The college football coaching carousel is starting to really get moving. Although the regular season didn’t see many coaches lose jobs early on, the firings have become more regular in recent days.
One job that will be open in a matter of days is the Syracuse football head coach job. Dino Babers has held that post since 2016 and has finished with a winning record just twice during his run.
The 5-6 Orange will be moving on from him following their regular season finale against Wake Forest on Saturday. Could the opening be one that pulls a prominent Notre Dame assistant coach away from South Bend?
Defensive coordinator Al Golden has had success on the east coast, specifically at Temple, where he put life into what had been a dead program. Success there led him to getting the Miami job starting in 2011. Could Golden be headed back to the ACC?
He was asked about it Monday by Tyler Horka of Blue-Gold Illustrated. Here is what Golden said:
ESPN’s Pete Thamel mentioned Notre Dame defensive coordinator Al Golden as a candidate to replace Dino Babers as the head coach at Syracuse. I asked Golden about that tonight.
Here’s Golden’s full response. pic.twitter.com/0Sx8NL6wak
— Tyler Horka (@tbhorka) November 20, 2023
If you’re looking for a hard no, that response certainly doesn’t give it.
I have no idea if Golden is going to get offered the job, if he’s seriously interested in it, or what is going to happen.
What I do know is that when you have success as a unit then services are wanted by other programs. I do appreciate Golden not coming out in full denial and then leaving a few weeks down the road, although I wouldn’t be surprised if he did ultimately go.