Greg Robinson announced a series of coaching moves on Wednesday, designed to fill the voids in his staff caused by the defection of defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Steve Russ to Wake Forest last Friday.

First, the Syracuse head coach introduced as linebackers coach Dan Conley, a former Syracuse standout linebacker and member of SU’s all-century team.

Moments later, Robinson announced he would share the defensive coordinator duties with defensive line coach Derrick Jackson, who Robinson promoted to the title of ‘co-defensive coordinator.’ Though Jackson and Robinson will work in tandem, Robinson will continue to call most of the plays.

The moves appear to complete a coaching staff that has been in a state of flux this offseason. Syracuse hired former Minnesota offensive coordinator Mitch Browning to the same position in December one week after dismissing former offensive coordinator Brian White.

Robinson also served as defensive coordinator in his first two years as Orange head coach.

‘I like to be on that field, and I want to coach at times,’ Robinson said. ‘… Will I call every defense? I don’t know that I’ll do that, but I’ll be involved in it. But I have other duties during the game. I’m going to count on Derrick as well as the other assistant coaches during the game to make adjustments.’

Jackson’s promotion comes just one year after he arrived at SU from Michigan State, where he also served as defensive line coach for one season.

Together, Robinson and Jackson will have to figure out a way to resurrect a defense that allowed 34.8 points per game and finished 111th in the nation. The Syracuse defense’s most successful campaign came when Robinson ran the unit in 2006, and the Orange allowed 24.6 points per game.

‘In the first year, I was immersed, and it pulled on me in a lot of ways – it was hard, but it was good,’ Robinson said. ‘Now I can still administrate.’

Yet while Robinson and Jackson will have the principle responsibility of running the defense, Conley’s hiring will certainly resonate among those who remember his playing career at Syracuse. That career spanned from 1990-94 and included two Big East all-conference first team selections and two nominations for the Butkus Award, which goes to the nation’s best linebacker.

After his playing career was ended shortly after his senior season by injuries, Conley made returning to Syracuse as a coach his career goal. Such was his desire, that when Robinson called to offer him a job shortly earlier this week, the former SU linebacker was overwhelmed.

‘It was the most gratifying phone call that I had gotten in a long time,’ Conley said. ‘Some of the highlights in my life – signing my national letter of intent, some of the football games that I had played here, meeting my wife, having my two children – and that phone call was very special.

‘I was shaking. I used the word magical, but it really was.’

The 37-year-old Conley has 12 years of college coaching experience, though none of those years spent in a major program. He spent the last three seasons as an assistant coach at Wagner – a Division I Championship Subdivision school. Most recently, he was Wagner’s defensive line coach and special teams coordinator.

‘He has paid his dues,’ Robinson said. ‘He has come up through the ranks, and he has become a real student of the game. To go out and find a fine football coach is one thing; it’s another thing to find a football coach who is so excited and truly happy to be back at his alma mater. That is a real plus.’

Of course, Conley will have a tall task, taking over a unit frequently targeted as the weakest on the SU defense last year.

Conley’s contributions – not to mention those of Robinson and Jackson – could go a long way in determining whether the Syracuse defense can right itself next year. Call it blind optimism, but Conley’s early film sessions have him feeling good about SU’s defensive personnel.

‘There is a lot of athleticism, there’s a lot of young, raw talent (at linebacker),’ Conley said. ‘You can see that Coach Russ was really onto something. I really think it was youth, and I really believe that some of the guys who we have, if they can step into these spots, we’re going to be OK.’

jsclayto@syr.edu

Published on February 13, 2008 at 12:00 pm