F
ran Brown thinks the notion that sharing coaching tree lineage makes you family is “bullcrap.” It’s tough to get attached within the expeditious lifestyle of coaching. As old colleagues leave, replacements swiftly arrive.
Brown still keeps in touch with plenty of his contacts from the University of Georgia, such as defensive analyst Will Muschamp and defensive coordinator Glenn Schumann. Other than that, there’s little discussion — certainly nothing football-related — with his past connections, who are now his competition.
“I got a couple texts when my daughter’s birthday was up,” Brown said after training camp practice on Aug. 19. “The other ones don’t want to talk all the time.”
It doesn’t mean there aren’t any coaches Brown attempts to emulate. While he was Georgia’s defensive backs coach from 2022-23, he learned under two-time NCAA title-winning head coach Kirby Smart. Brown might sound crazy, he said, but he wishes he could physically take Smart’s brain and replace his own with it, just to bask in his extensive football knowledge.
Brown’s self-assurance, however, holds more weight than anything he takes from other coaches. He’s unapologetically himself, a quality that’s helped him win over a litany of high-level recruits and coaches to overhaul Syracuse football.
“I can’t be Kirby Smart,” Brown said. “But I’m doing what we did at Georgia.”
Since he was hired as SU’s 31st head football coach on Nov. 28, 2023, Brown has reshaped the program’s landscape. The 42-year-old Camden, New Jersey, native laid an emphasis on northeast recruiting, an area Syracuse gradually lacked success in since Paul Pasqualoni’s exit in 2004. Today, with Brown’s regional effect, Syracuse’s 2024 and 2025 freshmen classes rank as its two best recruiting hauls in the last 23 years.
Brown’s authenticity is what his commits say stand out the most about him. What he gives is what you get, like how he isn’t bashful while howling at players to hustle amid a typical high-intensity practice. Even with his vigor, Brown’s down-to-earth presence has led people to follow his mission at SU.
Recruits want someone they can trust, and Brown is someone who delivers. It’s been a perfect match thus far.
“He tells you that he’s going to do something, and he’s going to make sure that he gets it done,” freshman running back Yasin Willis said of Brown. “Having a guy like that in your corner, it’s like you can’t lose.”
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Willis said Syracuse wasn’t on his radar early in his recruitment. The Newark, New Jersey, native visited SU as a sophomore at St. Joseph Regional High School. He said it was just “cool” to meet former head coach Dino Babers and tour the facilities. But Willis, the No. 2 recruit in New Jersey, per Rivals, didn’t see Syracuse among his top options. According to Willis, though, Brown’s arrival changed everything.
Willis, originally committed to Pittsburgh, admired the trust Brown instilled in him. He took note of Brown securing local talent and wanted to be a part of “something new,” he said. Once Brown told Willis he’d play a major role in year one, his interest piqued.
Yet it wasn’t just learning behind LeQuint Allen Jr. and adding to SU’s running back legacy that sold Willis. It was how easily he connected with Brown.
“He’s basically from the same community as I am, so he knows how to turn your feelings on and off,” Willis said of Brown. “That’s a real head coach right there. That’s somebody that you want to be your coach.”
Willis flipped his commitment to Syracuse last December. His experience encapsulates Brown’s northeast sway. Brown established his recruiting base in his home region during his time as an assistant coach with Temple, Baylor, Rutgers and Georgia.
In eight years under Babers, the Orange didn’t take advantage of the northeast. All of Babers’ recruiting classes failed to eclipse the top 50 mark in the country, per 247Sports. But Brown arrived with a plan to change Syracuse’s northeast fortune, sticking with the approach that led his influence to grow.
“I was always able to go out and recruit, get the best players, but it wasn’t because I was saying all this stuff or selling all this stuff at Temple, it was because of the relationships,” Brown said at his introductory press conference on Dec. 4, 2023. “I recruit just by being genuine, telling kids the truth.”
Today, Brown holds the title for 247Sports’ National Recruiter of the Year. Syracuse’s 2024 class ranks No. 36 in the nation, better than any class generated under Babers. Its transfer class is rated No. 24 in the country, too, highlighted by Brown plucking former five-star quarterback and Ohio State transfer Kyle McCord — a product out of St. Joseph’s Prep in Philadelphia.
“He’s the best recruiter in the country for a reason,” senior tight end Oronde Gadsden II said of Brown.
Since getting hired in November, Fran Brown has completely changed Syracuse’s culture. His northeast recruiting influence fortified Syracuse football’s presence in the region. Joe Zhao | Video Editor
While Brown took questions at July’s ACC Kickoff, he revealed Gadsden told him he was transferring if he didn’t get him a quarterback. The two had a phone call on the day he was hired, which Gadsden enjoyed due to Brown’s emphasis on exploiting his role as a tight end more. But Gadsden needed consistency under center to be assured.
So, Brown plucked McCord from the portal. The senior quarterback committed on Dec. 17, 2023. Gadsden says he’s pleased the Orange got who he considered to be the best guy available, and it helped his decision to return.
Brown had even more convincing to do, however. He needed to ensure that linebacker Marlowe Wax and safety Justin Barron, staples of SU’s defense in the latter-half of Babers’ tenure, were locked in as well. Brown said Barron was the hardest to convince. Yet they all came to a consensus: Brown earned their trust.
The head coach surrounded Gadsden, Wax and Barron with not just talent, but the prospect of a proven, unbreakable culture they would be at the forefront of. It was exactly what Brown had to do to set a stable foundation, and create a team that can compete right away.
“The vision he had for the team and that we didn’t have to wait for that to happen, he wanted to win and win now,” Barron said of Brown. “Marlowe’s one of my best friends, Oronde and I are really close too, but we have two of the biggest playmakers on the team come back and it turns into a no-brainer for me.”
Brown’s vision centers around being detailed, accountable, relentless and tough — known as D.A.R.T. Even with a significant mix of freshmen, veterans and transfers, Brown’s ability to rally the program behind his values is striking. Players feel it’s the blueprint to turning Syracuse into a powerhouse — meeting the lofty national-title expectations that Brown has repeatedly named as his main objective.
It’s safe to say Brown’s messaging resonates.
“Everybody just cares a little bit more,” Wax said of the differences he’s noticed with Brown’s coaching staff. “It’s a different standard. It’s more intentional. We’re working harder.”
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The beast within Brown comes out in full force at any given practice. He’ll yell “rip his arm off” to his defensive backs during one-on-one work, which the former secondary coach prides himself on manning each day. He even uses a microphone and speaker system to call out players during group drills who don’t hustle back to the huddle.
Willis said he hasn’t seen a coach act like Brown does in practice, but that’s what he feels makes him easy to play for. It’s Brown’s tough but necessary love that he never shies away from passing out.
Gadsden said he wishes the team opened up its practice sessions to the public more. He says live repetitions have been unlike anything he’s experienced in his four years at SU thus far, saying there’s an unmatched ferocity to 2024’s group.
“Everybody’s getting riled up,” Gadsden said. “Pads are popping out here.”
In the same way he proclaims to his players, Brown doesn’t take half measures. He said in his introductory press conference that he isn’t scared of any coach in the country, expressing immediate confidence he can control recruiting territory over top programs.
As Brown described at the podium, he’s made his confidence known to his former boss in Smart. It’s a swagger Brown wants to reflect throughout SU — that a hard-nosed team from central New York can take on Goliath.
“‘Don’t come back up north,’” he said to Smart upon taking the Syracuse job.
Photograph Courtesy of SU Athletics
Published on August 29, 2024 at 12:03 am
Contact Cooper at: ccandrew@syr.edu | @cooper_andrews
