Syracuse will no longer wear warmup shirts that read ‘Burn the Boats‘ during the 2026 college lacrosse season. The Orange was forced to abandon its new team slogan due to racial insensitivity.
This sudden change comes after two former students complained.
One of the two students has ties to college lacrosse. The other works with a non-profit.
Syracuse lacrosse is prepared to Burn the Boats.
John Odierna is in his third season as the defensive coordinator at Syracuse. He had the idea to introduce the slogan ‘Burn the Boats’ to his team right before the players went away for their last break of the preseason. The slogan was a way to set the tone for the Orange’s national title aspirations.
“Burn the boats” is commonly attributed to famed Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes. It dates back to his 1519 expedition to the land that is now considered Mexico.
As the story goes, Cortes ordered his army to destroy the ships on which they arrived so that there was no way to retreat after they had landed. Many of his soldiers were uncertain about the mission. The burning of the boats removed the option of escape. Success was the only viable outcome.
The phrase “burn the boats” has since evolved into a metaphor/idiom that is used far beyond its historical context. It is often used in common vernacular to describe a full commitment to a specific goal. There is no fallback plan. Success is the only viable outcome.
Odierna adopted Cortes’ military orders-turned-idiom as the official team slogan for Syracuse during the 2026 college lacrosse season. It represents a national championship or bust mindset.
“We’re going to battle,” said senior defenseman Billy Dwan III. “We’re burning our boats, and we’re basically fighting. You’re either going to die trying to fight what you want to accomplish, or we’re going back in their boats.”
The slogan was also printed on the back of the warmup shirts.
The Orange wore ‘Burn the Boats’ on its shirts prior to its first 10 games. Not anymore!
Hernan Cortes was racist!
There are five games remaining in the regular season and No. 5-ranked Syracuse has to run the gauntlet. It still has to play No. 14 Georgetown, No. 6 Duke, No. 4 North Carolina and No. 1 Notre Dame.
The Orange will not promote the phrase ‘Burn the Boats’ during that stretch of games. It will not wear the warmup shirts for the remainder of the regular season or the postseason.
According to Zak Wolf of the Daily Orange, two former students argued the phrase is “a nod to [Cortes’] brutal massacre, enslavement and colonization of the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas.”
Beth Margaret Wright and Hugh Burnam led the charge for change with a lengthy guest column in the student newspaper. Wright, a Class of 2015 graduate, is a senior staff attorney at the Native American Rights Fund. Burnam is a former PhD student at the university whose father, Mark Burnam, played at Syracuse. He has close ties to Haudenosaunee Nationals and World Lacrosse.
His father’s former college lacrosse team is no longer going to wear the shirts because of his and Wright’s complaint.
Syracuse will not use the ‘Burn the Boats’ slogan on its warmups due to the behavior of a conquistador more than 500 years ago. Burnam and Wright got their wish.
UPDATE: This article has been updated to include additional context to Hugh Burnam’s background.