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Bryan Blair spent his college years studying history, and he knows a storied program when he sees one. His job now is to build on the proud winning tradition of ������ Athletics.

“Seeing the heights this university had over time, seeing the constant brand and how it speaks to the entire country. Everybody knows when they see that block S that it means something special,” Blair, the school’s 12th athletics director, said Thursday morning during his introductory press conference inside the Miron Victory Court.

“How do we harness that history, that excellence and the other intangibles we have?” Blair said. “We want to wake this sleeping beast … and take control of our destiny and make sure the world knows that ������ is one of the top 10 brands in all of college athletics and we’re here to stay.”

Before coming to Syracuse, Blair served as vice president and director of athletics at the University of Toledo. He will officially take over as director of athletics on July 1.

Get to know Blair and his message for the Orange community.

No Silver Bullet for Success

In the ever-changing college athletics landscape, Blair admits there’s pressure for Syracuse to “win, and we’ve got to win a lot.” But those lofty expectations come with the job, and Blair said he is embracing this latest challenge in his career.

Tapping into curiosity, one of his five core values, Blair is looking forward to challenging everything when it comes to leading the athletics department.

“Nothing is an easy silver bullet,” he said. “Because this place is unique, it’s going to take a unique solution, unique collaboration and unique energy to pull this thing together to do what we collectively want to do and really leverage those unique assets.”

Blair says he plans to “modernize our enterprise,” “attack revenue generation and NIL,” because “NIL is one of the most, if not the most important aspects of what we do.”

5 Core Guiding Values

Besides curiosity, Blair shared his core values that guide and shape how he runs an athletics department.

• Family: “My family means the world to me.” (More on that below.)
• Passion: “I will match the passion and the energy of this fan base, and of our alumni and our supporters.”
• Integrity: “We’re going to do things in a way that always makes this university proud.”
• Curiosity: “Everything we do can get better, it can be challenged, it can be thought of differently. Now is the time to lead from the front and think outside the box in terms of what [college athletics] should look like.”
• Servanthood: “I am the fullback of the athletic department, the guy … empowering somebody else’s success; doing the dirty work to clear the way.”

“If we keep the student-athletes as that North Star, we’ll be really successful and will also produce future leaders of this country from ������,” Blair said.

Drawing Inspiration From Family

Blair says you’ll see his 7-year-old daughter, Brielle, and 5-year-old son, William (Beau), around the office. That’s because he believes in blending family with work.

“They’re my everything, they are my inspiration,” Blair said.

Blair draws strength and inspiration from his family, especially his wife, Jenna, who he refers to as his “ride-or-die.”

“[Jenna is] that person who speaks that power and that vision into you for you to make it possible. You’d love to say that you’re bulletproof and nothing bothers you, but all of us have those days, all of us need that support, that inspiration,” Blair said.

A Learned Work Ethic

Growing up in the small town of Bennettsville, South Carolina, Blair learned firsthand from his parents the important lessons of finding success both on the football field and in the classroom.

His parents, Dannie and Woodrow, insisted that Blair had to earn all As on his report card if he wanted to play football.

After playing Division I football and graduating with a bachelor’s degree in history from Wofford College in 2007, Blair went on to earn a law degree from the University of South Carolina in 2010. He credits his successes to his parents, the biggest influences in his life and the hardest-working people he knows.

“You cannot escape the work. You have to put in the time and the effort and even when it gets hard, you work harder,” says Blair, who paused with emotion when talking about his parents.

Creating the Dome as an Experience

One of the best draws for the Orange is playing home games inside the raucous JMA Wireless Dome, or the Loud House. Blair got his first glimpse inside the JMA Dome with Chancellor-elect J. Michael Haynie, and the JMA Dome left an immediate and lasting impression.

“We can build a unique, immersive experience that’s unlike anything you see in this country outside of [Las] Vegas,” Blair said. “We’re going to think outside the box [about] what that experience looks like. How do we create that home court advantage for all our teams?”