The Syracuse Orange are coming off their 2024 season, which marked the debut of head coach Fran Brown. A large part of the team’s trajectory stems from the hiring of Brown, who came to Syracuse at the end of 2023.
Not only is Brown a great coach, but he’s also an elite recruiter, and his recruiting savvy allowed him to land quarterback Kyle McCord out of the transfer portal last year. Brown and McCord began a new era of Orange Football, and their relationship is something Brown is saying he’s very grateful for.
Fran Brown Opens Up About What It Was Like to Coach Kyle McCord
On Dec. 4, 2023, Ohio State Buckeyes quarterback Kyle McCord announced that he would be entering his name into the transfer portal. On Dec. 5, Fran Brown was in McCord’s house already recruiting him to come to Syracuse.
At the time, Brown had proved nothing as a head coach, and McCord was just looking for a fresh start after essentially being chased out of Columbus by Buckeye fans. Despite Brown’s lack of experience, McCord announced that he was committing to Syracuse just weeks later.
In a recent interview on Adam Breneman’s “Next Up” podcast, Brown spoke about his relationship with McCord and why the two meshed so well.
“We grew a friendship that will last forever. He is my little brother. I just talked to him last night about something, tell him I love him every time I hang up the phone, that’s my little brother,” Brown said.
Brown also spoke on how grateful he is for the faith that McCord put in him by coming to Syracuse over the other schools that were pursuing him out of the portal.
“He took a shot with me. He took half the money that somebody else wanted to give him. He took half the money and came here with a leap of faith. I’ll forever owe him for that.”
It makes sense why Brown feels indebted to McCord. Before taking the Syracuse job, Brown’s only coaching experience was as a defensive backs coach. Most coaches will move to a coordinator role before becoming a head coach, but Syracuse took a shot in the dark and hired Brown despite his lack of experience in a bigger role.
A lot of Syracuse fans were skeptical of Brown because of this, but by landing McCord, and McCord having the season he had (the Orange finished 6-7 in 2024), it helped lay a foundation for Brown’s tenure at Syracuse.
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Brown enters the 2025 season without McCord behind center, but with how much he cares about his players, he should be able to lead Syracuse to yet another successful year.
