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Syracuse fired head coach Dino Babers Sunday following a 31-22 loss at Georgia Tech, the Orange’s sixth loss in their last seven games. Within an hour after the news was announced, first reported by ESPN’s Pete Thamel, a list of initial names to replace Babers began to emerge.

According to Thamel, Jason Candle, Bronco Mendenhall, Doug Marrone, Tony White, Al Golden, Curt Cignetti, Jim Knowles, Sean Lewis, Bob Chesney, Liam Coen and Teryl Austin are in the early running to be the next head coach for the Orange. The school announced in a statement that a national search to find Babers’ successor is underway. Tight ends coach Nunzio Campanile will be the interim head coach for the remainder of the season. He was also the interim offensive coordinator of Rutgers last season and went 1-5 leading the Scarlet Knights offense.

Marrone was the head coach of the Orange from 2009-12, leading Syracuse to a 25-25 record and two Pinstripe Bowl wins before he left for the NFL to take over the Buffalo Bills. He is currently the offensive line coach of the New Orleans Saints. White was SU’s defensive coordinator from 2020-22 before leaving for Nebraska last year to be the Huskers’ defensive coordinator. He is a protege of defensive coordinator Rocky Long and helped institute the 3-3-5 defense to Syracuse.

Lewis was Babers’ first offensive coordinator at Syracuse, serving in the position, as well as the quarterbacks coach from 2016-17, before being named the head coach at Kent State. He has since left the Golden Flashes to be the offensive coordinator at Colorado under Deion Sanders. Austin is the current defensive coordinator of the Pittsburgh Steelers, but was a defensive assistant from 1996-98 with the Orange and also coached at Wake Forest and Penn State before moving to the NFL.

Cignetti is the head coach at James Madison and has taken the Football Bowl Subdivision by storm, leading the Dukes to a 10-1 season thus far and compiling an 18-4 record in two seasons since the program moved to the FBS. Candle is the current head coach at Toledo and has turned around the Rockets into a 10-1 program that flirted with a ranking in the AP Top 25 poll. Mendenhall left coaching two years ago when he resigned from Virgina, but had consistent success at both UVA and BYU. Offensive coordinator Jason Beck also coached under Mendenhall at both stops.

Golden, the former Miami head coach and current Notre Dame defensive coordinator, along with Knowles, have no affiliation with Syracuse. Knowles was the head coach of Cornell from 2004-09 before moving on to Duke. Coen, the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Kentucky, and Chesney would be younger options for the Orange if they choose to move in that direction. Coen, 38, worked his way up through Patriot League and Northeast Football Championship Series football before jumping to the NFL. Chesney is the head coach of Holy Cross and has won the Patriot League conference title five straight years.

Published on November 19, 2023 at 12:47 pm

Contact Anthony: aalandt@syr.edu | @anthonyalandt