Stepansky: Fran Brown can still rebuild Syracuse. But he must make changes.
Fran Brown’s second season at Syracuse didn’t go to plan, spiraling into a nine-loss campaign. Our beat writer argues he can still revive SU. Madison Cox | Staff Photographer
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Fran Brown has gone through harder two-month stretches in his 43 years of life. He’s not afraid to bring up his difficult upbringing in Camden, New Jersey. He’s also quick to admit to his most private moments, which include crying after every football game he’s ever lost.
Brown has shed plenty of tears as of late. Yet as his second year as Syracuse’s head coach comes to a painful end, Brown knows this is a one-off in his master plan.
“Stay focused. The storm will pass. You just continue to work,” Brown said.
The cards were stacked against Brown from the start of 2025. Despite a horrific sophomore campaign, which featured flipping from a 10-win season to just three victories, Brown is unequivocally still the man to bring Syracuse back to its national-title roots.
But he must take a look in the mirror. The Orange concluded the year on an eight-game losing streak, featuring the program’s worst loss since the 1800s and a last-place finish in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Brown has no choice but to address key issues and make serious changes. If not, Brown will turn into just another cog in the wheel of a broken, unfixable Syracuse program.
The schedule was going to be difficult. There was no mistaking that, with four 2024 College Football Playoff teams on it, including road trips to Death Valley and South Bend. The roadmap grew stronger as ACC foes Duke, Georgia Tech and Pitt emerged as ACC title contenders.
Syracuse looked like it found a perfect match to replace Kyle McCord’s production in Steve Angeli. However, the Notre Dame transfer suffered a season-ending injury right as the Orange were reaching their peak.
Injuries to other key contributors like Austin Collins, Justus Ross-Simmons, Devin Grant, Duce Chestnut and Rashard Perry, among others, derailed things further. But that’s football. And Brown knew he had spots to fill after losing a majority of his star-studded 2024 crew. He failed to do so effectively.
“This is the kind of down year, in my opinion, especially after losing the quarterback,” Brown said on Nov. 17. “I feel like it would have been the opposite with the quarterback, and a lot of times you want to make excuses for why we lost so many games. It’s never acceptable.”
Angeli’s comparison to McCord is about as close as Brown can come to his squad a year ago, even without taking into account the money wasted on Rickie Collins. Offensively, now-NFL contributors LeQuint Allen Jr. and Oronde Gadsden II were replaced by Yasin Willis and Dan Villari, both returners in bigger roles. Defensive veterans Fadil Diggs, Justin Barron, Marlowe Wax and Alijah Clark were substituted for true freshmen and transfers from lower-level conferences.
Of course, one can view the use of true freshmen as a positive step toward coaching, recruiting and development. Brown believes it’s part of what will make the Orange better in the future. He’s correct. But the star recruits shouldn’t be making up for clear transfer portal misses. The desire for a more successful portal run in January has now turned into a necessity.
Where Brown must first look is his defense, the unit that finished in the bottom third of the conference for the second straight season under defensive coordinator Elijah Robinson. The loss of Angeli put immense pressure on SU’s defense to hold down the fort. Instead, Syracuse allowed over 38 points per game across its final eight contests.
Following the season-ending loss to Boston College, Brown said he would take time to do “self-scouting” before addressing his coaching staff. Robinson is a lifelong friend of Brown’s, dating back to their childhoods in Camden.
But Brown can’t allow friendships to get in the way of chasing championships.
For a coordinator who rose the ranks due to his ability to develop pass rushers, it’s quite ironic how poorly Syracuse has performed in the area. The Orange finished with just 22 sacks, seven coming in one game against Pitt. The numbers weren’t much better last year with Diggs, as SU tallied only 27. It’s a combination of the inability to garner real talent in the portal — outside of Diggs — and recruits not being quite ready yet.
Freshman cornerback Demetres Samuel Jr. and linebacker Antoine Deslauriers both plan to return to Syracuse despite the three-win year. Samuel said the season left a bad taste in his mouth, while Deslauriers vehemently confirmed his belief in Brown and any changes he will make.
“I believe the team got faith in me. They understand,” Brown said. “They know I’ll make the right decisions when it comes to giving them the opportunity to go and be successful. There’s some decisions that I have to make coming up for the football team, for Syracuse, and I’m gonna make the right decisions.”
Jeff Nixon’s inability to adjust offensively to a different quarterback style proved he’s not as perfect as we thought. But the return of Angeli, Willis and Darrell Gill Jr. is a good starting point. Retain Johntay Cook II and secure Calvin Russell, and now you’re cooking with steam.
However, the pressure on Angeli to fix every blemish is already outlandish. Imagine what it will be when August 2026 rolls around. Angeli told The Daily Orange on Nov. 25 that he views himself as a “cleaner” and is willing to accept all the challenges and pressure. It’s his job as the quarterback to do so, he noted.
Brown needs to build a product that protects Angeli’s proven pocket-passing ability. He’s already done so with outside weapons. But Angeli won’t reach his potential without a far better offensive line and an experienced backup quarterback. Neither will Syracuse.
After all the misery that transpired this year for Brown and Co., the season was supposed to be a rebuild anyway. The issues only became apparent once Angeli went down.
Look on the bright side. A three-win season likely saved Brown from being poached by a top SEC or Big Ten school. The way it spiraled out of control gave a flurry of underclassmen game experience, and Brown is already looking forward to Wednesday’s signing day, followed by Jan. 10, when the recruits arrive on campus.
“I’m very motivated,” Brown said. “…We’re gonna keep receipts.”
This year notably humbled a man who’s continued to be boisterous and overly confident. Why wouldn’t he have been? Before this season, Brown won everywhere he’d been. He made 2024 look almost too easy before admitting to being humbled a year later in the confines of Notre Dame Stadium.
Brown has now floated back to reality. But the lessons learned could be a blessing in disguise. That is, if he pushes the right buttons.
