
Fran Brown
Fran Brown went 15–16 as a head coach, 2024–2026, at Syracuse. Wikipedia’s season articles record one season differently (2026, 2–3); by them his record is 15–15. Share
- Record
- 15–16 career
- Seasons
- 3
- Schools
- 1
- Final AP top 10
- 0 seasons
- Born
- Feb 3, 1982
- Best season
- 2024 10–3, No. 20
Season by season
| Season | School | Record | Conference finish | Bowl | AP final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Syracuse | 10–3 | T–4th | Holiday Bowl W | 20 | |
| 2025 | Syracuse | 3–9 | T–16th | |||
| 2026 | Syracuse | 2–4 (Wikipedia: 2–3) |
Each season links to the team’s season page; bowls and playoff games link to the game. Conference finishes from the Wikipedia article’s record table.
How his teams did
| Kind of game | Games | Record | Won |
|---|---|---|---|
| Against ranked teams | 8 | 3–5 | 38% |
| Against top-10 teams | 3 | 1–2 | 33% |
| Against rivals | 9 | 4–5 | 44% |
| Conference games | 20 | 6–14 | 30% |
| Bowls and playoffs | 1 | 1–0 | 100% |
| Decided by 8 points or fewer | 14 | 9–5 | 64% |
| At home | 16 | 9–7 | 56% |
| On the road | 13 | 5–8 | 38% |
| At neutral sites | 2 | 1–1 | 50% |
| As our Elo’s favorite | 13 | 6–7 | 46% |
| As our Elo’s underdog | 18 | 9–9 | 50% |
His own 31 games on file, 2024–2026, as played (vacated wins counted, ties as half a win). Ranks are the AP poll going into the game; rivals are the ones either program’s Wikipedia article names; favorite and underdog by our own Elo rating, which reads only scores.
Against other head coaches
| Coach | Record | Their schools | Games | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pat Narduzzi 2024–2026 | 0–3 | Pittsburgh | 3 |
Fran Brown’s record against the head coaches he met three or more times, from the games on file, as played.
Most-faced opponents
| Opponent | Games | Record |
|---|---|---|
| UConnseries | 3 | 3–0 |
| Pittsburghseries | 3 | 0–3 |
| Californiaseries | 2 | 1–1 |
| Georgia Techseries | 2 | 1–1 |
| Miamiseries | 2 | 1–1 |
| Boston Collegeseries | 2 | 0–2 |
| Holy Crossseries | 1 | 1–0 |
| NC Stateseries | 1 | 1–0 |
National title staffs
Every title staff- Won a national title on Georgia’s 2022 staff (defensive backs coach) · the staff · source
The champions’ staffs from 1990 on, as the schools listed them that season: Staff lists: Drew Hoover’s how-many-rings (MIT), from the schools’ media guides and staff pages. Roles as the source words them.
How he was hired
Power-conference head-coaching hires since 2010, with each coach’s previous job and ties to the school as collected by hand from Wikipedia: Hiring facts: M. Schuckers, cfb_coach_analytics.
Career
| Years | Team | Job | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Paul VI HS (NJ) high school | Defensive backs coach | |
| 2012 | Temple | Graduate assistant | |
| 2013–15 | Temple | Defensive backs coach | |
| 2016 | Temple | Assistant head coach and defensive backs coach | |
| 2017–18 | Baylor | Assistant head coach and defensive backs coach | |
| 2019 | Temple | Co-defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach | |
| 2020–21 | Rutgers | Defensive backs coach | |
| 2022–23 | Georgia | Defensive backs coach | |
| 2024–present | Syracuse | Head coach |
Every job as the infobox of his Wikipedia article lists it (CC BY-SA), assistant jobs included.
Coaching tree
Worked under
- Steve AddazioTemple
- Matt RhuleTemple, Baylor
- Ed FoleyTemple
- Rod CareyTemple
- Greg SchianoRutgers
- Kirby SmartGeorgia
Assistants who became head coaches
- Elijah RobinsonTexas A&M
- Nunzio CampanileRutgers, Syracuse
- Don BrownPlymouth State, Northeastern, Massachusetts
- Kevin CoyleAtlanta Legends
- Vince KehresMount Union
Worked under (6)
| Head coach | Team | Years | His job | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Steve Addazio | Temple | 2012 | Graduate assistant | |
| Matt Rhule | Temple | 2013–16 | 2013–15: defensive backs coach; 2016: assistant head coach and defensive backs coach | |
| Ed Foley | Temple | 2016 | Assistant head coach and defensive backs coach | |
| Matt Rhule | Baylor | 2017–18 | Assistant head coach and defensive backs coach | |
| Rod Carey | Temple | 2019 | Co-defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach | |
| Greg Schiano | Rutgers | 2020–21 | Defensive backs coach | |
| Kirby Smart | Georgia | 2022–23 | Defensive backs coach |
Coached under him, later head coaches (5)
| Coach | With him | Head coach at | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elijah Robinson | Syracuse, 2024–25: assistant head coach and defensive coordinator | Texas A&M | |
| Nunzio Campanile | Syracuse, 2024–25: quarterbacks coach | Rutgers, Syracuse | |
| Don Brown | Syracuse, 2025–26: consultant | Plymouth State, Northeastern, Massachusetts | |
| Kevin Coyle | Syracuse, 2025: senior defensive analyst | Atlanta Legends | |
| Vince Kehres | Syracuse, 2026: defensive coordinator | Mount Union |
Other assistants under him (6)
| Coach | With him | |
|---|---|---|
| Jeff Nixon | Syracuse, 2024–26: offensive coordinator and running backs coach | |
| Mike Johnson | Syracuse, 2024–26: co-offensive coordinator and tight ends coach | |
| Robert Wright | Syracuse, 2024–25: co-defensive coordinator | |
| Josh Gattis | Syracuse, 2025–26: wide receivers coach | |
| John Scott Jr. | Syracuse, 2026: assistant head coach, co-defensive coordinator and defensive line coach | |
| Perry Eliano | Syracuse, 2026: defensive backs coach |
From coaches’ Wikipedia infoboxes (CC BY-SA) and each season’s article for its coordinators: an assistant’s seasons at a school count under its head coach in our records; jobs in the NFL and elsewhere, under the head coach whose own article lists the job that year. Names without a page here link to their Wikipedia articles.
How he coached
Brown’s teams went for it on 31% of fourth downs and on 54% of those where the model said go for it, passed on 57% of plays and took 25.3 seconds a play, 2024–2026.
| Season | Went for it on fourth | When the model said go | Pass rate | Seconds a play | EPA a play | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 13 g | 30 of 87 34% | 59% | 63% | 25.3 | +0.19 | |
| 2025 12 g | 31 of 109 28% | 49% | 52% | 25.5 | −0.07 | |
| 2026 6 g | 15 of 46 33% | 57% | 52% | 24.7 | +0.05 | |
| All 31 g | 76 of 242 31% | 54% | 57% | 25.3 | +0.06 |
His seasons as a head coach from 2004 on, from ESPN’s play by play: fourth downs where he went for it out of every fourth-down decision; how often he went when SportsDataverse’s fourth-down model said going for it was the better call; the share of his offense’s plays that were passes; seconds of game clock per offensive play (lower is faster); and expected points added per offensive play (EPA, a measure of how much each play moved the offense toward points). The season in progress counts its games so far. SportsDataverse’s coach tendencies, from ESPN’s play by play; the EPA and the fourth-down model are SportsDataverse’s.