Is Dino Babers Saving His Job?
The sweet smell of victory rejoined your Syracuse football in New York City after over a month-long absence from the program. In his post-game speech, in a locker room at Yankee Stadium where success at the highest levels has become normalized and expected, Babers bellowed out a chant that invigorated the troops and turned the locker room into a frantic madhouse.
“But tonight, in New York, it’s WHOSE house? OUR House!”
The question remains, how long will Dino Babers remain head of the house?
Saturday’s win over Pittsburgh officially keeps them out of the ACC cellar and puts less pressure on them to win out to secure bowl eligibility. Even a seven-win season is on the table, which, with everything that’s happened this year, would keep a warm smile on SU fan’s faces through another frigid winter. With all the momentum headed in the wrong direction and this offense looking dead in the face at a Luke MacPhail start, they shook the cobwebs off, got themselves off the canvas before the ten-count, and came ready to fight. For the first time in a long time this season, this offensive line imposed their will and consistently won the line of scrimmage. Dan Villari provided the offensive juice he’s had in his cup since switching positions this offseason. Garrett Shrader threw a touchdown pass with a bum shoulder and cut a flip that would have made Syracuse cheerleaders blush. And most importantly, this Mob defense put together yet another suffocating performance, this time benefiting from the fruits of their labor.
One win doesn’t absolve Dino from a season full of frustration. Yes, there’s been some talent and depth lost in the transfer portal, as he dutifully noted in his Monday presser a few weeks ago. Tell that to any FCS coach who’s lost a breakout to FBS and Power 5 ranks. SU hasn’t had the portal take (or give) any guys from the offensive line or receiver rooms, the two most identifiable weaknesses on this roster. Shrader didn’t have that jump in Year 2 of Jason Beck’s offense as many expected before the season, or at the very least it didn’t show against prime-time competition. Even with Gadsden going down, until the Pittsburgh game, this looked like an offense that was simply trying to run the same plays they would have with OG on the field instead of adjusting to the personnel they had on hand.
But, after that Virginia Tech performance, a team that looked like it had quit on its coach and quit on this season looked like a completely new squad, lungs filled with breaths of fresh air. These next two games will be crucial to how we view Dino Babers this season and his tenure at the helm of Syracuse football at large. After a game like that, deflating would be an understatement to miss a bowl game with two games left against teams at or below .500. Looking around the college football landscape, there isn’t a ton of precedent for guys being the head man for this long with the level of losing that Dino has done at 41-52 in his eight seasons. Tom Allen is in his 8th season at Indiana with a 33-47 record and zero bowl wins. Justin Wilcox is in Year 7 leading Cal, having gone 34-42. But outside of that, with both of those coaches on hot seats themselves, coaching college is still very much a “What have you done for me lately” business. Pat Narduzzi, the coach opposite of Dino on Saturday, has had sustained success at Pitt since taking over in 2015, with this year being only his second losing season, but even he won’t survive much longer with seasons like this (along with shamelessly throwing your players under the bus). David Cutcliffe, famed QB whisperer of Manning lore, took a Duke program that had been dormant for decades, led them to their 10-win season in school history, somehow turned Daniel Jones into a top-10 draft pick, and was still shown the door after three consecutive losing seasons in the end. And just this week, we saw Texas A&M give Jimbo Fisher a bajillion dollars to leave his job after being 45-25 in his six seasons at College Station, only two years after being the first former Saban assistant to beat Alabama.
Things move quickly in college football, and Syracuse football has been unusually gracious in allowing Babers to figure things out in his tenure. But, if he can finish this season at least splitting these two games and getting Syracuse to back-to-back bowl games for the first time in over a decade, you’d be hard-pressed to fire a coach who has that accomplishment on his resume with another favorable schedule coming down the pipeline in 2024.
Did Dino Babers save his job? Maybe not, but Saturday’s win went a long way in him doing so. With the rich history of this program, I’m not super excited about barely sneaking into bowl season being the bar, but you take what you can get. Dino Babers rallied the troops in a way that would’ve seemed unimaginable just seven days ago and restored just a little bit of faith back into this program. It’s just one game, but 5-5 with a conference win feels like a world’s difference from 4-6, with a six-game losing streak and officially being at the bottom of the ACC.
Did Dino Babers save his job? Maybe if just for one more week, it seems like he has.
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