Dino Babers on conference realignment: ‘Way outside my paygrade’
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Syracuse football head coach Dino Babers said all of the recent conference realignment is “way outside his paygrade.” Babers said that he is sure others in the Atlantic Coast Conference are looking at the recent moves like Washington and Oregon heading to the Big Ten or Arizona, Arizona State and Utah transitioning to the Big 12.
“(It’s) just a lot different,” Babers said. “Six years ago, 10 years ago, 12 years ago to think that all this stuff would be going on, it’s just very interesting.”
Babers, who is heading into his eighth season as SU’s head coach, has coached in some capacity at the college level every year since 1984. He spent time in the now-disbanded Pac-12. Starting in 1995, he held various coaching positions at Arizona before becoming the Wildcats’ offensive coordinator from 1998-2000. Then from 2004-07, Babers held three different coaching positions at UCLA, mainly under Karl Dorrell.
Both of those schools will be competing in different conferences in August 2024. In June 2022, it was reported that USC and UCLA would leave the Pac-12 and join the Big Ten. On July 27, Colorado announced that it was re-joining the Big 12. With the lack of a substantial media rights deal, other Pac-12 schools started leaving the conference. But, the realignment of the now-Pac-4 may continue as ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported that the ACC Presidents met this morning for an exploratory call on Cal and Stanford.
Babers jokingly said he still remembers when the Pac-12 was the Pac-8 but said that, in this day and age, that there must be a lot of adjusting and improvising.
“You would never think that that league, wrapped around one of the bowl games, the Rose Bowl game being the granddaddy of them all, with the Big 10 that they would ever lose their lose it. But here we are.”
Babers remained guarded when questioned on if he had conversations with Syracuse Athletic Director John Wildhack. He said that if he did, he wouldn’t be at liberty to tell the press. Babers was quick to praise ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips, though.
“I thought that Mr. Phillips has been doing a fantastic job,” Babers said. “He’s a stand up guy and he says and does exactly what he says.”
The ACC distributed nearly $40 million per school over the course of the 2021-22 school year. However, that still didn’t stop schools like Florida State to openly express dissatisfaction as the ACC’s revenue is smaller than the Big Ten or SEC. Babers didn’t discuss if the Orange had a football budget similar to the amount given to two-time reigning national champion Georgia, which spent $4.5 million on recruiting during the 2022 fiscal year.
“I would imagine a lot more than what I have. I’m not gonna go there,” Babers said. “I’m more worried about what’s going on in Syracuse.”
