Two days after Syracuse’s Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament first round loss to Clemson, SU Athletics announced a nationwide search for its next women’s basketball head coach. Then-acting head coach Vonn Read led the Orange through their worst season since 2006-07 after Quentin Hillsman resigned last summer.

That search ended after 22 days, when Syracuse announced Felisha Legette-Jack as the program’s seventh head coach. Legette-Jack, a former SU all-American from 1984-89, joins the Orange after 10 years as the head coach of Buffalo’s women’s basketball program. With the Bulls, she led the program to four NCAA Tournament appearances, including the school’s first run to the Sweet 16 in 2018.

Legette-Jack’s return to Syracuse as head coach comes just over four months after her No. 33 jersey became the first female athlete’s jersey to be retired at Syracuse. And as she returns to her hometown to lead the Orange, Legette-Jack said she couldn’t feel more comfortable about her return.

“I am home,” Legette-Jack said.

Here are three takeaways from Legette-Jack’s introductory press conference:

Legette-Jack is the ‘right person at the right time’

SU Director of Athletics John Wildhack described the women’s basketball coaching position as a “sought after” job, as many of the other coaches who were considered were sitting coaches involved in this year’s NCAA Tournament.

What stood out about Legette-Jack, however, was her coaching philosophy, which Wildhack described as having an emphasis on “developing the person,” along with her unique approach to running a basketball program.

Wildhack also said that Syracuse alumni have an edge as head coaches at their alma mater because of their understanding of SU’s culture. Still, Wildhack alluded to Legette-Jack’s extensive coaching resume as the reason why she was hired.

“At the end of the day, this is the best person — this is who we chose. She just happened to be an alum,” Wildhack said.

Transfer portal to key ‘aggressive’ recruiting

Syracuse’s roster this past season featured just 11 active players, but it would dress nine players in most games due to injuries. The Orange’s limited roster was largely due to the 12 players who entered the transfer portal ahead of the 2021-22 season. And among this year’s graduating class, three players have also entered the transfer portal.

But when it comes to recruiting, both Wildhack and Legette-Jack said the transfer portal may play to their advantage. On Sunday night, Legette-Jack met with Syracuse’s current roster and told them that it’s their choice on whether or not to stay with the Orange next season. Regardless, Legette-Jack acknowledges the challenges with overcoming another year of a transformed roster.

“The portal is coming to us,” Legette-Jack said. “That block ‘S’ says a lot, and I think it’s a great marriage because we’re going to get the right young people here.”

Legette-Jack believes that players “gravitate” toward her because of how she develops her “young women.” Still, Wildhack said that Syracuse needs to “recruit aggressively” in order to return to the successful reputation of the program.

“We want to build to have sustained success,” Wildhack said. “Let’s do it as quickly as we can, but let’s do it the right way so we can get good, be good and stay good.”

Building culture, overcoming challenges

Legette-Jack described her team culture as the “CAB family,” which encompasses focusing on a player’s character, academics and basketball. But this year, she’ll have to build on her developmental aspirations for her players and rebuild a foundation within the program, Wildhack said.

Wildhack remembers seeing Legette-Jack’s 13th-seeded Buffalo team contend with the No. 4 seed Tennessee in the first round of this year’s NCAA Tournament. He noticed that the Bulls managed a close game on the road. Legette-Jack’s ability to “build a program with challenges” is something she’s proven she can do at her previous coaching jobs, Wildhack added.

“The fact that she’s done it and she’s done it successfully in 10 years at Buffalo, 20-win seasons, MAC champions, NCAA appearances. Her teams, they play really, really hard,” Wildhack said.

For Legette-Jack, returning to her hometown and alma mater for the first time since 2000 is her opportunity to prove how special of a place it is to her, as the opportunity to do so was something she couldn’t pass up.

“I had to earn all of that and get myself ready and prove what I could do. And when (Wildhack) offered me the opportunity that’s when I knew, that’s when the tears kicked in,” Legette-Jack said.

Published on March 28, 2022 at 5:44 pm

Contact Alex: ahcirino@syr.edu