Fran Brown’s name has been circulating across the coaching carousel lately, catching the attention of several major programs. Even Urban Meyer couldn’t help but rave, saying, “I like everything about him. If I’m an athletic director, I’m all over that one.” But despite the growing interest, Brown’s loyalty remains firmly with the Orange. Every day, he’s focused on sharpening his team and making crucial adjustments to elevate Syracuse football. His most recent move proves just that, bringing in a defensive mind with nearly five decades of experience, the legendary Don “Dr. Blitz” Brown, to strengthen his staff and rebuild his fortress in upstate New York.

Fran, being a former defensive coach, deems Don Brown the best fit for the Orange squad. On October 23, the stateoforange page came with an IG tweet. It read, “Syracuse has brought in Don Brown, a defensive coach with the nickname “Dr. Blitz” to help the defense, per Chris Carlson 🍊. He was formerly the DC at Michigan, Maryland, Boston College, UConn, UMass, and Arizona. He was also the HC at UMass 🔥.”

Fran’s choice is undoubtedly one of the top defensive minds in the country, but it’s important to know that Syracuse is in desperate need of someone who would pull the defense from the abyss. They had their ups and downs. Recently, Fran’s defense ranks second-to-last in the ACC this season in both points (29.9) and yards (421.1) allowed per game. Counting on a 70-year-old, Don, who has served as a college coach since the late 1970s. He has served as the head coach of Plymouth State, Northeastern, and UMass, compiling a 101–73 overall record.

But his success came during his defensive coordinator stints. Under Don, the Michigan Wolverines’ defense was in the top three nationally on three occasions and held the No. 1 spot in 2016. What’s the USP he has picked up from his varied career that made Fran appoint him? The IG post revealed, “He is known for coaching aggressive, high-energy, hard-hitting defenses, with his scheme being described as “organized chaos” and blitzing nearly “85% of the time” 😮‍💨.” 

Lately, Fran’s defense has started to show some signs of improvement. Despite a 30-13 defeat to Pittsburgh, Syracuse’s defense finally clicked, limiting the Panthers to 255 yards. Unfortunately, miscues on special teams and offensive turnovers handed Pittsburgh much of its scoring. Syracuse has utilized a blitz-heavy approach all season, a major shift from last season. 

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At this time, Fran brings in Don. Confusing quarterbacks by mixing real and fake blitzes is Don’s specialty. So, things are expected to get better. Now, you can decode the message behind Fran’s warning.

Fran Brown’s program kept its promise after keeping the rivals on high alert

Even with Pitt’s all-ACC running back Desmond Reid seeing less than 30% of snaps and only six touches, Fran’s boys dominated the backfield, racking up a season-high seven sacks and 12 tackles for loss. That’s how they kept their promise. He handed his defense a set of plays at halftime of the SMU loss. After drilling them during a two-week layoff, Syracuse returned Saturday night looking like a team reborn.

That’s when Fran gave a glimpse of their revamped philosophy, “We’re gonna go after the quarterback. I told you guys that last week after that second half at SMU that it was gonna be a change. You’ll see that and you’ll see how it’s consistently going.” Now that Don is here, the burden on Fran’s shoulders might get reduced. However, there still might be a void left after Syracuse senior defensive analyst Kevin Coyle left the Orange squad last month. But being hungry for challenges, he could not ignore the call from Tim Skipper to revamp the UCLA defense.

 “So when Skip presented the opportunity, it wasn’t an easy decision to make, to be quite honest with you, cuz I had just gone back to another place where I had been before,” confessed Fran’s former staff. With Don on the staff as added pressure, before their upcoming face-off against Georgia Tech, the Yellow Jackets’ head coach, Brent Key, stays on high alert. 

“This is a good football team…You can’t look at the record. They’ve had some misfortune with injuries on both sides of the football to very key players. That’s a tough situation to be in,” he said. After three tough losses, Fran Brown and his boys are finally finding their stride. Will it be enough to snag a victory?