New Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea is beginning to fill out his staff, and one hire that is in the works is a notable move to lure Syracuse special teams coach Justin Lustig to the West End.

Lustig has agreed to become the new special teams coach at Vanderbilt, Pete Thamel of Yahoo reported. A deal is being finalized. Syracuse has finished in the top six of overall special teams rankings in two of the past three years.

Lustig just finished his fourth season with the Orange and his third season as the program’s special teams coordinator and outside receivers coach. Lustig served as Syracuse’s special teams coordinator and running backs coach in 2017.

According to his Syracuse bio, Lustig has helped the Orange be among the nation’s leaders across several categories. The Orange have led the ACC in net punting every year under Lustig and finished in the top 10 nationally in 2019 (3rd – 43.03) and 2017 (10th – 41.3).

His 2017 punt team was No. 4 in the country in punt return defense (2.67 ypr) and set the school season record for fewest opponent punt returns (9). Additionally, Syracuse was No. 1 in the conference in kickoff coverage (42.7 net avg.). In 2019, Syracuse ranked fifth in the FBS in punt return defense (1.7 ypr) and surrendered just 17 punt return yards, the fewest in program history.