Following the hiring of Fran Brown, Georgia Bulldogs defensive backs coach, as the 31st head football coach of the Syracuse Orange, we now look to who Brown will ask to join him on staff.
One name is Bobby Acosta, who served as an assistant coach under Scott Shafer in Syracuse's early transition to the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC).
"I know Fran from where we are from, Acosta told me. "He is a Camden [New Jersey] Native. The NJ Coaching Fraternity is tight. We know the same people. Recruited the same kids. Came from the same background. He is exactly what Cuse needed."
Since his time at Syracuse, Acosta has had experiences all throughout the country, both in the high school realm as well as in college football. He has served as the Head Coach at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, and Del Valle High in Austin, Texas, before most recently having the duties of offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff in NCAA Division I-AA, or Football Championship Subdivision (FCS).
"I lost my vision versus Jackson State," Acosta shared with me. "And I was out the last three games. I asked myself, 'Why do I live so far from my family?'. The game of football exists all over the country especially near or in NJ. This was a great learning experience. However being away from my kids didn’t make this experience what I wanted. I love the players here. This is what makes it difficult."
"However, family needs to come first," Acosta expressed in his reasoning to leave Pine Bluff. "I made it a priority to find something up North. So after the season I made new goals for myself and I am chasing those goals for my kiddos."
Acosta has a young daughter and son currently living in New Jersey.
Syracuse University Director of Athletics John Wildhack had stated that he was looking for a coach with northeast ties and that recruiting the northeast was important. Brown has roots in New Jersey and has been an assistant coach twice for the Temple Owls and also with the Rutgers Scarlet Knights.
Acosta has dug deep roots in New Jersey and the northeast as well.
"I lived in NJ all of my life," Acosta stated to me. "Grew up in the Western New York / New Jersey area. Lived in North Jersey. Central Jersey. Went to College in South Jersey. My kids still live in Central Jersey. My mom lives in Matawan, New Jersey. My closest friends are high school head coaches from all over the state."
Acosta was building a bridge to New Jersey when his time at Syracuse was cut short as Shafer's staff was let go with their head coach.
Since then, Acosta has been hoping for the moment where the door could open to return to Syracuse, his dream school since he was a kid.
"My time recruiting at Syracuse was awesome," Acosta exclaimed. "I think I committed 15 kids myself and had a chance to compete with James Franklin of Penn State as well as with Michigan, Rutgers, and Pitt [in recruiting] at the time. We had a staff that loved to compete in recruiting. It was great watching the kids we recruited and experience some success while I was there."
He has made it his mission to work to get back to the northeast, to an area he greatly respects and believes in.
"Recruiting is all about relationships," Acosta told me. If you have a passion for certain areas, it's going to be easier to engage people in those areas to your community, your school, and your organization."
With his dance card open, Acosta could help open up the New Jersey bridge to Syracuse again and aid Brown in working to rule the northeast as the Orange set their sights on better days ahead.