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Syracuse has fired head football coach Dino Babers, SU Director of Athletics John Wildhack announced in a statement Sunday. The move comes less than 24 hours after Syracuse’s 31-22 loss against Georgia Tech, which put the team at 5-6 overall and 1-6 in Atlantic Coast Conference play. Wildhack also revealed in the statement that tight ends coach Nunzio Campanile will serve as SU’s interim coach for the remainder of the season.

Babers went 41-55 (.427) in nearly eight years as SU’s head coach. Babers is the fifth-most winningest coach in Syracuse history in total wins and win percentage. Syracuse is 20-45 (.308) in ACC play under Babers, and have a losing record against most conference programs since entering in 2013. Only Duke has a worse conference record in that span.

The team reached two bowl games and won one of them during his tenure – the victory came in SU’s 10-3 season in 2018. No ACC team has qualified for fewer bowl games than Syracuse since Babers took over in 2016.

Before the season started, Wildhack said that Babers had “multiple” years left on his contract. The buyout figure has not been made public, and SU could choose not to release it as a private institution.

This season, the Orange have been ravaged by injuries, which forced the offense to take a run-heavy approach in the past two games. Despite winning against Pittsburgh, they have not reached 200 yards passing in ACC play and the offense has struggled consistently.

They still have one chance to make a bowl game this season when they play Wake Forest on Saturday in the JMA Wireless Dome.

Published on November 19, 2023 at 11:35 am

Contact Wyatt: wbmiller@syr.edu