Syracuse, N.Y. -- Syracuse football coach Dino Babers has fired defensive coordinator Brian Ward.

Defensive ends coach Steve Stanard will serve as the interim defensive coordinator for the remainder of the season.

“I want to thank Coach Ward for everything he’s done for Syracuse University and this football team,” Babers said in a prepared statement.

“However, I felt a change needed to be made at this time to give us the best opportunity for success moving forward. Coach Stanard is an experienced defensive coach. He’s been here for three years now and understands the culture of our program. I’m confident in his ability to lead that side of the ball.”

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The staff shakeup comes as Syracuse is mired in a four-game losing streak and sitting at 3-6 overall heading into a bye week.

Ward’s dismissal comes on the heels of a 58-27 loss to Boston College in which the Eagles rushed for 496 yards and racked up a school-record 691 total yards of offense. It was the most rushing yards Syracuse ever allowed in a single game.

Ward had been the defensive coordinator since Babers arrived ahead of the 2016 season and also served as the team’s linebackers coach since the 2017 season. He started working under Babers at Bowling Green in 2015, when the Falcons captured a Mid-American Conference championship.

Under Ward, the defense had shown steady improvement in each of the previous three years. Syracuse returned its most talented and experienced group in 2019, yet the defense has taken a couple licks against teams nobody would confuse with offensive juggernauts.

The year started with a shutout at Liberty before Maryland put 63 points on the board. Syracuse started the month of October holding NC State to 16 points and Pittsburgh to 27, but the defense has slipped in back-to-back losses to Florida State and Boston College.

Ward two years ago was a midseason nominee for the Broyles Award, given annually to the top assistant coach in the country, before a rash of injuries sabotaged the end of the 2017 season. Despite a bitter end, it was a dramatic step forward for a defense that surrendered a school-record 463 points in 2016 as the defense transitioned away from Scott Shafer’s scheme to Ward’s Tampa-2 system.

Last season, as Syracuse surged to its first 10-win season since 2001, the Orange defense took another step forward, ranking among the nation’s top units in forced turnovers and sacks and third-down defense.

With Ward out, defensive play calls have been ceded to Stanard, who has spent 20 of his more than 30 seasons as a college coach coordinating defenses, most recently at Wyoming.

Stanard also worked as the defensive coordinator at Nebraska Wesleyan (1991-95), South Dakota (1996), New Mexico State (2000-02), Colorado State (2003-07) and Tulane (2009-11).