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Football

Syracuse football announces hiring of 6 assistant coaches

Courtesy of BGSU Athletics

Sean Lewis will be Syracuse's new co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. His hiring, and five other assistants', was made official on Monday.

By Paul SchwedelsonSenior Staff Writer

UPDATED: Jan. 5, 2016 at 12:32 a.m.

While many of Syracuse’s new assistants had already changed their Twitter bios and been on the road recruiting for the Orange in December, SU officially announced six members its new staff on Monday.

Head coach Dino Babers, who was hired by Syracuse on Dec. 5, said at his introductory press conference two days later that he would have assistants on the road recruiting later that evening.

Babers was Bowling Green’s head coach the past two seasons and is bringing six of his assistants to Syracuse: Brian Ward (defensive coordinator), Sean Lewis (co-offensive coordinator/quarterbacks), Mike Lynch (co-offensive coordinator/offensive line), Nick Monroe (secondary), Tom Kaufman (special teams coordinator/linebackers) and Kim McCloud (assistant head coach/receivers). According to Sports Illustrated, Babers will also bring in Western Michigan’s defensive line coach Vinson Reynolds to take the same position at SU.

“The members of this staff are committed to the vision that I have for Syracuse football,” Babers said in a release. “As a group, they bring a variety of personal experiences that have shaped them into tremendous teachers, recruiters and developers of talent, and leaders of young men. They have a proven track record of success and are passionate about Syracuse University and the opportunity to return this program to prominence through extraordinary effort and an unwavering commitment to excellence.



“Our familiarity with one another creates continuity while moving forward with our plan for the success of the program.”

Here’s some more information about each of the new assistants:

Brian Ward, defensive coordinator — Ward served as Bowling Green’s interim head coach in the GoDaddy Bowl and will succeed Chuck Bullough as Syracuse’s defensive coordinator. Ward only spent one season at Bowling Green and previously coached three years as the defensive coordinator at Western Illinois. He helped turn the Leathernecks’ defense from one of the worst in the FCS to one of the best. He also specialized with linebackers at BGSU.

 

Courtesy of BGSU Athletics

Courtesy of BGSU Athletics

 

Sean Lewis, co-offensive coordinator/quarterbacks — Lewis spent the past two seasons with Babers at Bowling Green and two more prior to that at Eastern Illinois. He played collegiately at Wisconsin as a quarterback for his first season before switching to tight end. He has already spent time recruiting for Syracuse making an in-home visit to Class of 2016 offensive lineman commit Sam Heckel. He also helped reel in fellow 2016 offensive lineman Airon Servais, who said his relationship with the coaching staff was one of the main reasons for his commitment to SU. He’s also sent out several coded tweets about SU recruits.

Mike Lynch, co-offensive coordinator/offensive line — Lynch has also worked under Babers for each of the past four seasons coaching the offensive line and running backs. He was also an assistant at Eastern Illinois for seven years before Babers arrived. Lynch coached tight ends at Utah State from 2000-04, including former Washington Redskin Chris Cooley. Lynch also helped in the recruitment of Heckel and Servais.

Nick Monroe, secondary — Monroe has been at Bowling Green for the past six seasons. Prior to that, he spent six seasons as a defensive assistant at Colgate. Babers said at his introductory press conference that he would hire assistants with ties to the local area and Monroe fits that bill. He also helped attract 2016 cornerback Carl Jones to SU.

 

Courtesy of BGSU Athletics

Courtesy of BGSU Athletics

 

Tom Kaufman, special teams coordinator/linebackers — Kaufman coached under Babers in each of the past four seasons. This past season, he moonlighted as the special teams coordinator and defensive line coach at Bowling Green. He’s also spent time working with linebackers in prior seasons. He’s also worked at Mississippi State as a graduate assistant in 2009, at Kansas as a quality control coach in 2010 and at Texas, also as a quality control coach, in 2011. He visited Jones’ school in Ohio, which played a role in his recruitment.

 

Courtesy of BGSU Athletics

Courtesy of BGSU Athletics

 

Kim McCloud, assistant head coach/wide receivers —McCloud was Babers’ defensive coordinator for three seasons until being named assistant head coach and wide receivers coach for 2015. They also worked together at Baylor as McCloud was the Bears’ defensive recruiting coordinator shortly after Babers was in the same position. Prior to his time at Baylor, he coached at Nevada for eight seasons. McCloud made an in-home visit to 2016 hybrid commit Moe Neal on Dec. 8.

Vinson Reynolds, defensive line — Reynolds is the only coach of the group that wasn’t previously at Bowling Green. He’s spent the past three seasons also in the Mid-American Conference, though, at Western Michigan. Reynolds began his coaching career in 2006 and has been a defensive line coach at Central Michigan, Central Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Wisconsin-Platteville.

Courtesy of Western Michigan Athletics

Courtesy of Western Michigan Athletics

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