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Fran Brown claps back at Greg Olsen after calling postgame wind sprints 'performative'

ns_headshot_2024-clearby: Nick Schultz5 hours agoNickSchultz_7
Syracuse HC Fran Brown
© Brett Davis-Imagn Images

After Syracuse held on for a 27-20 victory over UConn in overtime last week, Fran Brown had the Orange players run wind sprints on the field. That drew a strong response from former NFL tight end Greg Olsen, who called it “performative.”

Speaking on Cuse Sports Talk on Wednesday, Brown responded. He said he’s keeping his focus on his team after Olsen’s comments.

Brown said he doesn’t know Olsen, though pointed out his achievements in the NFL. But rather than waiting until the next day to handle the situation, given Syracuse’s short week, he opted to deal with it postgame, though noted the “different situation” with people still in the building.

“I don’t really know Greg Olsen, so I don’t want to talk about him at all, to be honest,” Brown said. “He was a good football player. For me, I told the players we were going to do something. If you know me, then you’ll understand what happened. But once I saw all those people still out there, there’s certain things that you can’t do. It becomes a different situation. It was not like I could go on up and do the things that we would do to make sure that guys are running after practice and getting it done. So instead of, ‘Hey just come in, we’ll handle it tomorrow,’ we play Friday, so we’ve got an opportunity to do other stuff.

“I don’t know Greg Olsen. I think he had a really good career and I wish him the best. I never spoke about him, how he played or anything that he does. I’m just really focused on me and our football team.”

More on Greg Olsen’s comments on Syracuse

Greg Olsen discussed Fran Brown’s decision to have his players run wind sprints during an appearance on Wake Up Barstool alongside Jon Gruden, who also addressed the situation. The FOX color analyst said while he understands the need for accountability, he argued it should’ve been taken care off behind the scenes.

“It does feel performative,” Olsen said. “I have no problem with accountability. I have no problem with getting in guys’ faces and challenging them. … I think Fran Brown has done a great job in just a short time building that culture at Syracuse and getting them relevant in the football world.

“I just think there’s a time and place. I’m not a big look-at-me guy. … I think there are other ways to do it behind the scenes to get guys’ attention. … If I’m one of those players I’m looking around like, ‘this is major college football.’ This doesn’t feel like that.”