Ex-Syracuse coach Dino Babers reportedly to join Arizona football as offensive coordinator

Arizona football head coach Brent Brennan has tapped former Syracuse head coach Dino Babers to join the Wildcats as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, reports Rivals.com’s Troy Hutchison and ESPN’s Pete Thamel.

Babers, 62, went 20-45 as Syracuse’s head coach from 2016-23 before he was fired this past season with one regular season game left. He previously led Bowling Green (2014-15) and Eastern Illinois (2012-13), hitting double-digit wins in his second season at each school before leaving for another job.

Babers is 78-71 as a college head coach.

Defensive coordinator Duane Akina, Brennan and Babers have strong ties to late Arizona head coach Dick Domey.

Brennan and Babers were featured speakers at his celebration of life in 2019.

The pair was on the 2000 Arizona coaching staff under Tomey. Babers served as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach from 1998-2000 and also led wide receivers (1995-96) and running backs (1997).

From there, Babers worked as an assistant in different capacities for two years at Texas A&M (2001-02), a year at Pittsburgh (2003), at UCLA (2004-07) and then at Baylor (2008-11).

Babers has strong ties to the state of Arizona with a graduate assistant stint with the Arizona State Sun Devils in 1985 and coached special teams and defensive backs at Northern Arizona in 1990.

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