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Throughout the spring, The Daily Orange’s reporting on Syracuse Athletics included features, profiles and game coverages. With the conclusion of the 2020 spring semester, we compiled a list of our favorite stories.

Including Quincy Guerrier’s notebook, the Syracuse 8’s legacy 50 years later and the first ACC Network broadcast led entirely by women, here are the 10 best-written sports stories from the last five months.

Danny Gonzalez | Contributing Photographer

In a city full of Girards, Joseph Girard III made it big

Three-star recruit Joseph Girard III was one of the most anticipated arrivals at Syracuse in recent years. He’d cemented himself as New York state’s leading scorer in 2018 and averaged over 50 points per game his junior and senior years at Glens Falls High School. 

Girard’s also the latest athletic prodigy in a long line of Girards, shaped by the tight-knit Glens Falls community he grew up in. He’s become the Girard, taking over the Orange’s point guard position in his first season and leading all SU freshmen in points (12.4) and minutes (33.0).

“We all knew he was a special kid,” said Tom Girard, Girard III’s cousin, “A step above the average Girard: junior college basketball players, Division III basketball players. Whatever.”

Corey Henry | Senior Staff Photographer

Inside the modesty that guides Elijah Hughes on and off the court 

Elijah Hughes became Syracuse’s first Atlantic Coast Conference first-team selection in five years. Even as fans directed attention toward the small forward and accolades poured in, Hughes’ humble nature never changed.

Through events on campus or game nights with his family, Hughes’ quiet, confident demeanor has been the same since high school. Years ago, that allowed him to blend in. Now, he’s the center of attention. 

“When I’m on the court, I’m in my comfort place,” Hughes said. “It’s not really that deep, I guess.”

Sarah Allam | Illustration Editor

Coaching double standard plagues women’s college ice hockey

Under head coach Claudia Asano Barcomb, the Union College women’s ice hockey team won nine conference games in nine years. After a winless 2015-16 season, Barcomb was brought on for a 10th season. According to data analysis by The Daily Orange, 6.31% of men’s NCAA hockey coaches have coached 100 games with a win percentage below 30%. On the women’s side, that number rises to 18.64% — indicating a lower standard held by athletic departments.

Title IX mandates weren’t designed to fix social problems for institutions that receive federal funding, Western New England University law professor and Title IX expert Erin Buzuvis said, and equal treatment across men’s and women’s college hockey lags behind. 

“Would they tolerate that same performance from their men’s team? No,” Buzuvis said. “But they’re probably paying a salary commensurate with those higher expectations.”

Courtesy of Paul Hokanson

Former SU star Felisha Legette-Jack builds contender at Buffalo

After Felisha Legette-Jack was fired from Indiana following the 2011-12 season, another head coaching job didn’t initially surface. When one did, it was with a Buffalo program coming off a nine-win season and lacking an NCAA tournament appearance.

Assistant coach jobs at Michigan State, Boston College and Syracuse prepped the former Syracuse star to run her own team, something she accomplished with the Bulls through random class checks, nighttime bus ride wake-up calls and little notes slipped inside lockers. In her eight years with UB, four postseason appearances have lifted yearly expectations and reflected Legette-Jack’s program culture of new beginnings.

“Coach Jack can give a speech, and you’ll be ready to give up your kidney for her,” former UB guard Cierra Dillard said. “She could be preaching about peanut butter and jelly, she could make that speech where you’re like, ‘Woah, wait a minute. I’m gonna run through a brick wall for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.’”

Courtesy of Kacey Kopley

Friends, family remember former SU volleyball star Carrie Urton McCaw

Former Syracuse volleyball star Carrie Urton McCaw and her 12-year-old daughter Kacey were killed in a car crash outside of St. Louis on Feb. 14. McCaw was 44. One of the most decorated players in Syracuse history, she overcame initial struggles and became the “heart and the soul” of the team, her teammates recall. 

Beyond volleyball, she was a loving mother, wife and friend. McCaw had a special connection with Kacey; they were like “two peas in a pod.” Her joyous energy left a positive mark everywhere she went, and she instilled confidence in so many, her husband said. 

“I just hope everybody can find their Carrie,” her best friend and former roommate Kacey Kopley said. “When you have a friend like that, it makes going through life’s ups and downs and all of that a little bit easier.”

Talia Trackim | Senior Staff Designer

SETTING THE STAGE: Syracuse 8’s legacy lies in progress, evolution in athlete activism

Fifty years ago, nine Syracuse football players boycotted spring practice after the SU athletic department and head coach Ben Schwartzwalder did not meet their demands for equality. Richard Bulls, Ron Womack, John Godbolt, Greg Allen, Dana Harrell, John Lobon, Alif Muhammad, Duane Walker and Clarence McGill demanded equality for students of color and wanted to make Syracuse more inclusive.

The Syracuse 8 were suspended from Schwartzwalder’s team after the boycott, derailing their professional careers. They endured discrimination that tested their identities as both athletes and human beings, and their actions helped set the tone for athlete activism’s evolution since.

“We don’t talk in terms of success and failure. I talk in terms of progress. Evolutionary progress,” Harrell said.

Elizabeth Billman | Senior Staff Photographer

SHADOW OF GREATNESS: After 2 years without a 22, Chase Scanlan will continue the historic tradition

For all but three years since 1988, the Syracuse men’s lacrosse player expected to be one of the country’s best wore the No. 22 jersey. Gary Gait started the tradition, and eventually it became part of the recruiting pitch head coach John Desko used to lure Chase Scanlan to Syracuse. During the 2020 season, Scanlan became the first person to wear it since Jordan Evans two years prior.

Starting with Gait, 10 players — including Scanlan — have worn No. 22. Eight of the nine players who came before Scanlan were named All-Americans, and they helped win eight of the program’s 11 national championships. Over that time, No. 22 became one of the most iconic numbers in college lacrosse.

“I look at it as a compliment that if you wear that number, you’re held to a higher standard,” Gait said. “And you gotta come here to deliver, and I think that’s something that every player that comes to Syracuse wants to do.”

Courtesy of Tara Ryan

Tara Ryan proved everyone wrong in her rowing career cut short by COVID-19

Tara Ryan was told she’d never row again. She wasn’t aerodynamic enough for the sport, a Syracuse coach said. Her technique was “shit.” But just days after getting cut her freshman year, a spot opened up on the Orange’s roster. Ryan, despite erg times 20 seconds slower than SU’s top rowers, joined as a walk-on. 

She spent the next three years battling injury after injury. When doctors attempted to medically disqualify her, Ryan fought the verdict and came back again just three days before the 2020 season, her senior year, was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. Still, Ryan knows she never quit.

“I don’t know that you can understand being a senior and having your college experience ripped away when you go through all these things for three-and-a-half years.” Ryan said.

Corey Henry | Senior Staff Photographer

Quincy Guerrier, his freshman season and the notebook that shapes him

Following Quincy Guerrier’s progression through his freshman season at Syracuse is a green, college-ruled notebook purchased at Walmart. It tracked his status as the Orange’s sixth man, his outputs of 6.9 points and 5.2 rebounds per game and his mistakes along the way.

“(It helps me) stay focused, track everything and see if I’m lacking sometimes.” Guerrier said. 

In high school, Guerrier starred for Thetford (Quebec) Academy and earned the nickname “Candyman.” His physical presence dominated, and Guerrier didn’t need a notebook. But after he arrived at Syracuse, the notebook’s weekly entries became a constant for Guerrier and a quasi-roadmap of his freshman season.

Mitch Bannon | Staff Writer

‘I want it to be normal’: 1st ACC broadcast led entirely by women

Twenty-one women gathered in the Carrier Dome on Jan. 16 to do what had never been done before: broadcast an ACC Network game with women in every lead position. Beth Mowins and Isis Young handled the play-by-play and color analyst roles, respectively, for the women’s basketball game between Syracuse and Georgia Tech. Producers and studio hosts joined the women for pregame, halftime and postgame shows.

Syracuse is the only ACC school that regularly uses students as on-air talent and the only school that cuts to a student-run studio for halftime, uniquely allowing a production like this to happen. But for those involved, the goal is to make that broadcast the first of many.

“I want it to be normal that both male and female students are used to having women in these powerful positions and are used to having women call the shots,” Olivia Stomski, director of Newhouse Sports Media Center, said.

Published on May 6, 2020 at 10:53 pm