Dan Mullen comments on candidacy for Syracuse job

Well, there’s one name Syracuse fans can mark off their list of potential future head football coaches following the firing of longtime coach Dino Babers.

Late Sunday night, former Mississippi State and Florida head coach Dan Mullen issued a statement on Twitter that he would not coach the Orange. He had sent out a tweet defending Ohio State coach Ryan Day following his third straight loss to Michigan, and one account replied to that tweet completely off topic with a Syracuse football gif, suggesting that Mullen should come coach the team.

Mullen, while a fan of the Syracuse program, says he has no plans to be head coach there. He tweeted this response to the gif:

“Love the cuse. But will not be the next head coach.”

So that clears that up. You can go ahead and squash any ideas of a Syracuse and Dan Mullen marriage.

More on Babers

Babers joined the Syracuse program back in 2016 as the head coach and finished his time 41-55 in nearly eight seasons. The Orange dropped to 5-6 with a 31-22 defeat at the hands of the Yellow Jackets.

Babers led the program to just two bowl games in his time as head coach. The standout year came in 2018, when Syracuse went 10-3 and finished No. 15 in the AP Poll.

However, the Orange haven’t been able to recapture that magic since. Outside of his 10-win season in 2018, Babers went 31-52 as head coach of Syracuse.

With Eastern Illinois, Bowling Green and Syracuse, Babers is 78-71 as a head coach.

Babers didn’t mince words earlier this year about NIL and the transfer portal affecting a program like Syracuse. Losing players in the portal stings for a program that is arguably just a middle tier ACC team.

“It’s the same old thing: Depth is gone,” Babers said in October. “Our depth is in the transfer portal. You know how many guys we lost. You know what schools they play at. Schools like us, we’re not going to have a lot of depth because it gets bought away.”

Syracuse lost 12 players to the portal this offseason, including standout defensive backs Duce Chestnut (LSU) and Ja’Had Carter (Ohio State). 

“Last year’s game (against Florida State) showed me exactly what name, image and likeness can do,” Babers said. “Because the year before that, we went down there, and they kicked for a field goal in the very last play to beat us.

“Two years before that, we went down there and were kicking for a field goal to tie them, and it got blocked. It showed me how quickly you can change a football team.”