SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Syracuse University’s new head football coach knows he has plenty of work to do even as the Orange prepare for their upcoming trip to the Boca Raton Bowl. 

Syracuse on Dec. 4 introduced Fran Brown, 41, as the school’s next head football coach a day after the Orange learned their bowl-game destination and opponent. 

New head coach

Brown says he likes to “speak from the heart and it always comes out real.”

The former Georgia Bulldogs defensive backs coach and Camden, New Jersey native spoke to a packed auditorium inside Syracuse University’s John A. Lally Athletics Complex.

In his role as a first-time head coach, Brown said he’s going to “bust my butt daily. I promise you that.” In the first few days since being named head coach, that meant assembling a coaching staff and hitting the recruiting trail hard.

In his Dec. 4 remarks, Brown explained why he agreed to become Syracuse’s next head football coach. When he was in 9th grade, he was a part of bus trip that traveled to Giants Stadium for the 1997 Kickoff Classic that involved Syracuse and Wisconsin. 

Brown specifically remembered Donovin Darius, another Camden, New Jersey native who played for the Orange in the mid-1990s.

“We [were] all happy to see Donovin. Got a chance to meet Donovan McNabb. Got to meet all these great coaches,” Brown said. “That’s my [vision] of Syracuse. That’s what I saw. That’s what I want.” 

Brown says he envisions for the program what it was during the days of former head coach Paul Pasqualoni and assistant coach George DeLeone.

“This is about bringing the tradition of the great football that was here before me and before I got here,” Brown said.

Prior to his most-recent role at the University of Georgia for the last two years, Brown also spent time as an assistant coach at Baylor University, Temple University, and Rutgers University. Brown was a star player at Camden High School, played college football at Western Carolina, and was a player on the NFL’s Cincinnati Bengals for parts of two seasons.

Coach Fran’s character and values are a “perfect match” for the university and for the community, John Wildhack, director of athletics at Syracuse University, said in his remarks at the press conference. 

“We had a very strong list of candidates, but Coach Brown emerged as the right person at this time to lead our football program,” Wildhack said. “What stood out about Coach Fran? Number one his detailed vision for all aspects of the program … When I say detailed, I mean it was down to minute details.”

He went on to say, “I’m excited about the future of our football program.”

Wildhack said he spoke with current college coaches, NFL coaches, and NFL club personnel as part of the vetting process. He also thanked Georgia head coach Kirby Smart for this cooperation throughout the process.

Key assistant coach, recruiting

On Dec. 8, Brown tapped Elijah Robinson, 38, as the new Syracuse Orange defensive coordinator. Robinson comes to Syracuse from Texas A&M, where he most recently served as the team’s interim head coach for the remainder of the 2023 season. Prior to that, he was the Aggies’ assistant head coach, co-defensive coordinator, and defensive-line coach for the past two seasons.

“I think we got the best defensive coordinator in the country,” Brown said in a Syracuse Athletics press release. “He’s someone I grew up with and look up to. I’ve seen how good of a coach he is. He can recruit, he can coach, he’s a great communicator and he’s amazing with the Xs and Os. The kids are going to love him.” 

Brown and Robinson each hail from Camden, have deep ties to New Jersey and Northeast recruiting, and were both ranked among the nation’s top recruiters as assistant coaches. The combination is already paying off as Syracuse football secured three verbal commitments the weekend of Dec. 9-10 from well-regarded New Jersey high-school players for the 2024 Orange recruiting class, according to published reports and player social-media posts. A fourth New Jersey commitment followed on Dec. 13.

Boca Raton Bowl

Syracuse football will face the South Florida Bulls in the RoofClaim.com Boca Raton Bowl in a matchup set for Thursday, Dec. 21, with an 8 p.m. kickoff, per the bowl’s website. ESPN will televise the game. 

The Orange, which finished 6-6 during the 2023 season, will make their second straight bowl appearance and play in back-to-back bowl games for the first time since 2012 and 2013, per a Syracuse announcement.

South Florida, which now plays in the American Athletic Conference, also finished with a record of 6-6. The two teams were once members together in the Big East Conference.

Syracuse and South Florida have played 10 times, including eight meetings when both schools were part of the Big East Conference.

The bowl trip marks the Orange’s 28th bowl game, where the program holds a 16-10-1 record, Syracuse University said in announcing the bowl bid. Syracuse’s .611 winning percentage ranks eighth among FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) teams with 15 or more bowl games played, Syracuse said.