Fran Brown’s first season was a mic drop if ever there was one. The guy came in, laid a 10-3 season on the table, and had Syracuse toppling Miami in front of their home crowd, which is essentially finding a unicorn in Upstate New York. He guided transfer QB Kyle McCord into a record-setting season, had four players drafted into the NFL, and topped it all off with a Holiday Bowl victory over Washington State. Brown’s not only winning games—he’s out here closing business deals. He was the first NCAA coach to sign with the NIL agency Network, going in alongside the likes of Michael Vick. Brown’s leveraging this to create his brand and extend his “D.A.R.T.” culture—detailed, accountable, relentless, tough—which, let’s be real, sounds like the sort of self-help slogan your gym teacher wishes they’d patented.
And just when you thought the Orange couldn’t get any zanier, Brown began pillaging Florida State’s recruiting class and acquired LSU transfer Rickie Collins as the new starting QB of 2025. Syracuse hasn’t had that much action since the Big East era. So, how do you keep the hype train going? Well, enter Myles White, the new wide receivers coach. I mean, if you’re going to toss the ball around the whole yard and set records, you might as well bring in a man who’s been around the NFL block. On the May 29th episode of Our Coaching Network, Myles White presents extremely fascinating insights into the HC to host John Bryce.
Before all this, White confesses that Fran Brown is the reason why he left his plush NFL job to deal with the turmoil of college football. “Man, it’s been an honor working here so far. We’re still in the honeymoon phase, so I haven’t seen all the awards yet, but up until this point, we had a great spring. We did a great job in the transfer portal recruiting cycle, and then we’re trying to do the same thing in the high school ranks,” White states.
“The main thing is that the head guy is so hungry and so determined to have success. There’s a reason why they were able to be successful last year, because it starts from the top down,” he adds.
You remember the way that, when you begin a new job, everything smells like paint fresh from the can, the coffee is actually decent-tasting, and no one has yet berated you for using the “good” stapler? That’s where Myles White is right now at Syracuse. Fran Brown and his staff have been all over the news for shaking up the traditional snooze-fest that is college football’s offseason. Brown also attempted to mix things up by partnering with Deion Sanders to suggest a co-spring game—think of the publicity, Orange vs. Buffaloes, ESPN cameras, and likely a Lil Wayne cameo. Naturally, the NCAA, in all its infinite wisdom, shut it down quicker than you can utter “compliance violation.
Syracuse had a sweet transfer portal incoming this season; they grabbed Notre Dame QB Steve Angeli, who’s got legitimate starting material, and North Carolina’s gigantic offensive lineman Zach Rice, who’s essentially a walking wall. To that, they added TJ Ferguson from Alabama and Johntay Cook II, a WR with tremendous upside. It’s as if Fran Brown noticed a hole and just filled it with Power Five playmakers overnight.
The host asks White, “The word I hear probably the most about him is culture and the culture he’s instilled there in Syracuse… what makes Fran Brown’s Syracuse culture a good culture?” White says, “The most glaring thing is he’s a real individual; so if you ever get the chance to meet with him, who he is when you meet him, whether it’s through an interview process, through a media process, or whether it’s on the street, it’s the same guy every day, and because of that, the kids resonate with him at a really, really high level.” He continues, “Syracuse is just dark detailed accountable relentless and tough. I mean, he embodies those things, man.”
Fran Brown is as genuine as it comes. He’s not the type of coach who behaves like a drill sergeant in the locker room and a politician in the spotlight. That level of genuineness? Players can smell it a mile away, and they commit because they know he’s not pretending. Brown’s #DART philosophy—detailed, accountable, relentless, and tough—is now the foundation of everything at Syracuse. We’re talking about a program that went from middle-of-the-pack to pulling off a 10-3 season, three top-25 wins, and a bowl victory in his very first year. Even ACC coaches are saying the Orange have had the ‘biggest culture change’ in the league. And they’re not resting on high school recruiting, either. The Orange are racing to secure the next stars before the SEC gets there with their private flights and NIL war chests.
Fran Brown’s recruiting playbook
Fran Brown and his staff just pulled off a class that’s got the rest of the ACC side-eyeing the Orange. The 2025 class is big—like, ‘we’re going to need a bigger group photo’ big. The Orange signed 42 commits, which is more than just about anyone else in the country. Fran Brown decided that if you are going to rebuild a program, you don’t do it one player at a time. You do it with an all-out Orange invasion and the rankings? Not bad for a team that was lately allergic to the top 40.
Depending on which recruiting agency you believe (and we’re being realistic, they all have their issues), Syracuse is around No. 36 to No. 45 in the country and 7th to 10th in the ACC. For perspective, that’s a huge improvement over the Dino Babers years when “top 50” was a reason to have a parade. But quantity isn’t everything. Fran Brown and his staff brought in some quality players. Four-star safety Demetres Samuel Jr. is the big get, and they were able to beat out Michigan (yes, that one) for Quante Gillians, the state’s top-ranked player. To reiterate, Syracuse went on a binge in-state, securing six of the top 10 local recruits, finally making ‘locking down the 315’ more than a Twitter motto. Yes, they did lose a couple of blue-chippers in Javion Hilson and Winston Watkins, but let’s not be greedy.
From a geographical standpoint, this class is a melting pot: New Yorkers, Floridians, Georgians, Marylanders, Texans, and even a Canuck or two are all wearing Orange. Fran Brown’s sales pitch is effective coast to coast—and perhaps even north of the border.
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