Jeff Nixon - Football Coach - Syracuse University Athletics

Jeff Nixon

Title:
Offensive Coordinator/Running Backs
Email:
janixon@syr.edu

Jeff Nixon enters his second season as Syracuse's offensive coordinator in 2025, following a record-breaking campaign in his first season as the play caller.

The Orange led the nation in passing offense during their 10-win campaign that saw them finish in the top-20 nationally. Quarterback Kyle McCord broke or tied 24 different program records, led the nation in passing and finished in the top-10 of Heisman Trophy voting in Nixon's inaugural season with the Orange.

Everyone thrived under Nixon's leadership in 2024. McCord threw for 4,779 yards, setting a new Atlantic Coast Conference record and 34 touchdowns, shattering the previous school record. The ball was heavily spread around to various offensive weapons. 'Cuse had a pair of All-ACC receivers (Jackson Meeks and Trebor Pena), an All-American and All-ACC tight end (Oronde Gadsden II) and an All-ACC running back (LeQuint Allen Jr.) as the four all had 60+ receptions on the year, four of the top-11 receiving seasons in program history. Adding in Darrell Gill Jr., who also had over 500 yards receiving, made Syracuse the only school in the nation with five players with more than 500 receiving yards.

Meeks went over 1,000 yards on the season and Allen rushed for over 1,000, the first time Syracuse had a receiver and running back each go over the 1,000 yard threshold in over a decade. In addition to the skill position success, two offensive linemen - Savion Washington and Jakob Bradford - also earned All-ACC honors.

Nixon, who came to Syracuse after serving as the running backs coach for the New York Giants, boasts 14 seasons in the NFL across five franchises, with collegiate stops at Baylor and Temple, among others.

In his first season with the Giants, he has helped Saquon Barkley to be fifth in the NFL in rushing yards per game, among players who have played in five-or-more games, despite the star back missing three games this year. Before joining New York, he spent the previous three seasons on the Carolina Panthers' staff in various roles, including serving as offensive coordinator in the final five games of the 2021 season.

In 2022, Nixon was the Panthers' assistant head coach. The team finished 10th in the NFL in rushing yardage (130.0 yards per game), despite the midseason trade of star running back Christian McCaffrey. D'Onta Foreman led the franchise with a team-high 914 yards.

He coached running backs the prior two seasons in Carolina. With McCaffrey limited to 10 total games due to injury over that span, he mentored rookie Chuba Hubbard to lead the Panthers in rushing in 2021 with 612 yards and five touchdowns. In 2020, he helped Mike Davis have a career-best season, topping 1,000 scrimmage yards for the first time and notch a team-high eight total touchdowns.

Nixon joined the Panthers after a three-year stint as Baylor's co-Offensive Coordinator and play caller. In 2019, the Bears finished with an 11-win season, an appearance in the Big XII Championship game and Allstate Sugar Bowl. While running the offense, the unit averaged 431.2 yards per game and ranked 17th nationally in scoring offense (35.2 points per game).

The prior season, Baylor finished 22nd in the FBS in total offense (459.1 yards per game). His first season in Waco saw Baylor finish in the top-25 in passing offense, averaging 280 yards per game. Quarterback Charlie Brewer earned Big XII Freshman Offensive Player of the Year under Nixon's guidance, starting a career that saw him finish second all-time at Baylor in career passing yards.

Baylor also hsd a pair of offensive players drafted in his tenure. Wide receiver Jalen Hurd was taken in the third round of the 2019 NFL Draft by San Francisco and fellow receiver Denzel Mims was selected in the second round a year later by the Jets. Wide receiver Tyquan Thorton (2022 – second round – Patriots) and Trestan Ebner (2022 – sixth round – Bears) also played the first half of their careers under Nixon before being drafted.

Before returning to college football in 2017, Nixon spent 11 consecutive years in the NFL. In 2016, he coached tight ends for the 49ers. From 2011-15, he coached the Dolphins' running backs, working with Reggie Bush, Lamar Miller and Jay Ajayi, among others. Bush's best NFL season came under Nixon in 2011, when he ran for 1,086 yards and six touchdowns. Three years later, he helped Miller run for 1,099 yards and eight touchdowns, while the Dolphins ranked second in the NFL in yards per carry (4.69).

His time in Miami came after a four-year stint coaching in Philadelphia, working with both the Eagles' offense and special teams units. He worked closely with All-Pro running backs Brian Westbrook and LeSean McCoy, as well as All-Pro fullback Leonard Weaver. On special teams, Nixon helped DeSean Jackson become one of the NFL's top return men. In three of his four seasons in Philly, the Eagles reached the playoffs, including an NFC Championship Game appearance in 2008.

Before his NFL tenure, Nixon had stops at Temple (2006), University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (2003-05), Shippensburg (1999-02) and Princeton (1998). He served as the running backs coach at each stop, adding tight ends and special teams in his stop at Chattanooga. While with the Mocs, he helped develop Eldra Buckley into an All-American before his five-year NFL career. He also mentored eventual All-Pro fullback John Kuhn at Shippensburg.

Nixon began his coaching career at Penn State in 1997 as a student assistant. A native of New Brighton, Pa. and State College, Pa., Nixon played running back for two seasons at West Virginia (1993-94), before transferring to Penn State, where he earned a spot on the Big Ten All-Academic Team. He earned a bachelor's degree from Penn State in 1998 in elementary education and a master's degree in education administration from Shippensburg in 2003. His son. Will, is a member of the football team, while his daughter, Jasmine, plays on Syracuse's women's soccer team.