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Syracuse football is expected to hire special teams coordinator Bob Ligashesky, according to a report from Yahoo Sports’ Pete Thamel. 247Sports’ Stephen Bailey also confirmed the expected hire.

Ligashesky would arrive in central New York after spending the 2021 season as Bowling Green’s special teams coordinator (SU head coach Dino Babers was previously the head coach at Bowling Green, though he never overlapped with Ligashesky). Ligashesky was also the safeties coach at Bowling Green.

Ligashesky has 12 years of experience in the NFL, primarily working with special teams, including a Super Bowl victory with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2009.

The Orange did not have a special teams coordinator this season after former coordinator Justin Lustig departed for Vanderbilt following the 2020 season. SU was one of seven Power Five schools who didn’t have a designated coordinator in 2021. 

“There’s no doubt that if I had the perfect world, in a theatre coming to you soon, that we’ll get back to the traditional way of doing things,” head coach Dino Babers said on Oct. 18.

Instead, Syracuse divided up special teams’ responsibilities among its coaching staff, Babers said. Babers was asked on multiple occasions during the season how specifically those responsibilities were split, but he declined to provide further details.

SU was plagued with special teams issues for much of the 2021 season, including numerous penalties on kickoffs and punt returns, poor punting, inconsistent kicking and more.

Syracuse previously established a consistent pipeline of NFL-caliber special teams players, including New York Giants punter Riley Dixon, Atlanta Falcons 2020 seventh-round draft pick Sterling Hofrichter and former New Orleans Saints signee Nolan Cooney. 

But this year, the Orange ranked last in the Atlantic Coast Conference in average net yards per punt (33.2). SU used punter James Williams early in the season before walk-on Ian Hawkins replaced him, but both lacked consistency.

In the kicking game, former Lou Groza Award winner Andre Szmyt broke SU’s all-time record for field goals made, but he also had an up-and-down year. He was 9-of-14 this season (64.3%), far lower than his 88.2%, 85.0% and 81.8% clips in 2018, 2019 and 2020, respectively. Szmyt hit the game-winning kick against Liberty, but he missed the game-tying field goal against Clemson as well as two extra points this season. 

Szmyt took part in the senior night walk, meaning he won’t return next season, but Ligashesky’s arrival should help put the Orange back on track to re-establish themselves as “Special Teams U.” 

Published on December 6, 2021 at 9:55 pm

Contact Roshan: rferna04@syr.edu | @Roshan_f16