Syracuse football fires multiple coaches following 3-win season
After a three-win season, Fran Brown fired four people on his coaching staff Monday, according to John Brice of Football Scoop. Leonardo Eriman | Photo Editor
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Syracuse fired multiple members of its coaching staff Monday, according to John Brice of footballscoop.com. Fran Brown dismissed special teams coordinator Ricky Brumfield, offensive line coach Dale Williams, defensive backs coach Joe Schaefer and co-defensive coordinator/linebackers coach Robert Wright. These changes come following Syracuse’s three-win season, where it lost its final eight games by an average of 27.5 points.
Following SU’s 34-12 defeat to Boston College on Saturday, Brown declined to reveal if he’d make any changes to his coaching staff. He confirmed offensive coordinator Jeff Nixon and defensive coordinator Elijah Robinson would return, but didn’t give any further details. Earlier in the season, wide receivers coach Myles White left the program, while Nunzio Campanile was moved from coaching quarterbacks to tight ends with Michael Johnson Sr. taking over his role.
After Brown hired him from Georgia Tech, Brumfield improved SU’s special teams, which was putrid in 2024. Special teams was SU’s most consistent unit in 2025. After transferring in from Iowa, Tripp Woody was 12-of-14 on field goals and didn’t miss an extra point, while Jack Stonehouse also continued to shine as a punter. Despite the unit’s success, Brown is choosing to move on from Brumfield after one season.
The other names coached groups that wildly underperformed this season. Williams’ offensive line often got overpowered and never allowed the Orange to develop a consistent run game. He was hired after the 2023 season, when Brown took over as SU’s head coach.
Syracuse owned the Atlantic Coast Conference’s worst defense, so changes were bound to happen somewhere. Schaefer and Wright both coached on Brown’s staff the past two seasons. Syracuse allowed over 250 passing yards per game, ranking 12th in the ACC, while its rush defense allowed a second-worst 174.9 rushing yards per game.
Ahead of Brown’s third season with Syracuse, he has plenty of work to rebuild his roster. Now he must do the same with his coaching staff.
