Up next in 10
Why Fran Brown is the Right Hire for Syracuse
211K views
Jan 20, 2024
Instant reaction to Syracuse hiring of Fran Brown as head coach. An SU grad, Damon Amendolara, gives his opinion on why if Syracuse is going to get back to being a winner in football, Brown can be the guy to do it. D.A. gives you Brown's background and his connections to try to lift the Orange out of their 20-year malaise. He draws a comparison to the Cincinnati Bearcats program.
View Video Transcript
0:00
Look, if Syracuse football is going to work, it's going to work with somebody like Fran Brown
0:05
I'm left to think about when I was in school back in the late 90s, early 2000s
0:10
when the dome was packed and Syracuse was competing for Big East Conference championships
0:15
going to the Orange Bowl, the Fiesta Bowl, Big Bowl games, and there was the potential number
0:20
two pick under center in Donovan McNabb, a perennial Pro Bowl quarterback in the NFL
0:25
We're a long ways from that, and I think the most important thing that Syracuse can do
0:30
is know where it resides in the food chain of college football. What you're trying to do is
0:37
go from third tier college football to second tier. That first tier is the Alabamas, the Michigan
0:45
Ohio State, LSUs. These are the schools like Georgia that perennially churn out
0:51
playoff caliber teams in NFL five-star talent. Syracuse does not need to look at that
0:58
It's that second tier that Syracuse needs to get to. This is the tier where you win
1:02
eight to ten games a year. You go to really good bowl games occasionally once every six to eight
1:10
years. Maybe everything aligns and you compete for the conference championship, but you're not
1:15
supposed to be an NFL factory with five-star kids coming through. But you have really fun Saturdays
1:22
The stadiums are usually full. If you go four and eight, the sky is falling. Where Syracuse resides
1:27
is the third tier. That first tier are the Kings, the second tier are the Princes, the third tier
1:33
the Paupers. This is where Syracuse resides, where you wake up on Saturday of Labor Day weekend and
1:39
you cross your fingers hoping for six wins and a Fenway Bowl. Fenway Bowl. And that's just a
1:45
depressing way to be. And that's the bottom tier of college football. Syracuse needs to just try to
1:51
get to the second tier, to the Prince level. And how you do that is to understand you are a stepping
1:57
stone school. It's okay. You can drop the ego. What you need are young coaches looking to go from
2:06
assistant coach, tier three prove themselves, to tier two prove themselves, to tier one. You've got
2:14
to find somebody wanting to be on the Pauper level to then get to the Prince level and ultimately the
2:20
King level. And if you do it right and you hire the right guy, it sets the foundation for the next
2:26
guy to do so. So look at Fran Brown. 41 years old. He is not that old, not that far removed from the
2:34
players that he's recruiting. He grew up in the 90s and played in the early 2000s. Have a young
2:39
man in Fran Brown who understands the Northeast. He's from New Jersey. Played high school football
2:45
in Camden, New Jersey. You must have the New Jersey high school coaches in your corner to win
2:52
Witness Greg Sciano 1.0 at Rutgers. The only way Syracuse can win is to get some of the four-star
3:00
kids, a lot of the three-star kids, and maybe every so often a diamond from the New Jersey
3:08
footprint. There's just not enough great college football talent in the state of New York
3:12
There is in Jersey. Also, Fran Brown has what is stamped as one of those jewel brands that he's
3:20
associated with, Georgia. So like the King level, he can go into a household, he can go into a living room
3:27
and flash the Georgia National Championships that mean a lot to a lot of kids and it gets him in
3:34
the door. You also have to understand the pauper level of the Northeast where you've got to just
3:39
work harder than almost any other place in the country to win to get kids to build a sustainable
3:45
program. He's been at Rutgers. He's been at Temple. Very similar situations to Syracuse football trying
3:53
to elevate back to where it once was. If you're Syracuse, what you want to be is Cincinnati
4:00
You want to be on a tier where you are a good job for a young coach looking to springboard and you
4:07
keep finding the good young coach. I know it's a lot harder than finding one good coach, but look
4:14
at Cincinnati. Mark D'Antonio goes into Brian Kelly, goes into Butch Jones, goes into Tommy
4:21
Tuberville, goes into Luke Fickle. Look, if Syracuse had a run where they had Mark D'Antonio who left for
4:27
Michigan State and Brian Kelly who left for Notre Dame and Butch Jones who left for Tennessee and
4:35
Luke Fickle who left for Wisconsin, you'd love it. You'd love it. It meant you were doing something right
4:41
Understanding your place in the Pantheon is where Syracuse needs to be and finding the young guy
4:47
that starts the process is the way to do it. It might not work, but if Syracuse football is going
4:54
to work, it's going to work because of somebody like Fran Brown. Subscribe here for more videos
5:01
like this. I'm DA. We'll see you next time
#College Sports
#Sports