Fran Brown is starting Syracuse’s football turnaround with four words

D.A.R.T.: A concept bigger than football.

It’s an acronym that new Syracuse football coach Fran Brown introduced while addressing his team for the first time after being named head coach at the end of last season.

Detail. Accountable. Relentless. Tough.

“When you look at the traits that it took to be successful in football. When I looked at the traits that it took to be successful in life…,” Brown told the Post when asked for the thinking behind it.

“It’s everything we do.”

Brown grew up in Camden, N.J., raised by a single mother and gravitated toward football, starting in pee-wee and ultimately ending with a brief NFL career with the Bengals.

He had starred at Camden High School at quarterback before switching to cornerback at Western Carolina and becoming a team captain and first-team SoCon selection.

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“Everyone I grew up with makes me want to continue to grow,” Brown said. “There were so many temptations that took guys away from being successful and I’m just extremely lucky that I had the opportunity.”

The 41-year-old went undrafted but landed with the Bengals during the 2007 and 2008 seasons before moving on to coaching.

“Everywhere is my turf, to be honest,” Brown said. “It doesn’t really matter where I’m at, I’m comfortable. I’m comfortable with who I am. I don’t change.”

He made coaching stops at Temple, Baylor, Rutgers and finally with Georgia, where he won a national championship as the Bulldogs’ defensive back coach.

Brown was touted as one of the top recruiters country when he landed the Syracuse job.

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“Knowing they have the opportunity of seeing me and knowing I’m from where they’re from, no matter color. It’s just like ‘Oh, dang, coach Fran did it, I can make it,’” Brown said.

Brown is a man of faith, a father of three and already active in the Syracuse community.

“If I get to uplift my community and I get to uplift this community,” Brown said. “God has given me the unbelievable opportunity to be the face of a program, I just owe it all to my community and this community.”

Brown takes over for Dino Babers, who led Syracuse to one bowl win (2018 Camping World Bowl) in eight seasons.

The 2023 season ended with a 45-0 loss to South Florida in the Boca Raton Bowl.

Brown and soon-to-be Syracuse quarterback Kyle McCord were both in attendance and the chance to start a new culture and introduce D.A.R.T. started right there in the locker room.

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“It’s everything we do,” McCord, who started for Ohio State last season, told the Post. “That was the first thing he was talking about. From that point on, it was the backbone of the program.”

Approaching the quarterback position as an extension of the head coach, McCord quickly picked up on Brown’s traits.

“Off the field, he’s a super relatable guy to talk to. When you step on the field super fire, super competitive and I think all the guys rally around a coach like that,” McCord said.

As the season approaches, with Syracuse opening Saturday at home against Ohio, the benchmark of success for first-year head coaches can be hefty.

For Brown, winning on the field is non-negotiable.

Winning off the field, though, holds a different significance.

“Being able to live D.A.R.T. and get educated this year, to me that’s winning,” he said. “Knowing that our players are trending in the right direction of being good fathers, of being good husbands. That’s winning. That’s a winning season.”

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