Dino Babers sat in a convention of over 4,000 football coaches. At the time he was an assistant at Baylor, a wide receivers coach looking for an opportunity to be a coordinator, to call plays.

Babers had gotten offers at other schools, but nothing good, nothing that would let him bring another assistant with him. Unless he found the right opportunity, the then-25-year assistant coach would continue to be just that.

He confided his concerns in Homer Smith, a former coach who had cancer at the time. Smith told him to step back from his misery and look in the room he was in. Half the people in there were without jobs. The other half were looking to hire.

“’Dino, that’s a bunch of garbage,’” Babers remembers Smith, who died less than a year later, telling him. “‘You need to get off your butt and get it done.’”

In 2011, Babers left his job as a Baylor assistant. But he got it done, getting hired at Eastern Illinois en route to major success at the FBS level. After two years, he moved to Bowling Green, where he just led his team to a Mid-American Conference championship on Friday. Four years as a head coach, three conference championships.

And by morning the morning of Dec. 5 — he went to sleep at 3:30 a.m. after celebrating — he had taken the job at Syracuse. Twenty-seven years as an assistant. Four more as a mid-major and FCS head coach. Fifteen different schools, six different positions coached. Now, he’s at Syracuse, in what he calls a “destination job.”

“One of the reasons why I like this university over other universities that were available is that I thought at the other universities that I could win, but I’d have to move again,” Babers said. “What I was looking for is some place that I could win and have an opportunity to stay, because I have moved so much.“

Babers’ wife, Susan Babers recently bought a map to put every spot that the couple has moved to together over the past three decades. On the map it says, “home is where you live”. Only four months ago, Susan Babers had bought a home in Ohio. On Saturday morning, she found out that her husband would need a new one.

Susan had gotten home around 2 a.m. the night of the MAC championship, only to wake up at 4:10 a.m. for a flight to College Station, Texas to watch her daughter play volleyball. On her way there, she got a call from Babers, telling her that talks of getting to a school might be happening. The next time he called, Babers was the head coach at Syracuse.

It was his decision to make, just like it was when he went to Eastern Illinois and took a pay cut to leave Baylor.

“(Babers) goes by faith,” Susan said. “And once he makes his decision, I know it’s going to be the right one.”

The two hardly talked between then and when she got back Sunday night. On Monday morning, they flew to Syracuse. Her daughter Jazzmin, whose Texas A&M volleyball team lost in the NCAA tournament, came, too. At 10 a.m. he introduced himself to the school. At 11 a.m., he schmoozed with players, coaches and boosters. At noon, he did more media. At 1 p.m., he did even more. At 3 p.m., he got to meet his team, asking them to give him a round of applause.

For Babers, the week has been a nonstop whirlwind. The life of a new head coach in the ACC. But the buildup was long. Thirty years in the making. Twenty-seven as an assistant. Fifteen different schools and six different positions.

Now he’s where he wants to be, and doesn’t want to leave.

Said Babers: “I really think that this is where I was supposed to come.”

Published on December 9, 2015 at 9:49 pm

Contact Sam: sblum@syr.edu | @SamBlum3