Feature image from Rich Barnes - USA TODAY Sports

Who Is He?

Currently Head Coach at Syracuse University. We’ve always liked Dino here at BS. And Dino is a loyal guy. Syracuse gave him a shot and this guy who is Hawaii through and through is still there.

He was born in Hawaii, played at Hawaii and was a GA at UH. He’s also coached at other warm-weather locales such as Arizona, Arizona State, UNLV, Northern Az, SD State, Texas A&M, UCLA and Baylor. He took his first head job at Eastern Illinois in 2012, went 7-5 and then 12-2 before moving on to Bowling Green.

In two years at BG, he went 8-6 and 10-3. He then landed at Syracuse, where he has had middling success at a CFB wasteland where it’s very difficult to win. He’s sprinkled in a couple of winning seasons among a bunch of forgettable ones. Most notable high points include the 10-3 season in 2018 and this year’s 6-0 start, which led to a #14 national ranking before the bottom fell out and they lost five in a row.

Why would he be successful at Purdue?

While he hasn’t won a TON of games in Syracuse, I look at what a guy is dealing with to make this kind of determination. He’s coaching at a place that doesn’t care that much about football, where it’s very difficult to recruit (Syracuse winters, yikes) and yet he’s only had one truly dreadful season. With an upgrade in facilities, recruiting base and money, it’s reasonable to think he could do well at Purdue.

Why could he flop at Purdue?

Maybe he’s just a middling coach. That’s the other possibility. And if so, coaching the uphill Big Ten battle at Purdue could be a bad mix.

Ed note: Why is he in our top tier? Because we wanted 6 coaches at the top, and there’s nobody we at BS love more than Dino Babers and it’s our dang list.

Would he come to Purdue?

Probably. He coached briefly at Purdue in the early ‘90s and he’s been at Syracuse for seven years, his longest coaching stop ever. Could it be time for a change? Surely, the money and stability would be enticing.