Syracuse hires John Scott Jr. as assistant head coach, D-line coach
Syracuse is hiring John Scott Jr. as its assistant head coach and defensive line coach, ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported Monday night. Leonardo Eriman | Senior Staff Photographer
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Syracuse has hired John Scott Jr. as its new assistant head coach and defensive line coach, ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported Monday evening. From 2006-07, Scott was a defensive assistant at Western Carolina, where he overlapped with Fran Brown for the 2006 season while Brown was still a player at the university.
It was previously reported on Dec. 9 that Georgia State defensive line coach Jeremy Hawkins would join SU’s staff for the same role. But Hawkins’ hire has not yet been confirmed. For now, Scott takes over as the Orange’s new defensive line coach with Hawkins’ job title and hiring status still up in the air. SU still has an edge rusher coach vacancy and Hawkins could fill it.
Scott, 50, boasts a wealth of coaching experience following his four-year playing career at Western Carolina from 1995-98. His first college position coach job came at Norfolk State in 2005 as its defensive line coach. Then, he went back to his alma mater at WCU for the next two years as a defensive end coach.
Though he wasn’t the position coach of Brown — a college defensive back — the two clearly crossed paths enough for Brown to be comfortable hiring Scott as his right-hand man.
Scott has also spent time with Texas Tech, Arkansas, South Carolina and Penn State in assistant coach roles. He even has three years of NFL experience; two as a New York Jets assistant (2015-16) and most recently, the Detroit Lions’ defensive line coach in 2023 — a season in which the Lions advanced to the NFC Championship game.
Scott did not have a college or professional coaching job each of the last two seasons. Now, Brown has lured him to a new destination in Syracuse.
The move comes after Elijah Robinson — SU’s defensive coordinator from 2024-25, who got demoted to its defensive line coach after this past regular season — left the Orange to become Texas A&M’s D-line coach. Syracuse had the worst scoring defense in the Atlantic Coast Conference this past year, allowing 34.92 points per game in a disappointing 3-9 campaign.
To help alleviate the issue, Brown hired highly sought-after Toledo defensive coordinator Vince Kehres as its next defensive playcaller. SU’s head coach now turns to a familiar face in Scott to coach his defensive linemen next season.
