Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (AP) — Middle Tennessee has hired former Syracuse head coach Scott Shafer as its defensive coordinator.
Shafer spent the 2016 season out of football after going 14-23 in three years as Syracuse's coach.
Before taking over as Syracuse's head coach, Shafer was the Orange's defensive coordinator from 2009-12. He also has been a defensive coordinator at Northern Illinois, Western Michigan, Stanford and Michigan.
Shafer said Friday in a release announcing the hire that "we will put a physical, attacking, multiple defense on the field that will excel in fundamentals and tackling."
Shafer replaces Tyrone Nix, who was fired Dec. 28 after five seasons as Middle Tennessee's defensive coordinator.
Middle Tennessee went 8-5 this season, including a 52-35 Hawaii Bowl loss to Hawaii.
___
More AP college football: www.collegefootball.ap.org and https://twitter.com/AP\_Top25
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.