The offseason of coaching turmoil continued on Friday for Fran Brown's staff.
The Syracuse University football program made a handful of additional coaching decisions official on Friday afternoon, and this is on top of several other coaching moves from earlier in the offseason.
Already, the Orange have hired Vince Kehres as the defensive coordinator, Sean Ryan as the quarterbacks coach, Juan Castillo as the offensive line coach and John Scott Jr. as the co-defensive coordinator and defensive line coach.
There is a chance that Castillo could turn around and leave for the offensive line job with the New York Giants, though nothing has officially happened yet on that front. Castillo has already coached with new Giants head coach John Harbaugh before.
The new positions
Most notably, Dennis Thomas has been elevated as the running backs coach and Marcus Walker will coach the nickel position.
Thomas has been on the SU staff since the spring of 2023 and previously served as an offensive assistant at Rutgers and as a decorated high school coach in New Jersey. Thomas played at Rutgers and signed with the Kansas City Chiefs after he was done playing.
Walker previously worked at Towson, McNeese State and the University of Oklahoma. He helped Oklahoma win three Big 12 titles as a player and saw professional time with the Minnesota Vikings, Carolina Panthers and the CFL's Hamilton Tiger Cats.
How Syracuse has fared in the transfer portal so far
(with help from cfbdepth.com)
Ahmad Miller, RB (Jackson State)
Jartavius Flounoy, DT (Georgia State)
Cole Weaver, WR (Miami of Ohio)
Ju'Juan Johnson, RB (LSU)
Chris D'Appolonia, LB (Toledo)
Elijah Moore, WR (Florida State)
Keyshawn Johnson, Edge (UT-Martin)
Dillan Fontus, DL (Maryland)
Amari Odom, QB (Kennesaw State)
Amare Snowden, DB (Toledo)
Tunmise Adeleye, DE (UNLV)
Nazir Ward, DB (Western Kentucky)
Matthew Outten, WR (Penn State)
Danny Lauter, QB (Georgetown)
Jai Eugene, DB (Western Kentucky)
Oluwafunto Akinshilo, OL (UCLA)
Also on campus
--The Syracuse women's basketball team stayed hot on Thursday night, rolling over Boston College 93-59 in Chestnut Hill, Ma. The Orange are 19-4 and 9-3 inside conference play. While not ranked, they appear to be on track for an NCAA Tournament berth later in March.
Freshman Uche Izoje led the way with 18 points and eight rebounds while Madeline Potts had 12. Laila Phelia and Dominique Darius each scored in double-figures also. Darius had 10 points and 10 assists.
They'll be back in action on Sunday afternoon (12 p.m. ET) when they host No. 6 Louisville in a massive contest at the JMA Wireless Dome.
--The SU men will enter Saturday's contest against No. 18 Virginia as an underdog.
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