Report: Syracuse to Fire HC Dino Babers After 20-45 ACC Football Record in 8 Seasons

Syracuse is expected to fire head football coach Dino Babers, according to ESPN's Pete Thamel.

Thamel reported tight ends coach Nunzio Campanile appears poised to take over as the interim head coach. He was also the interim coach at Rutgers in 2019 after the Scarlet Knights fired Chris Ash.

The Orange opened the season 4-0 but have dropped six of their last seven games, most recently losing 31-22 to Georgia Tech on Saturday.

Babers was in his eighth season at the school and had a 41-55 overall record. He struggled to make Syracuse relevant in the ACC, with the team winning just 20 conference games and only once posting a winning mark (6-2 in 2018) under his watch.

That 2018 season saw the Orange win 10 games and beat 15th-ranked West Virginia in the Camping World Bowl. At the time, it looked like Babers had the program heading in the right direction.

Instead, that was his high-water mark.

Emily Leiker of Syracuse.com provided some more context to why the school will have felt change is needed.

"Out of 130 teams that have competed in college football's highest subdivision throughout Babers' tenure, Syracuse ranks in the bottom third in wins and in winning percentage since he was hired," she wrote.

"Of the schools that have lost more in that span, Ball State is the only program that hasn't made a coaching change."

Nobody considers the Orange to be a sleeping giant on the gridiron. With Dick MacPherson and Paul Pasqualoni, they were at least a mainstay in postseason bowls. They also punched a bowl ticket in two of Doug Marrone's four years on the sideline.

Winning six or eight games with the occasional 10-win campaign sprinkled in isn't an unrealistic expectation.

Thamel listed off who might be in play to succeed Babers:

Surveying the landscape, there's arguably one candidate that jumps out more than any other to approach once Syracuse begins its search.

Sean Lewis followed Babers from Bowling Green to Syracuse, where he was the co-offensive coordinator in 2016 and 2017. From there, he won 24 games in five years at Kent State, which has historically been among the most moribund programs in the FBS.

With how Lewis' spell as Colorado's offensive coordinator is going, he might already be eager for a new opportunity. Coaching Syracuse would be a step up, and he will be familiar with the general setup at the school.