The founder of the Mob is headed to the Big Ten.
The Syracuse Orange are going bowling in large part due to its defense. Ever since Tony White joined the program in 2020, the Orange defense has consistently ranked in the top metrics in the ACC. The 3-3-5 is getting adopted more and more throughout college football and White has steadily grown his profile since transforming the Syracuse defense. Unfortunately, he now leaves Central New York as ESPN’s Pete Thamel reports that White is moving to Nebraska to become the Cornhuskers’ defensive coordinator.
Sources: Nebraska is hiring Syracuse DC Tony White as the school’s next defensive coordinator. He runs a 3-3-5 defense and has emerged as one of the top ACC coordinators.
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) December 8, 2022
White joins a new Nebraska regime being created by former Baylor and Carolina Panthers Head Coach Matt Rhule, who is starting his first season in charge of the Huskers. Nebraska is looking to bounce back from six straight losing seasons, including five straight under previous head coach Scott Frost.
The move stings for Syracuse fans as White showed incredible coaching and player improvement despite never holding a full-time coordinating position before joining the Orange. Fans desperately wanted to see White stick around with Syracuse as a potential future head coach, especially given the intangibles that have grown surrounding the fast and hard-hitting culture of the Syracuse defense.
Dino Babers now has the challenge of finding just his third defensive coordinator (or fourth, if you count the Zach Arnett saga) to coach at Syracuse. One of the questions Babers needs to answer is if Syracuse will find a coach who will stick with the 3-3-5 defense or go a completely different direction. The defense adjusted well when White introduced his defensive scheme, but there’s no guarantee that the same will happen with the next DC.
There haven’t been any other reports of defensive personnel that are leaving with White to Nebraska or any other Syracuse assistants that are headed for other programs.