ACC Football: Miami Hires Richt, Syracuse May Have Man

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Mark Richt Has Everything Under Control

Richt is the new man in charge at his alma mater and will look to bring the kind of consistent, upstanding success he had at Georgia down to Coral Gables. The ACC’s Coastal Division is generally wide-open, though North Carolina and Pittsburgh may have something to say about that in the coming years and Virginia Tech and Duke aren’t too far behind.

Something to keep in mind is that Miami had the fourth ranked recruiting class in the conference according to Rivals.com and the 23rd best group in the nation. Richt had the No. 5 class on the same list at Georgia, and one recruit to keep an eye on is stud quarterback Jacob Eason. The 5-star player checks in at 6’5″, 207 pounds and throws the ball extremely well. He’s been a Georgia commit for a long time, but has a close relationship with Richt.

Mark Richt won’t coach Georgia in the bowl game, so he’s recruiting full-time while assembling his new staff. Wait and see if Richt can add a big-name or two the the Hurricanes’ class.

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Syracuse Likes Babers

Ohio State defensive coordinator Chris Ash removed his name from consideration for the Syracuse job leaving Dino Babers as the most likely candidate. Babers is the head coach at Bowling Green where this season he’s gone 9-3, including a 7-1 mark in conference play which has them in the MAC Championship Game against Northern Illinois Friday night.

In two seasons at Bowling Green, Babers has compiled a 17-9 record after taking over when Dave Clawson left Bowling Green State University for Wake Forest. Before that, Babers was in charge at Eastern Illinois where he went 19-7 in two seasons including a 12-2 mark in 2013 that saw the Panthers rise to No. 4 in the FCS polls.

He’s got a strong track record with other guy’s players, the question is will he receive an offer to fill a bigger opening like Missouri or South Carolina? Givien the timing of his next game, word of an agreement with Babers could well come out over the weekend with an official announcement early next week for whoever hires him.

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Virginia Branches Out

Mark Richt interviewed with Virginia, but it seems like more of a courtesy than anything at this point based on the results of that encounter. The latest name who will reportedly interview for the position is Western Kentucky’s Jeff Brohm. Brohm played quarterback at Louisville from 1989-93 and bounced around the NFL before logging a season with the Orlando Rage of the ill-fated XFL. He’s worked in various capacities under Bobby Petrino, Howard Schnellenberger and Ron Zook which is an interesting albeit unlikely coaching tree.

He got the head coaching gig at Western Kentucky when Petrino returned to Louisville, and has posted an 18-7 record in two seasons including a 10-2 record this season with an 8-0 conference mark. That has the Hilltoppers in the Conference USA Championship game against Southern Miss on Saturday. Brohm brings an offensive mind and at 44 could bring a dynamic, young head coach to match rival Virginia Tech’s hire of 39-year-old Justin Fuente.

Cal’s Sonny Dykes has been mentioned in connection with the Cavaliers as well, but he seems to desperately want out of his current spot for some reason which makes that seem odd to me. He also has just a 13-23 overall record in his time at Cal, though they’ve improved each season and are 7-5 this year.

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