York
Syracuse Orange athletic directors
Syracuse University faculty