JEFF NIXON was recently appointed offensive coordinator and running backs coach for the Syracuse University football program. Nixon, a 27-year coaching veteran at the collegiate and professional levels, most recently served as the running backs coach for the NFL’s New York Giants this past season. Before joining New York, Nixon spent the previous three seasons on the Carolina Panthers’ coaching staff in various roles, including serving as offensive coordinator in the final five games of the 2021 season. He was the Panthers’ assistant head coach for the 2022 season. Nixon coached running backs the prior two seasons in Carolina. He joined the Panthers after a three-year stint (2017-2019) as Baylor’s co-offensive coordinator and play caller. In 2019, the Bears finished with an 11-win season and played in the Sugar Bowl. While running the offense, the unit ranked 17th nationally in scoring offense at 35.2 points per game. Before joining Baylor in 2017, Nixon spent 10 straight years coaching in the NFL. In 2016, he coached tight ends for the 49ers. From 2011-15, Nixon coached the Dolphins’ running backs. His time in Miami came after a four-year stint (2007-2010) coaching in Philadelphia, working with both the Eagles’ offense and special teams’ units. Before his NFL tenure, Nixon had stops at Temple (2006), University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (2003-05), Shippensburg (1999-02), and Princeton (1998). He served as the running backs coach at each stop, adding tight ends and special teams in his stop at Chattanooga. Nixon began his coaching career at Penn State in 1997 as a student assistant. A native of New Brighton and State College, Pennsylvania, Nixon played running back for two seasons at West Virginia (1993-94), before transferring to Penn State, where he earned a spot on the Big Ten All-Academic Team. He earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Penn State in 1998 and a master’s degree in education administration from Shippensburg in 2003.
ROBERT WRIGHT has joined the Syracuse University football coaching staff as co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach. He comes to Syracuse from the University at Buffalo, where he served as the defensive coordinator last season. Wright spent the 2022 campaign at Duke as the senior defensive analyst, working with linebackers. Prior to his stint there, he spent the 2021 season at Iowa State as a special teams quality control coach. Wright previously spent two seasons at Texas A&M as a graduate assistant, where he worked with linebackers. Before that, he worked for three seasons at Illinois in various roles. Wright joined the Illini as a defensive graduate assistant (2016-17) before being elevated to a defensive quality control analyst in 2018. While there, Wright worked primarily with the linebackers and nickelbacks. Wright got his coaching start as a special teams quality control coach at his alma mater, the University of Miami. Before his coaching stint with the Hurricanes, Wright was a member of the football program at Miami for the 2011 season. He later went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in economics from the university in 2015. He also obtained his master’s degree in sport administration from Illinois in 2017.
