Syracuse introduced its new head football coach Dino Babers to the media at a press conference Monday morning. Director of Athletics Mark Coyle spoke to reporters both at the press conference and afterward.

Here are five interesting things Coyle said.

1. On hiring the ‘best fit’

“I wanted to make sure we found the best fit for Syracuse football. And how I define best fit was, simply, I wanted someone with tremendous honesty and integrity. I wanted somebody who would be focused on our students and the welfare of our students. I wanted somebody who was innovative and had an exciting brand of football. And I wanted somebody who had a commitment to winning. And I’m confident we’ve found that person in Coach Babers.”

2. On why Scott Shafer was fired before the end of the season despite previously saying he’d take the season to evaluate

“Obviously if you look across the national landscape at the number of openings, I thought it was critical to give us additional time. And I can tell you having five days to actively visit and talk to different candidates was a huge help for us.”

3. On Babers’ experience

“What excites me about Dino is he’s done it for four years as a head coach. He did it at Baylor (as an assistant). Most of you guys are too young to remember Baylor football, but … you didn’t talk about Baylor football. Now Baylor football’s a consistent Top 25 program. I felt his pedigree at Baylor and then his four years as a head coach, his knees aren’t going to buckle. He’s been in that role (as a head coach) before.”

4. On Babers and the Carrier Dome

“He saw that Dome as a huge recruiting tool … He kept talking about the type of system (he runs), the weather conditions, we can do some special things. If you remember when I was hired, I talked about the Dome being a tremendous recruiting advantage. Do we need to make some updates to the Dome? No question. But again, that Dome can be special.”

5. On how not going to the Bahamas with men’s basketball team helped search process

“With me not going to the Bahamas, selfishly that led me at home where I could start making a lot of phone calls and have lots of conversations with people. And I truly feel those four or five days helped us to get to our final spot.”

Published on December 7, 2015 at 1:22 pm

Contact Paul: pmschwed@syr.edu | @pschweds