Syracuse Football: Dino Babers named new head coach

Dino Babers is leaving Bowling Green to take the head coaching job with the Syracuse Orange.

One day after leading the Bowling Green Falcons to the MAC Championship, Dino Babers is leaving to take the head coaching job with the Syracuse Orange, according to ESPN’s Joe Schad.

It was expected Babers would pursue a coaching position among the Power Five schools after an 18-9 record, two MAC East division titles and one MAC Championship in two years at Bowling Green after two years at Eastern Illinois where he went 19-7 in two years, including a 12-2 final year that saw the Panthers lose in the FCS Quarterfinals.

There was a report linking Babers to the UCF job, but he strongly denied he was taking that job and he said he wasn’t talking about any other potential jobs as he prepared for Friday night’s MAC Championship against the Northern Illinois Huskies, but after the game he said he would be open to talking about a move.

The move was reported earlier in the week with USA Today’s Dan Wolken reporting it was likely Babers was going to take the Syracuse job. Now it’s official and Babers will bring his high-octane offense he learned from Art Briles as an assistant on his staff for four years and inject some excitement and optimism in a stagnant football program.

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Syracuse should have an offense they haven’t seen ever before and when Babers gets his guys in place and the system is humming, the Orange should be back competing for bowl games on an annual basis. Babers has won everywhere he’s been and I think that will continue at Syracuse.