The coaching carousel continues to swirl and the Arizona Wildcats are closing in on completing their 2024 coaching staff under new head coach Brent Brennan. According to multiple reports, former Syracuse head coach Dino Babers is expected to join the staff as the new offensive coordinator at Arizona.
Dino Babers To Return to Arizona
After a less-than-favorable exit from Syracuse, Babers is getting a fresh start at a familiar spot. Babers is set to join Brennan’s staff as the offensive coordinator, returning to Tuscon after 24 years.
An assistant with the Wildcats from 1995 to 2000, Babers coached for the Wildcats when Brennan also worked for the staff as a graduate assistant.
One of the most accomplished play-callers of this generation, Babers returns to the sidelines in a capacity that should see immediate positive returns for the Wildcats. The roster itself still needs help and some rebuilding, but with an experienced coach like Babers in the fold, recruiting and transfer portal construction becomes easier.
Babers was the offensive coordinator at Arizona from 1998-2000.
Following his stint at Arizona, Babers successfully upped his position with schools of national prominence. He bounced around from Texas A&M to UCLA before ultimately getting his first head coach job in 2012 with Eastern Illinois.
Babers then manned the ship at Bowling Green for two seasons in 2014 before jumping to Syracuse in 2016. In his eight seasons with the Orange, Babers accumulated a 41-55 record, peaking with a 10-3 mark in 2018 and his only bowl victory with the team.
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For his career, Babers has a 78-71 record as a head coach. He joins Brennan’s staff which is slowly coming together.
Brennan nabbed Duane Akina as his defensive coordinator after Akina spent last season as an analyst with the Wildcats.
Akina has extensive work as a defensive backs coach and was the associate head coach with Texas from 2011-2013 before spending nine seasons with David Shaw at Stanford.
Like Babers, Akina worked with Brennan previously, with Arizona, back during the 2000 season.
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