Syracuse football: how can Fran Brown keep the momentum going after a strong first year?

Coach Brown and his new DART philosophy propelled the Orange to their best season since 2018. How can he maintain the program’s newfound energy?

Since coach Fran Brown took over the Syracuse Orange football team last December, the arrow for the program has pretty much pointed nowhere but up.

A brand new DART culture installed under coach Brown for every aspect of the program — the players, coaches and fans — create a revitalized feeling about the team. The Orange reached their most regular season wins since 2018 (and tied for most since Syracuse joined the ACC) and earned a well-deserved trip to the Holiday Bowl in Brown’s first year. This year’s team featured plenty of success stories, a decent amount of national attention and a stellar conclusion by upsetting the top-10 Miami Hurricanes. Off the field, recruitment remains on the rise and fans continue to generally feel more enthusiastic about the state of the program compared to 12 months ago.

The 2024 season would always be a tough road for any first-year head coach of a Power 4 school. Now comes an even tougher challenge: what comes next from here and what can Brown do to maintain this momentum in the years ahead?

Photo by Bryan M. Bennett/Getty Images

The key talking point in the back of most fans’ minds remains how brutal the upcoming 2025 schedule looks on paper. A season-opener in Atlanta versus Tennessee and an absolute gauntlet of a road slate (Notre Dame, Clemson, Miami, SMU) highlight a really tough path ahead for the program next year.

It’s also fair to say building off success is something the program really hasn’t done in the 21st century if you look at the complete history. After Paul Pasqualoni’s tenure, Greg Robinson (2001-2005) took over and failed from start to finish (10-37). Doug Marrone (2009-2013) had two eight-win years (2010 and 2012) paired with two seasons below-.500. Scott Shafer (2013-15) couldn’t pick up where Marrone left off. Fans vividly can recall just how much of a rollercoaster ride the Dino Babers era (2016-2023) ended up being.

The good news: considering the realistic expectations heading into his first year, the Orange certainly surpassed most of them (including our staff) in 2024. One of the few people in Syracuse Nation who wasn’t as happy: coach Brown himself.

“I wanted to win a national championship. I wanted to go to a conference championship. Those two things didn’t happen, but I guess this is progress… We’re growing. We just have to keep pushing. I will never be satisfied with second place or third place. That’s like a loser’s mentality,” Brown previously said.

Keeping the standard exactly like that and growing it from here is a sure-fire starting point to keep the energy around the program moving forward. But outside maintaining the DART culture, what else can be done?

First and foremost, getting the job finished later this month at the Holiday Bowl is a strong start. Even with Washington State losing its head coach and many of its players, a bowl win is still a bowl win. Getting to that 10-win mark and staying in the final AP poll are both pretty important accomplishments to reach Brown and the team can point at to other players and recruits.

Photo by Bryan Bennett/Getty Images

Then there’s the tricky part: replacing what ended up being a roster filled with plenty of talent, particularly on offense. There’s a lot of good players going out the door (mainly for eligibility/draft-related reasons) and still plenty of time for more to come in. The final team for 2025 remains influx.

One option I’d personally like to see is Syracuse next year be great on at least one side of the field. Despite the occasional chaos from 2024, the passing attack led by Kyle McCord was pretty much a constant all year. It was something the team could rally upon and ditto for the fans. Could Brown replicate that somewhat with another year of McCord (very much long shot odds), an incoming transfer, or one of the current members of the quarterback room?

If not on offense, maybe its the defense that takes its turn to be the rock-solid unit for the Orange: upgrading the defensive line, generating turnovers and wrecking havoc. If both sides are just average, I’ll bet a million Nunes bucks whatever happens in 2025, the energy won’t feel the same. But if at least one of the offense or defense has those magical moments (similar to the passing offense of 2024), the outlook is certainly a lot more different.

Developing the new crop of talent coming to the program should be the other top priority for Brown. Over 30 new players make up Syracuse’s new 2025 recruitment class, one that ranks between 32nd (ESPN) and 44th (Rivals) by the major recruiting sites. A lot of potential will be walking through the door (especially from the Northeast and specifically New Jersey).

With playing time available and the high difficulty next year’s schedule has, 2025 could be about building up a solid foundation of players for 2026 while the team flashes here and there next year. Considering the other longer-term variables ahead, Brown’s reputation as a recruiter is already translating to tangible results for the Orange.

Optimism for the program remains on the rise. Brown so far is proving himself to be the real deal after he initially started his tenure with the label of being an “unconventional” hire.

Brown’s goal now is to not lose that energy going forward. There will certainly be some challenges ahead (particularly in 2025), but keeping the energy is going to be the key to see if Syracuse just reached its peak or has plenty more room to grow from here.