Former Georgia assistant coach Fran Brown had a spectacular first season with the Syracuse Orange, and on Jan. 15th, he was rewarded for his great season, earning the Paul “Bear” Bryant Award Newcomer Coach of the Year.
Brown inherited a Syracuse Orange team that finished 6-7 the year prior and looked like one of the teams in the ACC’s no-mans land. However, thanks to adding some impressive offensive transfers, such as former Ohio State Buckeye quarterback Kyle McCord and former Georgia Bulldog wide receiver Jackson Meeks, the Orange became one of the best teams in the ACC.
Syracuse went 10-3, with the best victory coming at the end of the regular season, defeating the No. 10 Miami Hurricanes 42-38 to end the Hurricanes shot at making the College Football Playoff. The Orange were ranked in the top 25 for the first time since 2018 and the Syracuse offense was ranked in 21st out of all FBS teams in points per game (34.1).
Before his gig with Syracuse, Brown was the defensive backs coach with Georgia from 2022-23. He developed solid NFL defensive backs such as Kamari Lassiter, Tykee Smith, Javon Bullard, and Kelee Ringo.
