Two more Syracuse coaches are heading to Buffalo to join Doug Marrone and the Bills.

Marrone announced Thursday that he’s hired John Anselmo to be a special teams assistant, and Hal Luther to be the Bills’ assistant strength and conditioning coach. With their departures, there are now seven former Syracuse assistant coaches in Buffalo.

Anselmo came to Syracuse in 2009 and was the team’s secondary coach until 2010.  He was then the linebackers coach and assistant head coach for the last two seasons.

For the nine years prior, he was the head coach at Nassau Community College on Long Island. From 1995 to 1998, he was on the coaching staff at Georgia Tech with Marrone.

He was also the head coach at Nassau from 1987-1994, after serving as the defensive coordinator there from 1977 to 1986.

Anselmo was one of Syracuse’s main recruiters, especially when recruiting from junior colleges. The New York native helped the Orange establish a recruiting pipeline from New York City to Syracuse and expand SU’s recruiting base in the area.

With Anselmo and Bronx native Marrone gone, the Orange has lost its two coaches with the most knowledge about New York City recruiting.

Two of Syracuse’s commitments from the Class of 2013 are from New York City, including running back Augustus Edwards from Tottenville High School on Staten Island, and defensive tackle Wayne Williams from ASA College in Brooklyn.

Edwards has reopened his recruitment and will visit other schools, including Big Ten-bound Rutgers. Edwards narrowed down his list of potential schools to Syracuse, Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina State before committing to the Orange in July.

Luther had been with Syracuse since 2000, first as an assistant strength and conditioning coach, and then the director of strength of strength and conditioning since 2007.

Published on January 17, 2013 at 5:32 pm

Contact Chris: cjiseman@syr.edu | @chris_iseman