Has Fran Brown altered SU’s status in New Jersey? High school coaches weigh in.
Syracuse head coach Fran Brown, a Camden, New Jersey, native, has established his recruiting presence in his home state, eliciting praise from numerous high school coaches in the area. Leonardo Eriman | Photo Editor
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Fran Brown’s “northeast swagger” originally landed him the head coaching job at Syracuse. As a top recruiter in the country, Brown vowed to attack SU’s “backyard” from his opening press conference and restore the Orange to the days of Dick MacPherson and Paul Pasqualoni. At the forefront is Brown’s home state of New Jersey.
So, how have Brown and Co. done so far in the Garden State?
Brown brought in New Jersey natives Kyle McCord and Steve Angeli to start at quarterback in his first two seasons. He also lured top recruits like Fadil Diggs and Duce Chestnut back to the East Coast from the Southeastern Conference while helping Dino Babers’ recruits LeQuint Allen Jr. and Alijah Clark reach the National Football League.
Syracuse’s 2025 roster includes 17 players from New Jersey and its 2026 recruiting class features four players from NJ. General manager Thomas Caporale, defensive coordinator Elijah Robinson and quarterbacks coach Nunzio Campanile, among other members of the coaching staff, also share the home state.
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The Daily Orange spoke with a dozen New Jersey high school football coaches to hear their takes on Brown’s first 22 months at Syracuse:
Player interactions
Authenticity is rare in college sports today. With revenue sharing and name, image and likeness at the forefront, coaches sometimes tell athletes what they want to hear rather than what they need to hear. To former Cherry Hill West and current Timber Creek head coach Brian Wright, Brown is the opposite. He’s seen as a straight shooter, revealing his opinion as frankly as possible.
Brown’s job revolves around recruiting high-level players. Even if an athlete isn’t skilled enough to play for him, he’ll forward film to other coaches that could fit the player, per Burlington Township head coach Steve Everette. He finds connections with high schoolers many coaches can’t.
“With all his trials and tribulations through his life, he can relate with a lot of kids and basically be more of an uncle figure, father figure, a big brother figure,” said Dwayne Savage, an executive member of New Jersey Minority Coaching Association, INC. Savage previously coached at Camden and Camden Catholic.
Brown brings the flashiness needed for the modern landscape, yet he sets standards. He understands the importance of private jets and sports cars for recruiting visits, though he’ll dock athletes’ pay for specific mistakes. When Brown was recruiting one of Everette’s players he coached at Willingboro, he presented a plan with all the courses he’d take.
Syracuse wide receiver Emanuel Ross was committed to Stanford for six months after receiving offers from top Big Ten, SEC and Atlantic Coast Conference schools. He was also offered by Babers’ staff but didn’t consider SU. Two weeks after Brown was hired, Ross decommitted from the Cardinal and joined the Orange.
“Syracuse really wasn’t in the picture until that was the case,” said Red Bank Catholic head coach Mike Lange, Ross’ high school coach.
West Orange head coach Darnell Grant recalls Brown’s home visits with now-SU freshman Terrell Wilfong. Brown didn’t speak about football and instead focused on Wilfong’s responsibility as a child of a single parent.
Fellow freshman Tylik Hill didn’t see interest from other Power Four schools, making the Orange a “perfect fit,” according to his head coach at Pope John XXIII Regional, Dom Gaston. Brown also got Timber Creek offensive lineman Roseby Lubintus to flip from Penn State to SU, which Wright described as “out of the blue.”
Everette said he had to tell 2026 linebacker commit Gemaus Sackie he couldn’t wear any orange in his uniform despite his commitment to Syracuse. Brown made sure Sackie would make enough money to help his older brother go to college. He strategically didn’t offer Sackie until his official visit to keep him under the radar. Everette then cut a deal, allowing Sackie to wear Syracuse gloves.
The Orange often connect with New Jersey teams during their seven-on-seven tournament each June. Teams from across the East Coast compete, including Brown’s alma mater, Camden. The event took place before Brown’s tenure but now has an added luster.
“Previously, no one really cared about a seven-on-seven in Syracuse,” Camden head coach Rob Hinson said. “But now it’s something that we have to do.”
A new look
When Delran head coach Colin Hewko thinks of Syracuse’s connection to South Jersey, he looks to former Syracuse and Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb.
Across the Delaware River, many South Jersey natives grow up as Philadelphia sports fans. But he believes the tie between the South Jersey community and Syracuse lost its strength as McNabb faded out of the game and the Orange had some down years.
Savage remembers how Pasqualoni and longtime assistant George DeLeone used New Jersey as an extension of New York. But he says Pasqualoni coveted North Jersey. SU has regained its traction with Brown, but with South Jersey as a focal point.
Wright said the New Jersey representation on both Syracuse’s roster and coaching staff is obvious. Hillsborough head coach Kevin Carty said, apart from Brown, Campanile’s connection to the state adds another layer of respect. Brown and Campanile worked together at Rutgers in 2020 and 2021. Now, they’re overtaking parts of the Scarlet Knights’ home turf.
“Syracuse, back then (under Babers), and even now, has more of a presence in South Jersey than Rutgers,” Wright said. “I do think the only difference now is Fran being a South Jersey guy.”
With all his trials and tribulations through his life, he can relate with a lot of kids and basically be more of an uncle figure, father figure, a big brother figure.Dwayne Savage, former coach at Camden and Camden Catholic
Before Brown took over the Orange, Grant said there might’ve been a disconnect between the state’s top players and Syracuse. He now believes athletes can see themselves in central New York. Hewko thinks it’s a “more prominent spot,” while both Gaston and Everette described it as a “destination place.”
Gaston remembers the recruiting and coaching staff under Babers visiting during most live recruiting periods. Now, he’s seen five different SU coaches over the last two years “planting their flag” in his community.
Hinson claims every kid in South Jersey now wants a Syracuse offer. That reinvigorated taste stretches across the state, all the way to Vito Campanile’s Bergen Catholic in North Jersey.
“There’s so much Jersey pride in what they’ve been able to do over these first couple years,” Vito, Nunzio’s brother, said. “I think that it is the start of something. I’m old enough to remember when Syracuse’s inroads were huge here with getting marquee guys every year, and I think they’re back in that realm. I don’t think there’s going to be too many players in our state where Syracuse is not at the top of the list.”
Planting the seed
Brown’s impact in the state wasn’t built overnight. As a Camden native, his relationships with some of the top programs in the state go back to when he was 14 years old. Hinson was the defensive coordinator for the Panthers when Brown, a 5-foot-8 freshman quarterback, led a 20-point comeback. Hinson then supported Brown in his next ventures when the two reunited on Rutgers’ coaching staff in 2020.
Pennsauken head coach Clinton Tabb III faced Brown in high school when he was a senior and Brown was a freshman. Hewko was too young to play against Brown but remembers following his career from Camden to Western Carolina. Other coaches, like Wright, met Brown as he rose through the coaching ranks at Temple.
As did Nasir Gaines, the head coach at Malcolm X Shabazz and the Brick City Lions, a top youth football organization in Newark that’s produced alums like SU’s Yasin Willis. Brown often spoke at the Lions’ banquets to inspire the up-and-coming athletes.
Everette also saw Brown build a rapport with wide receiver Chris Long while at Willingboro. Long committed to Temple, then decommitted and committed to Rutgers when Brown made the switch. Everette remembers Brown speaking with Long on two separate occasions for about an hour without talking about football once. Long then committed to Brown and Syracuse after the 2024 season before decommitting and transferring to Montana State.
When visiting a school, Brown’s presence is often known. While at Rutgers, he was recruiting at Bergen Catholic when Vito saw him playing a pickup basketball game in the gym to test a recruit’s competitiveness. Other times, Vito said Brown will come into his history class and strike up conversations with students, many of whom aren’t football players.
Brown’s no longer the assistant coach flying around town. NCAA rules limit how many times he, as the head coach, can make visits to recruits. Vito said most of their communication is now over the phone.
Though there’s a “different aura” when he walks into Bergen Catholic, Vito said. Tabb remembers Brown asking him if he needed help with anything just days after taking over at Syracuse. For Wright, he sees the same guy he did years ago when Brown began coaching youth football. And Hinson similarly sees the 14-year-old with spirit for his hometown.
“Since he’s been (at Syracuse), he hasn’t really forgotten where he’s come from,” Hinson said.
