Middle Tennessee head football coach announced Friday that , the former Syracuse head coach, has accepted the position as the Blue Raiders' new defensive coordinator.
Shafer, who takes over for Tyrone Nix, spent the 2016 season out of football. Before that, he was at Syracuse seven seasons, serving as defensive coordinator for four years then taking over as head coach for the last three.
As defensive coordinator for the Orange under Doug Marrone, Shafer took a defense that was ranked 101 in the nation in total and scoring defense in 2008, prior to his arrival, to the seventh-best total and 17 best scoring unit in the country in 2010.