A new era of Syracuse University Football began Monday as new football head coach Fran Brown held his first press conference Monday.
Brown said he wants to bring back the tradition of the great football that was here before him.
"I'm looking for that Pasqualoni-DeLeone era, man," Brown said. "I want to bring that back and I hope that you guys want that back. I'm ready to have fun. We are going to run the ball. We are going to play the good defense. We're going to stop the run. We're going to hit, and actually, everybody going to ask what offense you're going to run? Whatever, they can't stop."
Athletic Director John Wildhack said Brown's vision matched his passion and commitment, sharing that Brown met with the team and the academic support staff in the first 24 hours of his arrival.
"Coach Fran's character and values are a perfect match for our university and for our community," Wildhack said. "He spent the last 15 years preparing for today his experience at Temple, at Baylor, at Rutgers and Georgia have him well-prepared to lead our program."
Wildhack declined to share any financial details of Brown's contract but said the university has looked to make strategic investments in the program.
"The programs who spend the most don't always win the most, right," Wildhack said. "It's how you spend and be really, really smart. And we spend a tremendous amount of time doing that and that's what we'll do."
On recruiting Brown said he wants to focus on developing high school athletes and wants to focus his use of the transfer portal for players with at least two years of eligibility left. He said they're ready to compete in name, image and likeness or NIL.
Off the field, Brown said he's looking forward to doing a lot of community service and he made a commitment to the team and central New York.
"I'm here for life," Brown said. "I promise you that."
Brown said he'll be observing practices as Syracuse prepares for the Boca Raton Bowl December 21. The team will be coached for the bowl game by Interim Head Coach Nunzio Campanile.
