Syracuse football is set to hire Tony White to fill the vacant role as defensive coordinator. Here are the initial details and what it means for the Orange.
Syracuse football is set to hire its fourth different defensive coordinator since early November.
With three weeks left to play in the 2019 regular season, the Orange fired its long-time defensive coordinator Brian Ward. Then Dino Babers promoted Steve Stanard to the interim role for the rest of the year.
A few weeks after the season the Orange officially announced in a joint press release that Zach Arnett would be joining the squad. After holding the gig for 11 days, Arnett skipped out of town for an opportunity in the SEC with Mike Leach and Mississippi State.
This left Syracuse between a rock and a hard place with National Signing Day rapidly approaching and with it being already so late in the process.
It was an embarrassing moment for the Syracuse football program and for Babers who put his neck out on the line for Zach Arnett. Well on Tuesday evening they saved some face with the hiring of Tony White from Arizona State.
The University has yet to confirm the news, although the last time they did with Arnett it didn’t mean anything.
Although this doesn’t seem like another “Zach Arnett” situation, apparently the main reason Tony White is leaving his gig with the Sun Devils is due to “family reasons.”
Tony for the first time in his coaching career will allow him to be close to his family on the east coast. Specifically, he’ll be closer to his mother who lives in Queens which is about a three-hour drive and a one-hour plane trip to Syracuse.
Prior to joining the Orange, Tony White served as the defensive coordinator for Arizona State for three months. It was a promotion from his previous responsibilities in which he served as ASU’s cornerbacks coach and defensive passing game coordinator for the last two years, per the team’s website.