Dino Babers explains how staff turnover has helped give 'new life' to some Syracuse players

Syracuse put together its best season in five years in 2022, then promptly had to deal with staff turnover that was pretty close to a mass exodus.

Five assistant coaches departed. Throw that on top of the now-standard player attrition that occurs after each season, and the Orange will really have a different look next fall.

“First of all, with the transfer portal, the teams have changed,” head coach Dino Babers said. “There’s guys coming in and coming out. With the coaches it was a little unique to have that many coaches leave, you but they all left for different situations, and I think the coolest thing about them leaving is that we got new personalities in.”

Gone are passing game coordinator Nick Monroe, defensive coordinator Tony White, offensive coordinator Robert Anae, offensive line coach Mike Schmidt and cornerbacks coach Chip West.

In are a handful of new coaches who will look to try to keep the momentum of a seven-win season rolling forward into 2023.

Babers believes there’s a lot of positive that will come with the staff turnover, despite the adjustment it will create as players and coaches alike familiarize themselves with each other.

“And for those young men, our family, our Ohana, our la familia, to have those new coaches come in and look at the young men through a different set of eyes and give them the positives and negatives from another coach being able to coach them and talk to them, I think it’s going to reap benefits for us,” Babers said.

In other words, a fresh voice and a fresh start for about half the team in terms of their position coach could spark some new optimism.

At the very least, Babers thinks there should be some new juice on the team with the new outlook at so many spots. It’s a jolt of fresh life into the program thanks to the staff turnover.

“Sometimes they need to hear it from someone else when they’ve been too used to hearing it from the same person,” Babers said. “It gives new life to players who may have been lost in the depth chart a little bit when the new coaches come in and they look at them through a different set of eyes. It may give them some opportunities that they may not have had before.”