At the New York State High School Football Coaches Association clinic in February, coaches gathered to hear Dino Babers, Syracuse’s head coach and the keynote speaker. They wanted to learn about the implementation of his trademark up-tempo offense. The talk was sold to high school coaches, one of them said, as an offensive lecture.
“He’s an offensive guy that put up all these big numbers at Bowling Green and Eastern Illinois,” said Bob Burns, head coach at defending AA state champion Troy High School, “and I was interested in listening to, schematically, how he attacks defenses. … He really didn’t go over any of that.”
The Daily Orange interviewed 14 high school football coaches from New York state about Babers and how he recruits players from New York, choosing coaches Babers seemed likeliest to interact with regularly. Included are those from major metropolitan areas like Rochester and Albany, those who have sent a player to Syracuse in the past seven years or who have produced a Division I football player in the last decade.
Generally, high school coaches view Babers as a good coach and person who has improved Syracuse’s on-the-field product while fielding a team of “high-quality young men,” as Pittsford High School head coach Keith Molinich put it.
Yet, for the most part, coaches were left desiring more contact and focus from Syracuse. They feel there isn’t a “priority” on New York players, said Shaker High School head coach Greg Sheeler. Talent, Molinich said, has gone “overlooked.” Several noted he seemed disconnected from New York high school football. They also feel he under-recruits the state by not prioritizing in-state DI talent, Sheeler added.
This disenchantment stems from a pledge Babers made at his introductory press conference in 2015 that coaches feel Babers hasn’t entirely lived up to. Just like Scott Shafer before him, Babers assured everyone in attendance that recruiting at SU begins at home in New York.
Since then, Babers has brought in three New Yorkers — Eric Coley from Fayetteville- Manlius High School, Cameron Jordan from Half Hills Hollow West High School and Luke Erickson from Greene High School — in his 28-player 2017 recruiting class. In Babers’ 2018 recruiting class, which has 16 commits, there are currently three New York commits: Trill Williams from Archbishop Stepinac High School, Qadir White from Cardinal Hayes High School and Gabe Horan from Charles W. Baker High School.
It’s on coaches to maintain contact with Babers, Monilich said, even if their teams field plenty of DI talent. Babers “doesn’t think it’s fair” to recruit a player who likely wouldn’t play just because they’re from New York.
Still, there are DI-caliber recruits from New York potentially getting overlooked or missed, multiple coaches said. Troy had two players attend a Syracuse camp and officially visit, and one even ran a 4.41-second 40-yard dash at the camp, Burns said. Yet that player still hasn’t heard anything from SU.
“It’s his thing to offer whoever he wants,” Burns said. “If you think the guys can’t play there, that’s fine.”
Babers and his staff tends to recruit areas where they have historically found success, said Jason Collins, head coach at Rush-Henrietta High School, in an email. In 2015, Babers’ final recruiting class at Bowling Green, he committed eight players from talent-rich Florida. So far in Babers’ 2018 class, he has five players from Florida schools.
Detroit also became a primary target for Babers while he coached at Bowling Green, and that trend has seemingly continued. During the bye week, at least five players from the area tweeted that they received Syracuse scholarship offers.
Despite the perception, a majority of coaches expressed most players and assistant coaches enjoy working with Babers, and that they take no exception with Babers personally or how he handles his program. Players particularly “really like him and respect him,” said Robert Treacy, head coach at Columbia High School. Babers helped his own cause by upsetting defending national champion and then-No. 2 Clemson, which coaches said will greatly help future recruiting efforts.
Nationwide in the class of 2018, there are 27 players from New York verbally committed to a DI school, according to roadtosyracuse.com, a New York State Sportswriters Association website dedicated to in-state football recruiting. Rutgers leads all schools with seven commits.
One of Syracuse’s three commitments is White, a four-star offensive lineman and No. 3 prospect in the state. The two players ranked higher than White, five-star tight end Jeremy Ruckert from Lindenhurst and four-star offensive lineman Matthew Jones from Brooklyn, are both verbally committed to Ohio State. Babers letting any top-level players from New York slip away, Burns said, is a little surprising.
While some coaches feel like they’re at the bottom of the list of Babers’ priorities, Joe Martillotti, the head coach of Lawrence High School on Long Island, doesn’t feel like he’s on the list at all.
Martillotti coached former SU running back Jordan Fredericks, who as a freshman under then-head coach Shafer in 2015, led Syracuse in rushing yards (607). Yet the next season, after the coaching change from Shafer to Babers, Fredericks found himself behind not just Dontae Strickland on the depth chart, but then-freshman Moe Neal as well. During that season, frustrated at a lack of playing time, Fredericks asked Martillotti to help him figure out what to do. So, Martillotti said, he called the football office.
After repeated calls and no answer from Babers, Martillotti said, he finally got in touch with Mike Hart, the then-running backs coach. Hart told him to speak with Babers, because Hart said he didn’t decide the starters. Syracuse’s head coaches before Babers, namely Doug Marrone and Shafer, had always returned Martillotti’s calls, he said. Yet, Babers did not and the situation became “standoffish,” Martillotti added.
“To not get a phone call back,” Martillotti said, “it’s just completely disrespectful. As far as I’m concerned, I will never send another kid to Syracuse. … I think the guy is, to put it bluntly, a complete piece of .”
Babers declined to respond to Martillotti’s comments.
However, on the ACC coaches teleconference, Babers insisted that the notion he was unavailable was untrue.
Despite Babers’ modest gains in New York recruiting, coaches acknowledged that Power 5 coaches can’t be expected to pursue every prospect in their home state. Babers will ultimately recruit the players he wants, and they understand that. In Babers’ view, he said Syracuse has “done a good job” recruiting New York in the nearly two years he’s been head coach.
“We’re doing the best we can,” Babers said on the ACC coaches teleconference on Oct. 18. “… We’re trying to recruit the best players out of the state of New York possible.”
However, some coaches, like Burns and Sheeler, wish Babers maintained relationships with New York coaches. If Babers isn’t actively pursuing a player, Burns said, he can become distant. Coaches are accustomed to occasionally hearing from Syracuse’s head coach, multiple coaches said.
Not every high school coach in New York produces DI talent every season, and the ones that do understand that coaches will pursue the players they want, regardless of geography. High school coaches grapple with this every time one of their players get recruited. Columbia High School only has one DI player every few years, Treacy said, but he will always host Babers if he wants to at least take a look.
“Our door is always open to whoever wants to visit,” Treacy said.
The same is true at other schools, coaches said, but they’re still waiting for Babers to walk in.
Dino Babers promised to recruit New York state when he got hired. Nearly 2 years in, he’s received mixed reviews.
