Syracuse and Toledo athletic director Brian Blair have agreed to terms to make him the school’s next athletic director, sources told ESPN.
The deal is still subject to final board approval tomorrow, and is expected to be announced soon after that happens.
It’s the latest significant move for Syracuse, which has fired a new chancellor, Mike Haney, and basketball coach Adrian Autry in the past 10 days.
Blair has been AD in Toledo since 2022. And he will face an important decision as soon as he starts at Syracuse, as he is expected to lead the search to select Autry’s successor.
He replaces the outgoing John Wildhack, who retired after 10 years and mixed results in the school’s major sports. The Wildhack’s final major move as athletic director was to fire Autry, which happened Wednesday morning.
He inherited a basketball program that had not 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 due to an injury to quarterback Steve Angelli.
Blair brings a reputation as a fundraiser, a strong football background and comes from an athletic department that won 13 MAC championships during his tenure. Toledo was the first MAC school to have a full-time executive for collective and NIL strategy.
Prior to coming to Toledo, Blair served in various roles in the athletic departments at Washington State, Rice and South Carolina. He earned a law degree from South Carolina and played college football at Wofford.
