5 Dino Babers replacements who can put Syracuse football back on the map

1. Sean Lewis should be Syracuse's top target above all else in this cycle

As soon as Syracuse decided to move on from Dino Babers, my mind immediately went to Sean Lewis. While he has spent the last year as Deion Sanders' offensive coordinator at Colorado, we all remember fondly of the type of offenses he ran for years leading Kent State. Syracuse may not be the pick of the litter in terms of Power Five jobs, but Kent State is the worst FBS program of all time.

I think what Lewis would bring to Syracuse would be electricity on the turf and a restored sense of urgency. He only left Kent State to join Coach Prime's staff to help raise his coaching profile. Even if Sanders later took away play-calling duties from him in favor of promoting offensive analyst Pat Shurmur from within, Lewis' stock has not taken as big of a hit as Sanders' since losing to Stanford.

If I were in charge of making this hire for Syracuse, I would not let Lewis say no. It seems as though he could be on his way out of Colorado anyway. With other jobs opening up, especially the offensive coordinator gig at Penn State following Mike Yurcich's termination, Syracuse needs to act swiftly. Could Lewis do better than Syracuse in terms of leading his own P5 team right now? I'm not so sure.

Timing is everything and the time is now for Syracuse to make a huge splash and land Lewis for 2024.