Former New York Jets and Detroit Lions defensive coordinator Donnie Henderson has been hired to coach the Syracuse defensive backs, SU athletics announced in a release Wednesday.

Henderson was most recently the secondary coach for Southern University (La.). He has nearly 30 years of coaching experience at the professional and college levels combined. Before his one year at Southern, Henderson worked for pro teams since 1999 and spent 16 years as a college coach before that.

The move fills out the SU coaching staff for next season. Syracuse also hired Steve Morrison to coach linebackers and will not bring back Dan Conley and Jimmy Brumbaugh as assistant coaches, moves SU head coach Doug Marrone confirmed Feb. 1.

‘We are excited to have Steve and Donnie join the staff,’ Marrone said in the release. ‘I look forward to working with Donnie again after having been on the staff with him with the New York Jets and to having Steve be reunited with Scott Shafer and Tim Daoust from their time at Western Michigan. They bring a great deal of experience for our program.’

Henderson was the defensive coordinator for the Jets from 2004-05, coinciding with Marrone’s tenure as the Jets’ offensive line coach from 2002-05. Henderson spent 2006 as the Detroit Lions’ defensive coordinator and has worked for six NFL teams and one United Football League team since 1999.

He was the defensive backs coach for the 2000 Baltimore Ravens, a team that allowed the fewest points in NFL history en route to winning the Super Bowl.

Before 1999, Henderson spent 16 years at the collegiate level. His college experience mostly occurred out west, as he worked for Utah State, Idaho, California, Arizona State and Houston.

Morrison’s position as linebackers coach was formally announced in the release. He coached the linebackers at Eastern Michigan for the last two seasons. Before that, he worked for Western Michigan from 2005-09, coaching alongside the Syracuse defensive coordinator Shafer and defensive line coach Daoust for portions of his tenure.

Morrison, a linebacker for Michigan during his playing career, has two years of experience as a defensive coordinator at WMU.

mcooperj@syr.edu

Published on February 7, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Contact Mark: mcooperj@syr.edu | @mark_cooperjr