Syracuse Football: What the Silence Tells Us About the Coaching Search

If silence is a virtue, then the Syracuse Football head coaching search must be going very well.

First, let me introduce myself. I am the newest addition to the InsideTheLoudHouse.com (ITLH) staff. Like my editor David Stone, I too went to SUNY Oswego. For those of you familiar with Central New York (CNY) geography, you know that Oswego is less than an hour north of Syracuse. I also happen to have grown up a townie in Oswego, so my love of sports began with Syracuse football and basketball. I live in Phoenix, Arizona these days and write for VenomStrikes.com, the FanSided Arizona Diamondbacks site.

Being out west doesn’t stop me from watching all football games and most basketball games. Sometimes I am forced to miss a weekday basketball match up because of the time difference, but my blood runs as Orange now as it did when I watched Syracuse play to a tie in the 1987 Sugar Bowl against Auburn. I still have my 1992 Fiesta Bowl shirt.

As is the case with most fans of the Orange, I have been waiting on pins and needles to find out whom Athletic Director Mark Coyle will tag as the new head coach for the football program at Syracuse. Yesterday, Bowling Green Head Coach Dino Babers, who has been tied to Syracuse all week, released a statement that he is only focused on coaching in the MAC championship game tonight. You may remember his statement after he was reported to be in negotiations with Central Florida to become their next head coach in which he said he “has not signed anything” and had “no secret deals.”

What this new statement leaves out may mean as much as what it actually says. He doesn’t say anything about not having a deal in place or that he is considering other opportunities. But, what does the week-long silence from Syracuse tell us about the search?

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As with all NCAA coaching searches, all the pundits and experts out there have an opinion. What we know is that AD Coyle did not hire a search firm and was traveling as early as the end of last week to interview potential coaches. We also think we know that Scott Frost was the top candidate because he interviewed for the Boise State job last season when Coyle was still there. There were never any reports that Mark Richt, Dan Mullen, or Al Golden were options. Each comes with too high a price tag (Scott Shafer was reported making $1.3 million a year, each of those three were making substantially more).

We think we know that Kirby Smart was never in the discuss as he has been linked to the Georgia job before Richt was even let go. We also think we know that Ed Orgeron was never really in the discussion despite his expressed interest in the job. We think Chris Ash, one of Ohio State’s defensive coordinators, was on the list, but he allegedly removed his name from consideration. Finally, we know that coaches can contact recruits until December 13 before the dead period begins, during which time Coyle has been contacting recruits because he has no coaches to do the contacting.

Now, it is important to note that when college football programs are seeking new head coaches, they have to work out the minutia of when the new coach can take over. Sometimes, like Scott Frost, Justin Fuente, and Matt Campbell, the coach leaves before the end of the season or bowl game. In other cases, like potentially Dino Babers, the coach will wait until they finish the season or even the bowl game.

Commonly, when there is no news on a search, it means that a guy has been settled on and an announcement just cannot be released yet. Why would local beat reporters try to hunt down all the candidates and who they are meeting with if they aren’t meeting with suitors anymore? We have not heard a peep from Coyle or Syracuse. We have only seen conjecture that Babers is at the top of the list. Further, most sites are coming up with potential candidates based on nothing other than who is allegedly hot at the moment.

The silence tells us that we have no idea who is on the Syracuse short list. We assume Dino Babers and a host of other guys are possibly in the mix, but we aren’t sure.

For those fans reading this, you may have noticed that I wrote “Dino Babers” a lot and mentioned a lot of guys who aren’t on the list. In general, where there is smoke there is fire. Some pundits put up names like Matt Rhule (Temple), Mike Sanford (Notre Dame), Dave Warner (Michigan State), Philip Montgomery (Tulsa), Joe Moglia (Coastal Carolina), and Jeff Brohm (Western Kentucky), but none of the names seem to have any smoke behind them.

In this case, the silence tells me that a guy has already been decided on. It also tells me that an announcement will be coming soon, at least with enough days for the new coach to contact recruits before December 13. I also wouldn’t be surprised to see nearly a full coaching staff in place on day one. The silence from Syracuse, and what Coach Babers did not say in his statement yesterday tells me he is the choice.

Unless of course the choice is someone completely out of the box, like Greg Schiano or Randy Edsall. But if that was the case, I know a lot of ‘Cuse fans who would go find a new team to follow.