Syracuse is in search of a new head football coach after dismissing Dino Babers on Sunday following a 31-22 loss to Georgia Tech.
Who are some of the candidates that could fill the post? We explore below in our first head coaching hot board.
LIAM COEN - OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR, KENTUCKY
Coen has professional and collegiate experience. He's the former offensive coordinator for the Los Angeles Rams, and currently holds the same position at Kentucky.
Under Coen in 2021, Kentucky was fifth in scoring offense (32.3 ppg) in the SEC. He's known to be well connected in the recruiting world and comes from the Mark Stoops/Sean McVay coaching line.
NUNZIO CAMPANILE - TIGHT ENDS COACH, SYRACUSE
Campanile was named interim head coach following Babers' dismissal. He previously served in that role in 2019 following Rutgers' dismissal of Chris Ash, going 1-7.
He is one of the most connected and well respected coaches in the New Jersey recruiting scene.
AL GOLDEN - DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR, NOTRE DAME
Golden, currently the defensive coordinator at Notre Dame, has had head coaching stops at Temple and Miami, though with mixed results. He went 27-34 overall with the Owls, and notably won 9 and 8 games in his final two seasons in 2009-10.
With Miami, he got the Hurricanes to 9 wins in 2013 before he was fired in 2015 following a lopsided loss to Clemson.
JASON CANDLE - HEAD COACH, TOLEDO
Candle has been head coach at Toledo since 2015 where he's guided the Rockets to a 66-33 record, including a 10-1 start to the 2023 season. He was MAC coach of the year in 2017.
SEAN LEWIS - OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR, COLORADO
Lewis is a former offensive coordinator at Syracuse, and was one of the chief architects of SU's no-huddle, Orange is the New Fast offense. In 2017, Syracuse averaged 456.3 yards and 24.4 first downs per game.
He's since been head coach at Kent State and is currently the offensive coordinator for Deion Sanders at Colorado.
CURT CIGNETTI - HEAD COACH, JAMES MADISON
Cignetti has led an upstart James Madison program from the CAA into the Sun Belt Conference, and the transition has gone as smoothly as possible. The Dukes are 10-1 this year and are 118-34 overall in Cignetti's tenure.
JIM KNOWLES- DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR, OHIO STATE
Knowles is currently the defensive coordinator at Ohio State, and has had many collegiate stops along his career, including head coach at Cornell from 2004-09 where he went 26-34.
TERYL AUSTIN - DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR, PITTSBURGH STEELERS
Austin was a former Syracuse defensive assistant from 1996-98. He's been mostly an NFL coordinator since then, and has been the DC with the Pittsburgh Steelers since the 2022 season.
TONY WHITE - DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR, NEBRASKA
White was the defensive coordinator at Syracuse from 2020 to 2022, where he helped install a highly successful 3-3-5 scheme. From 2020 to 2021, White's defense rose 93 spots in total defense rankings.
He's currently the defensive coordinator at Nebraska, where his unit is allowing just 18.7 ppg, currently 19th in the country.
ED ORGERON - HEAD COACH, LSU (2021)
Orgeron has been out of football for the past couple of years, and was most recently head coach at LSU in 2021, where he won a national title in 2019. He had previously expressed interest in the Syracuse head coaching position following the dismissal of Scott Shafer in 2015.
Certainly, this would be an long shot for a variety of different reasons, but Syracuse fans remember him as the defensive line coach at SU from 1995-97 during one of the best periods of Orangemen football.
DOUG MARRONE - OFFENSIVE LINE COACH, NEW ORLEANS SAINTS
Marrone went 25-25 with Syracuse, including two bowl wins in the Pinstripe, before bolting to the NFL. After, he held head coaching positions with the Buffalo Bills and Jacksonville Jaguars before being dismissed following a 1-15 season in 2020.
He's been with New Orleans since 2022.
BRONCO MENDENHALL - HEAD COACH, VIRGINIA (2021)
Mendenhall has been out of coaching since 2021, when he led Virginia to a 6-6 record. He had a highly successful run at BYU where he went 99-43 overall and went to bowl games in each of his 11 seasons there.
BOB CHESNEY - HEAD COACH, HOLY CROSS
Chesney had led Holy Cross since 2018, and is 42-21 overall, including a 7-4 record in the 2023 season. He's had previous stops at Salve Regina (23-9) and Assumption (44-16) where he's found similar success.
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