We’re only two days officially into Fran Brown’s tenure at Syracuse, and he has already made headlines. His opening press conference earlier this week had fans (and even media members) ready to run through a brick wall. He got a very warm reception when he addressed the Dome crowd during the basketball game against Cornell on Tuesday night. When he isn’t hyping people up, Brown has been hard at work behind the scenes, and we’re starting to see that on full display.
How does one of the best recruiters in the country become even more formidable? By adding another one of the best recruiters in the country, and that’s exactly what Brown did in bringing in Elijah Robinson to be the defensive coordinator. The former Texas A&M defensive line coach is also a highly-touted player, and if you want to know whether or not he was a good hire, just look at how Aggie fans have reacted to his departure. They are less than thrilled. Robinson led a unit that was top-20 in the nation in rush yards allowed this season. It’s no secret that run defense hasn’t been great on the hill the last few seasons. Bringing in Robinson not only helps solve that issue, but it adds yet another strong recruiter to the arsenal.
Brown’s early moves resonate a lot with something Adrian Autry said when he was introduced. “I am a new voice, a new face with new ideas, but the standards that build this program will not change,” he commented. Even though Brown didn’t say that word-for-word or allude to it, that philosophy perfectly suits him. This program is all about maximum effort and helping players reach their full potential, and Brown commented “don’t say win a championship but you’re giving 6-6 effort” on Monday. How do you as a fan not absolutely love that? Nunzio Campanile remaining on the staff is also a great call. He came off as very charismatic and someone that the locker room has a tremendous amount of respect for. Brown has said the right things and made the right moves in house to set the program up for success in the future.
Finally, the Brown effect has already made itself known in the recruiting world. Since when has Syracuse found itself in the mix for one or two highly-touted four-star recruits, let alone multiple?
Some of the other schools in the mix for these four-star athletes include Purdue, Texas A&M, Colorado, and Florida State. When’s the last time SU was in the mix for players being recruited by similar schools and had a shot to land them? Jaylan Hornsby has been very outspoken about how much he appreciates Coach Robinson. KingJoseph Edwards has been reposting the heck out of Brown-related content. Some of these players are already committed to, yet are still visiting Syracuse this weekend. It’s been the opposite end of the spectrum in the past. Times are changing.
The risks about his lack of head coaching, even coordinator, experience are well known. But Fran Brown has said all the right things and made all the right moves so far. Now we just sit back and watch them unfold.
