Javon Bullard proud to see Fran Brown land Syracuse job
Syracuse decided to part ways with head coach Dino Babers following eight seasons at the helm, with their next head coach expected to be coming out of the home of the back-to-back defending national champions. Matt Zenitz reported on Tuesday that Georgia defensive backs coach Fran Brown is expected to become Syracuse’s new coach, marking the first head coaching gig of his career.
Brown has been defensive back Javon Bullard’s position coach for the past two seasons at Georgia, and ahead of the SEC Championship game, he was asked what Syracuse is getting from the coach he’s worked closely with for the two years.
“Getting a tremendous coach, but more so a tremendous person,” Bullard said. “I mean Coach Fran, like I said, he’s a great coach but I feel like what makes Coach Fran so special is his relationship outside of football. We connect on a personal level, he’s been there with me through spiritual advice, emotional advice, when I need to talk about my family or I’m missing home he’s always there.”
Brown worked his way up from a graduate assistant to a defensive backs coach and associate head coach at Temple, also making stops at Baylor and Rutgers before landing in Athens. The Camden, New Jersey native will be returning to an area he’s familiar with and is bringing a lot more with him than just coaching knowledge according to Bullard.
“Coach Fran is one of the people I can count on outside of football,” Bullard said. “My car breaks down, I know I can call Coach Fran. That’s the person he is to the core, that’s what you’re getting, that’s what Syracuse is getting, and we’re so proud of him man. Hat goes off to him we’re tremendously proud of him.”
It appears like Brown will be on the sidelines for Georgia’s SEC Championship matchup with Alabama on Saturday, but his status for the Bulldogs’ bowl game and potential College Football Playoff games is up in the air.
“We really didn’t ask him that, we kind of just focused our mindset on Bama. We can’t really dial into what Coach Fran gon’ do. I’m pretty sure he’ll let us know if he decides to do whatever he decides, but like I said, right now our focus is on Bama,” Bullard said. “I ain’t heard nothing.”
Whether Brown finishes out the season with Georgia or hits the ground running at Syracuse next week, it’s clear he’s built a positive reputation between both programs and will hopefully be able to take the Orange program to new heights.