Syracuse hires Georgia assistant Fran Brown as head coach
Syracuse has found its next head football coach.
The school announced Tuesday that it had hired Georgia defensive backs coach Fran Brown to lead the football program.
"I am incredibly proud to be leading Syracuse Football at a university with a rich and storied tradition of academic and athletic excellence," Brown said in a Syracuse statement. "Syracuse Football has outstanding talent, great facilities and passionate alumni. The success of the players is my No. 1 priority — on and off the field. I want my guys to succeed in life, because they played football at Syracuse. My immediate area of focus is building relationships with my current players and putting together an elite staff, while also having fun on the recruiting trail. I'm ready to get to work and look forward to building something special for our fans."
Brown, 40, came up in the coaching ranks as the defensive backs coach on the staff of Matt Rhule at Temple. He followed Rhule to Baylor for two seasons, returned to Temple as the co-defensive coordinator in 2019 and then spent two seasons at Rutgers as the defensive backs coach.
Ahead of the 2022 season, Kirby Smart hired Brown to coach the defensive backs at Georgia and he has served in that role for the past two seasons as the Bulldogs won the national championship and are looking to win another this year.
Brown, a native of Camden, New Jersey, is known for his recruiting ability and was interviewed for the Temple job the last two times it was open. He is well-respected in New Jersey and around the Northeast in natural recruiting areas for Syracuse.
"Fran is an outstanding coach, recruiter and person, and exactly who we need to take Syracuse Football to the next level," Syracuse athletic director John Wildhack said in a statement. "Fran has clearly articulated a vision for the future of our football program, and he is a powerhouse recruiter with deep ties to the geographies from where we need to draw consistently. Fran has had tremendous success recruiting to a variety of programs—in the South, Southwest and Northeast, and I have no doubt he will bring that track record here to Syracuse. I am looking forward to welcoming Fran and his family to the Orange community. The future is bright for our football program."
Brown replaces Dino Babers as Syracuse's coach. Babers was fired after compiling a 41-55 (20-45 ACC) record in eight seasons. Babers led the Orange to a 10-win season in 2018 but he had just one other winning season and bowl appearance during his time leading the program.
Babers was fired Nov. 19, a day after the Orange fell to 5-6 on the year. Syracuse beat Wake Forest over the weekend to achieve bowl eligibility under interim coach Nunzio Campanile.
