Dennis Thomas Hired as Syracuse Football's Director of High School Relations

The Orange has filled a key vacancy in its recruiting department.

Mike McAllister | Apr 6, 2023

Dennis Thomas Hired as Syracuse Football's Director of High School Relations /

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Syracuse Orange

Syracuse football has hired Dennis Thomas as its new Director of High School Relations, filling the vacancy left when Khalil Ahmad took a job at Penn State, according to Thomas’ Twitter banner. Thomas was most recently on the Rutgers staff as an offensive assistant. Syracuse football has not officially announced the hire, but tight ends coach Nunzio Campanile’s tweet seemed to confirm the news.

Thomas comes to the Orange with extensive ties to New Jersey where he was a very successful high school coach. Over seven seasons leading Millville High School, he accumulated a 52-24 record. In 2021, Millville went 12-2, winning the South Jersey Group IV and South/Central Regional titles. He also led Millville to the South Jersey Group V championship in 2016, the first for the school since 1975.

Those extensive recruiting ties to New Jersey will be extremely important for the Orange as Ahmad had similar ties that significantly boosted the Orange's presence in the Garden State. Thomas' hiring is a sign that Syracuse will continue the heavily recruit one of the top states for division one talent in the country.

Before getting into coaching, Thomas was a four year letterwinner at Rutgers from 1998 to 2001. The running back is still in the top 10 of all-purpose yards in Scarlet Knights history. He ran for a career high 177 yards in 2001 against Buffalo in Greg Schiano's first game as Rutgers head coach.

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Published Apr 6, 2023

MIKE MCALLISTER

Title: Publisher All Syracuse Education: Roberts Wesleyan College Location: Syracuse, New York Expertise: Syracuse basketball, football and recruiting. EXPERIENCE Mike McAllister has been covering Syracuse basketball, football and recruiting for more than a decade. Mike's career started with his own free blog as a way to vent following sporting events. Shortly thereafter, a network of basketball sites called Coast 2 Coast Hoops asked him to run their Syracuse site. That site was called Nation of Orange, and Mike quickly established it as a go-to for Syracuse fans. After running Nation of Orange for several months, a position with the Syracuse site on the Scout network became available. After one year as the recruiting expert with Cuse Nation, he was named the publisher. Mike oversaw the transition from Scout to 247Sports, and ran the site on that network for years. Presented with the opportunity to join one of the biggest names in the sports journalism industry, Sports Illustrated, Mike jumped at the chance. All Syracuse was started from scratch by Mike and the Fan Nation team. It has now become a staple for Orange fans of various sports. Mike has broken news on recruiting, Syracuse basketball and football team information and has established himself as the top recruiting inside in the market. He has appeared on local radio shows, television broadcasts, national radio shows and much more. Mr. McAllister has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Accounting and Information Management from Roberts Wesleyan College.