Syracuse football has revamped its coaching staff on both sides of the ball

Syracuse football has finally revamped its coaching staff. Here are all the details and what that means for the upcoming 2020 season.

There might not have been a Syracuse football game on Saturday, but there was still plenty of action on the hill.

Dino Babers made two key hires that’ll go a long way to changing things up for the Orange in 2020.

We’ll start on the defensive side of the ball and quite frankly the most important hire for Babers this offseason: replacing Brian Ward at defensive coordinator.

Zach Arnett of San Diego State is taking his talents to Syracuse as their defensive coordinator. The news was confirmed by the University on Saturday afternoon.

The buzz around town over the last several weeks was former Aztecs head coach Rocky Long visiting with Dino Babers in Syracuse. Reportedly Long was looking to take a lesser role on a coaching staff as a DC so many of us connected the dots on a potential partnership.

But Dino Babers apparently saved his best misdirection play of the 2019 campaign for the offseason. It seems as if Dino brought Rocky Long in for a visit so he could pick his brain about Arnett, not to hire him.

"“Zach is a very talented coach,” Dino Babers said in a statement. “He learned under a great defensive mind in Rocky Long at San Diego State and excelled when he got the opportunity to run the defense there. His qualities, both as a person and as a professional, are an excellent fit for our program. I’m excited to welcome Zach, his wife, Emily, and their children, Case and Collins, to Syracuse.”"

Arnett also released a statement when the news was announced:

"“My family and I would like thank Coach Babers for this tremendous opportunity,” Arnett said. “He’s someone I have the utmost respect for and his philosophy of developing the whole student-athlete – not just the football player – is one I believe in strongly. Syracuse is an outstanding place with a great football tradition. I’m excited to be part of it. I can’t wait to get to Central New York and get started.”"

The other hire that was first reported by Zach Barnett of Football Scoop revealed that Sterlin Gilbert was coming to the Orange as their new offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.

Gilbert reunites with head coach Dino Babers who he spent time with at Eastern Illinois and Bowling Green. Prior to taking this new role, he was the head coach at McNeese. The University has yet to confirm this report.