Category: Syracuse Orange

Syracuse fires head coach Dino Babers

The Orange head coach lost six of his last seven games this season, and he won more than seven games just once in eight years.

Syracuse fired head football coach Dino Babers on Sunday, the university announced on Sunday. ESPN’s Pete Thamel first reported the expected firing.

Babers first took over as the Syracuse head coach for the 2016 season. He compiled the fourth-most wins by a head coach in program history with a 41-55 record across his eight seasons, including a 10-win 2018 campaign that saw the Orange rise as high as 12th in the College Football Playoff rankings. His Orange also went 1-10 in 2020, however, and have lost six of their past seven games this season after a 4-0 start.

“As we embark on a change in leadership at the helm of Syracuse Football, on behalf of Syracuse University I thank Coach Babers for his leadership, character and dedication, and wish him well in his future endeavors,” Syracuse athletic director John Wildhack said in a university statement announcing the decision.

Tight ends coach Nunzio Campanile will serve as the interim head coach for the remainder of the season.

Kansas guard Kyle Cuffe Jr finds new home in Syracuse

Syracuse added another guard to their roster on Thursday via the transfer portal.

Kansas transfer guard Kyle Cuffe Jr has revealed his transfer portal destination. The 6-foot-2 guard told On3 recently that he will be playing the next portion of his career at Syracuse.

Cuffe is the fourth transfer portal commitment for Syracuse this offseason as new head coach Adrian Autry looks to revamp an Orange roster that failed to make the NCAA Tournament last season.

Cauff joins Florida State center Naheem McLeod as well as guards Chance Westry and J.J. Starling who transferred to Syracuse from Auburn and Notre Dame respectively.

A native of Blairstown, New Jersey, Cuffe committed to Kentucky as part of their 2021 recruiting class. He was considered a four-star prospect by 247Sports including the No. 26 shooting guard in the country.

He committed to Kansas over offers from UConn, Georgetown, Georgia, Kansas State, Pittsburgh, Providence, Rutgers, Seton Hall, St. John’s, Texas A&M, and UCLA. Syracuse showed interest in Cuffe during his prep career but never extended an offer.

At Kansas, Cuffe would only see playing time in two games with the Jayhawks. As a true freshman, Cuffe would redshirt. This past season, he appeared in two games in November before tearing his MCL and PCL which kept him out the remainder of the season.

He’ll have three years of eligibility remaining with the Orange.

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Syracuse lands Florida State big man transfer Naheem McLeod

Syracuse has landed a transfer big man from a fellow ACC program.

Florida State 7-foot-4 center transfer Naheem McLeod entered the transfer portal in mid-April but has already found his next landing spot. He’ll be staying in the ACC but is headed north.

The Philadelphia, Pennsylvania native on Monday announced his commitment to the Syracuse Orange. He announced his decision on Twitter.

McLeod announced his decision to enter the transfer portal on April 19 after just two seasons with the Seminoles. Over 46 games, McLeod started in 16 games for Florida State, averaging 4.1 points and 2.7 rebounds. That was after playing at Chipola College in 2020. During his lone season at Chipola College, he averaged 5.8 points and 4.0 rebounds per game.

McLeod was originally a member of the 2019 recruiting class when he committed to Florida State over offers from La Salle, Oregon, Penn State, Rhode Island, Temple, UNLV, and VCU. Despite attending Chipola in 2020, he remained committed to Florida State and enrolled there following the 2020-2021 season.

This past season, Syracuse went 17-15 including 10-10 in conference play. The season also marked the end of the Jim Boeheim era as the legendary head coach announced the end of his career after a 77-74 loss to Wake Forest in the ACC Tournament.

Next season, the Orange will be led by former guard Adrian Autry who was announced as Boeheim’s successor upon his resignation. He is the third player out of the transfer portal to commit to Syracuse since the beginning of the offseason joining Auburn guard transfer Chance Westry and Notre Dame guard transfer JJ Starling.

Jim Boeheim steps down at Syracuse, Adrian Autry to take over Orange program

A new era is set to begin at Syracuse.

Legendary college basketball head coach Jim Boeheim is stepping down at Syracuse, and associate head coach Adrian Atury is set to take over as the program’s head, per a press release from the university on Wednesday. The announcement comes shortly after the Orange’s ACC Tournament run came to an end with a 77-74 loss to Wake Forest.

Boeheim’s departure ends a 47-year run for the 78-year-old head coach who originally started at the program in 1969 as an assistant before becoming the head coach in 1976.

During his 46 years with the Orange, Boeheim led the program to one NCAA Tournament title in 2003, five NCAA Final Four appearances, 10 Big East regular season championships, five Big East tournament champions, as well as one Eastern College Athletic Conference tournament title in 1977. A member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Boeheim was a unanimous coach of the year selection in 2010 and was named the Big East Coach of the Year four times.

Overall, during his career in Syracuse, Boehiem collected a career record of 1,015-440, including 432-275 in conference play. His 1,014 wins were the sixth most all-time. With his retirement, the active wins leader in Division I college basketball is West Virginia’s Bob Huggins with 926.

Outside of his run with Syracuse, he was also an assistant coach for the United States men’s national basketball team, helping coach the team to three Olympic Gold Medals, two FIBA World Championships, and one FIBA Americas Championship.

Taking over for Boeheim is associate head coach Adrian Autry, a former player of Boeheim from 1990 to 1994 before playing professionally, mostly in Europe. He began his coaching career in 2006 as an associate head coach in Virginia before coaching multiple AAU programs. In 2008, he became the director of basketball operations at Virginia Tech, where he would also become an assistant coach in 2010.  Following the 2010-2011 season, Autry would return to Syracuse as an assistant before being promoted to associate head coach in 2016. Now, he’ll take over as the head coach at the legendary program.

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