'Try less harder' -- How Dino Babers and Syracuse got off to a 3-0 start

Syracuse football coach Dino Babers has a saying when he talks to his team, one he has relied on heavily over the last year.

«Try less harder.»

Among Babers' many gifts is his ability to tell a story. To explain the phrase, Babers recalls his former college coach, the late Dick Tomey, and how he used it constantly with his teams.

«When I was 18, I was like, 'What in the H is he talking about? Less harder?' I want to date her, I want her to be my wife — 'Try less harder.' I want to be a head coach… 'Try less harder.' What does that mean?» Babers says.

Babers never forgot that phrase as he moved forward with his career, because he desperately wanted to figure out what Tomey was trying to say. In Babers' mind, it made no sense to try «less harder.» To get where he wanted to go, he felt he had to try harder than anyone else, and then a little extra on top of that. But as he went through his career as an assistant, and the cycle of job interviews grew and intensified, it finally hit him.

«As you start getting older, if you have the skills, if you have the abilities, if it's going to happen, the best thing that you can do is be relaxed,» said Babers, now 61 years old. «I think back to all the head-coaching jobs I interviewed for, when I wanted the job so bad, and I never got the job. The very first time I took an interview where I said, 'You know what? If I get the job, I get it. If I don't, I don't. Well, I got the job. I seem to be undefeated when I have that attitude.»

He uses this story to get to his larger point about his team this year, a team that is off to its first 3-0 start since 2018 headed into tonight's game against Virginia (7 p.m. ET, ESPN).

«Now I finally understand what try less harder means,» he says.