Fran Brown talks staff changes before Syracuse’s matchup at No. 18 Miami
At Fran Brown's weekly press conference Monday, he discussed the reasoning behind shuffling around his coaching staff and updates on Steve Angeli's future with the program. Aaron Hammer | Staff Photographer
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Sitting second to last in the Atlantic Coast Conference and needing to win all of its final three contests to make a bowl game, Syracuse football is in a dark place right now.
Its quarterback situation is untenably bad. Its rush defense is swiss cheese — SU’s given up more than 200 yards on the ground in four of nine games. And its roster, quite frankly, isn’t experienced enough to overcome any of its overlying issues.
Second-year head coach Fran Brown constantly speaks of bringing the Orange back to a championship standard. Last year’s 10-3 campaign was a step forward. But this isn’t cutting it. However, it seems even Brown is admitting defeat on what’s become a lost 2025 season. Playing another top-25 team in Miami this week could be the nail in Syracuse’s coffin.
“I want to win, guys, I want to win by all means,” Brown said after SU’s loss to UNC. “And last year, we were able to go do that. But I had 12 guys leave to go to the NFL. Naturally, there weren’t 12 waiting to go to the league the next year.”
Here’s what Brown said at his weekly press conference before Syracuse’s (3-6, 1-5 ACC) road matchup with No. 18 Miami (6-2, 2-2 ACC) Saturday at Hard Rock Stadium:
Coaching staff changes: White gone, position coach swaps
A Monday morning report from Football Scoop — a publication dedicated to football coaching news and information — claimed Brown would be making changes to his offensive staff, including changed roles for quarterbacks coach Nunzio Campanile and wide receivers coach Myles White.
Brown confirmed the legitimacy of the report on Monday afternoon. He said White is no longer on SU’s coaching staff and announced three other changes to the staff: Campanile has moved from quarterbacks to tight ends coach, offensive specialist Josh Gattis will serve as the wide receivers coach and Michael Johnson will switch from tight ends to quarterbacks coach.
Overall, the Orange made four changes in a late-season coaching staff switch up.
“For us to get the best out of our players for the last few games of the year, for us to possibly try to go and be able to have a fourth game and do all the things that we need to do, I felt as though some stuff needed to happen to our staff,” Brown said of his decision.
This had been White’s first year on Syracuse’s coaching staff. Brown thanked White for his dedication to the role, but said that, sometimes, “styles make fights,” alluding to the two possibly having conflicting perspectives or coaching styles. Ultimately, though, Brown said he needs more out of his wide receivers room and felt this change was necessary.
He summed the multitude of changes to simply wanting to use his staff in a better way. Campanile has coached tight ends at SU, Johnson has coached quarterbacks at SU and Gattis holds expertise in the wide receivers room.
Assessing his own performance, Brown blamed himself for the new staff alignment in the first place. He doesn’t feel that he used his coaches to their strengths, and as a result, the Orange have slid into the ACC’s abyss since quarterback Steve Angeli tore his Achilles.
“I feel as though I wasn’t able to use (the staff) the right way,” Brown said.
A 2nd helping of jelly
Speaking of Angeli, Brown was directly asked Monday if these coaching staff changes will impact his quarterback’s status of entering the transfer portal or not this offseason.
Brown bluntly shut down any idea that Angeli will leave Syracuse.
“Steve will be back. Steve will be the quarterback next year,” Brown said.
Brown did admit that, in a world where Angeli stayed healthy throughout the season, maybe he wouldn’t have been compelled to mix up his coaching staff with just three games remaining. He scooped Angeli from the portal in April because he knew he could excel in offensive coordinator Jeff Nixon’s scheme — and through four starts, he did, leading SU to a 3-1 record.
Angeli led the nation with 1,317 passing yards and had 10 touchdown throws at the time of his season-ending injury. Brown has said he knew the Orange had a young quarterback room behind Angeli, and growing pains were expected, but he thinks what Angeli showed in Weeks 1-4 provide positive signs for Syracuse’s immediate future.
And in terms of losing Angeli’s interest because of SU’s long losing skid, Brown said he’s not worried in the slightest.
Angeli will remain in central New York come fall 2026.
“I think I’m really good at recruiting. I think I’m really good at building relationships,” Brown said. “So yeah, we’re fine in that department.”
Brown’s already hard at work to keep Angeli’s strong presence in the locker room — the signal-caller will travel with the team for Syracuse’s road games at No. 18 Miami and No. 10 Notre Dame, something he hasn’t done since his injury.
Additional notes
The hot-button topics of coaches and quarterbacks dominated the conversation Monday, though Brown gave a few other key updates as his team begins its November slate.
Brown said that sophomore Davion Kerr — twin brother of SU defensive back Davien Kerr — has switched from cornerback to wide receiver. The head coach also says Davion will play running back starting in the 2026 season, and playing wide receiver now will help improve some of his technical skills on offense.
Brown also praised the performance and simple repetition increases for many of his freshmen. That includes left guard Byron Washington — who earned his first-career start last week versus North Carolina and tallied an 81.1 pass-blocking grade, per Pro Football Focus — defensive back Kaylib Singleton and Demetres Samuel Jr., who Brown lauded for his punt-returning last week, among others. Brown thinks playing his youngsters now will give them an easier transition into next season and beyond, where they’ll be tasked with carrying the program.
When asked about playing the Mario Cristobal-led Hurricanes this Saturday, Brown praised Miami quarterback Carson Beck, who Brown coached for a season while serving as Georgia’s defensive backs coach.
Brown said he used to call Beck “The Mortgage Man,” though provided no explanation as to why, and hopes Miami’s quarterback will go on to do great things at the professional level. Beck has thrown six interceptions in the Hurricanes’ two losses, however, showing a clear weakness SU will try to exploit.
