The college football coaching dominos keep falling with the end of the regular season nearing, and the most recent move unfolded Sunday when Syracuse fired Dino Babers just before the end of his eighth season with the program.
Babers compiled a 41-55 record, including 20-45 in the Atlantic Coast Conference, with the Orange after taking over their program in 2016.
He coached his last game Saturday night — when Syracuse lost to Georgia Tech, 31-22, and operated mostly without quarterback Garrett Shrader for a third consecutive week, turning its offense into a mostly one-dimensional unit.
Tight ends coach Nunzio Campanile will coach the Orange for their final regular season game against Wake Forest, with Syracuse needing a win to become bowl-eligible at 6-6.
“I appreciate everything Dino, his wife Susan, and their family have done over the last eight years for Syracuse Athletics, Syracuse University and most importantly, our student-athletes,” Syracuse Director of Athletics John Wildhack said in a statement. “Thanks to Dino’s leadership, our student-athletes have performed at the highest levels in the classroom, have dedicated countless hours to supporting our communities and have gone on to achieve great success, both professionally and personally.
“As we embark on a change in leadership at the helm of Syracuse Football, on behalf of Syracuse University I thank Coach Babers for his leadership, character and dedication, and wish him well in his future endeavors.”
When Babers arrived from Baylor, he brought an offense defined by its quick tempo that led to a 10-3 season in 2018, when the Orange defeated West Virginia in the Camping World Bowl and Eric Dungey quarterbacked their unit.
It was a high point for the program.
Babers received a long-term contract extension — a graphic from the university’s social media account originally contained the year 2024 but was eventually deleted — after the season, but Babers’ teams only made one bowl game the past four seasons.
So the Orange will enter 2024 with another new coach in a conference stacked with annual contenders in Florida State, Clemson, Louisville, North Carolina and others.
Babers was Syracuse’s longest-tenured football coach since Paul Pasqualoni, who led the Orange from 1991-2004.
There are four coaching vacancies after the Babers decision, with Syracuse joining Texas A&M (Jimbo Fisher), Mississippi State (Zach Arnett) and Michigan State (Mel Tucker) as programs needing to make a hire this offseason, according to ESPN.
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