AD Mark Coyle leaves Syracuse 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. The school introduced Coyle as its new athletic director Wednesday afternoon.
“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 had announced Coyle was "the finalist" for the AD job just before the official announcement of his Syracuse departure.
“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.
Syracuse’s Dino Babers on AD Mark Coyle leaving for Minnesota: “Are you serious? No comment”
— Brett McMurphy (@McMurphyESPN) May 11, 2016
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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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Sam Cooper is a contributor for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!
