AD Mark Coyle leaves Syracuse, apparently for Minnesota
After less than a year on the job, Mark Coyle is leaving Syracuse.
The school announced Wednesday that Coyle, who was hired as athletic director last June, has accepted a position at Minnesota.
“Mark Coyle has informed the university, that for family reasons, he is leaving the university for a position at Minnesota. We wish him well,” Syracuse senior vice president for public affairs Kevin Quinn said in a statement.
Minnesota has yet to officially confirm that Coyle will be its next athletic director, but it did announce Wednesday that Coyle is “the finalist” for the position.
“Coyle is visiting campus Wednesday to interview with the search committee, and meet with coaches and other leaders in Gopher Athletics, faculty, and senior university leaders as part of the final steps of a comprehensive national search,” Minnesota’s release said.
At Syracuse, Coyle fired Scott Shafer and brought in Dino Babers from Bowling Green in December to coach the football team. Babers, currently at the ACC meetings in Florida, was apparently unaware of Coyle’s departure.
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Before his brief tenure at Syracuse, Coyle was the athletic director at Boise State for three years and also served in several roles, including deputy athletics director, during a seven-year stint at Kentucky.
He is no stranger to Minnesota, either. He was the school’s associate athletic director for external relations from 2001 to 2005. In that role he “was responsible for managing the marketing and sales unit, athletic communications, the ticket office and licensing,” Minnesota said.
Provided his hiring comes to fruition, Coyle replaces Norwood Teague at Minnesota. Teague resigned in August following multiple complaints of sexual harassment.
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For more Syracuse news, visit CuseConfidential.com.
For more Minnesota news, GopherIllustrated.com.
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Sam Cooper is a contributor for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!
