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UPDATE (June 21):
Syracuse has made the announcement official, though with a tweak. Dave Boller (already on staff as director of player personnel) will take over as director of recruiting operations. Landan Salem will step into Boller’s previous role as director of player personnel as they lead recruiting efforts together.
Perhaps you didn’t notice last month, but former Syracuse Orange football recruiting director Asil Mulbah headed to the Buffalo Bills last month. Even without Doug Marrone in Buffalo anymore, this is probably something we’ve become accustomed to.
Mulbah’s departure did leave the position empty for a time. But now, it appears that the role has been filled by the Florida Atlantic Owls’ director of player personnel & pro liaison Landan Salem.
Really excited to be a member of @CoachBabersCuse program and join the fastest show on turf! pic.twitter.com/bBgBQ6CPYF
— Landan Salem (@TheLandanSalem) June 18, 2018
Salem’s a recent-ish grad (2014) of Illinois, but he’s been all over before and since getting his degree. Along with working with the Indianapolis Colts, he’s also spent time with the (Arena Football League’s) Orlando Predators, and got his first post-grad role as a recruiting assistant with Michigan State. He spent a couple seasons at Pitt as the director of video scouting, then stopped over at NC State briefly before arriving at FAU last spring. The Owls went 11-3 in his lone season working under Lane Kiffin there.
Though Salem didn’t play football himself in college, he’s the son of a coach: Pitt’s tight end coach Tim Salem. I don’t buy into the fact that you need to have played the game to work as a coach or on a football staff. But in case you were wondering how he got into football, that’s how.
We’ll probably see a bit more from his Twitter feed in the near future as Syracuse recruiting picks up this offseason — likely including an influx of #BeTheA19HA tweets. The vision he lays out is also likely to come through on the official football recruiting feed (@Commit2Cuse).
Welcome to SU, Landan!