Georgia DBs ecstatic for Fran Brown, his opportunity at Syracuse

ATHENS, Ga. — Announced on Tuesday, Georgia defensive backs coach Fran Brown is headed north to be the next head coach for the Syracuse Orange. While it means Kirby Smart is tasked with finding a new assistant for his staff, Brown’s current players certainly are excited for the opportunity their coach is getting.

“They’re getting a tremendous coach, but more so a tremendous person. Coach Fran, he’s a great coach but what makes him so special is his relationship with us outside of football,” Georgia defensive back Javon Bullard said in an interview Tuesday night. “We connect on a personal level. He’s been there for me with spiritual advice, emotional advice, when I’m missing home, he’s always there. Coach Fran is one of the people I can count on outside of football. My car breaks down, I know I can call Coach Fran.”

Brown arrived in Athens in 2022 after the first of Georgia’s back-to-back National Championships. On the field, Georgia’s pass defense has been strong, ranking first in the SEC this season. The Bulldogs have picked up a league-high 12 passes and are spear-headed an overall unit that ranks first for both scoring and total defense.

Like Bullard said though, it’s been off the field where Brown’s impact has been felt the most by the players. He’s built connections in his short time at the helm of the Georgia secondary – part of why he’s such a strong recruiter – that will last a lifetime. However, with one of his players, the relationship started even before arriving in Athens.

A native of New Jersey who spent time in the northeast both at Temple (2011-2016, 2019) and Rutgers (2020-21), Brown recruited Tykee Smith who hails from Philadelphia. The two got to know each other then, and it made the transition even easier when Smith’s former West Virginia defensive backs coach turned Georgia defensive backs coach Jahmile Addae.

“So I met Coach Fran my ninth grade year. He was at Temple, so he kind of recruited me there before he left and went to Baylor then offered me at Baylor. So then once I got here and Coach Addae left, Fran got announced the job. We kind of connected back together and been close ever since,” Smith said. “I think he helped me as far as like the mental part because I was coming off ACL that spring when he got here. So he just helped me get through that process also and just like pushing me to give my all each and every day.”

Bullard claims that Brown’s announcement as the new head man for the Orange hasn’t been a distraction. While it’s been less than 24 hours since his name even started appearing as a possibility for Syracuse, Georgia’s dealt with coaches leaving before – and it turned out just fine.

“Coach Lanning got the Oregon job sort of kind of close to this time. You know, we ended up finishing that year pretty good. So like I said, keeping the main thing the main thing, Coach Fran is bought into that,” Bullard said. “He came to practice, he brought energy, he brought juice. He’s still the same old Coach Fran that we knew him as.”

“It’s not a distraction, man. If anything it’s just to show that these coaches do a tremendous job,” he continued. “When new opportunities and promotions like that happen, it’s just a true testimony that they have lives, too. We’re not the only people achieving our goals. They have goals and aspirations that they want to accomplish, so, like I said, hat goes off to Coach Fran, man.”

Brown will officially be introduced in a press conference at Syracuse on Monday. How long he remains on staff at Georgia remains to be seen and hasn’t been discussed yet with the players per Bullard, and likely will be impacted by the result of Saturday’s SEC Championship Game against Alabama. Kickoff time for the top-10 showdown between the Bulldogs and Crimson Tide is set for 4:00 p.m. ET on CBS.