SYRACUSE — Syracuse University Director of Athletics John Wildhack is now part of the group that’s responsible for putting together the annual bracket and matchups for the popular, lucrative NCAA Tournament, also known as March Madness. Wildhack has been appointed to the NCAA Division I men’s basketball committee. He replaces North Carolina Athletic Director Bubba […]
SYRACUSE — Syracuse University Director of Athletics John Wildhack is now part of the group that’s responsible for putting together the annual bracket and matchups for the popular, lucrative NCAA Tournament, also known as March Madness.
Wildhack has been appointed to the NCAA Division I men’s basketball committee.
He replaces North Carolina Athletic Director Bubba Cunningham, whose term expired after serving as the chair of the committee this past NCAA tournament, as the ACC’s representative. Wildhack’s term will officially begin on Sept. 1 of this year and will end in 2030, Syracuse Athletics said in its announcement.
“It’s a privilege to represent Syracuse University and the Atlantic Coast Conference on the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee,” Wildhack said. “I’m thankful to Commissioner (Jim) Phillips for nominating me. The NCAA tournament is one of the great sporting events in the world. I look forward and am honored to work with (NCAA Senior Vice President of Basketball) Dan Gavitt, the NCAA staff and my fellow committee members.”
Wildhack has served as the leader of Syracuse Athletics since July 2016. He has also previously served as the chair of ACC Athletic Directors.
Before coming to Syracuse University nearly nine years ago, Wildhack spent 30 years working for ESPN and held a number of leadership roles in his time with the network.
He has also overseen “numerous major advancements” to Syracuse’s facilities, including the two major additions to the John A. Lally Athletics Complex. They include the Football Performance Center, which opened recently, and a multi-phase renovation and naming rights agreement for the JMA Wireless Dome.
Work at ESPN
During his time at ESPN, Wildhack was also responsible for several firsts, including production of ESPN’s first live regular-season college football game and its first live NFL game, per the Syracuse Athletics announcement.
In addition, Wildhack most recently served as ESPN’s executive VP for programming and production. In that role, he was responsible for all of ESPN’s and ABC’s game, event, and studio-production work for domestic and international television and radio, as well as all programming acquisitions, rights-holder relationship management, and scheduling.
