Fran Brown sends NSFW warning to opposing schools trying to poach Syracuse players

Syracuse head coach Fran Brown has been very successful in his short time with the program, as he’s led the Orange to a 12-4 record in 16 games. This includes a 10-3 record in 2024 with a 52-35 win over Washington State in the Holiday Bowl and a 2-1 start to the 2025 season.

Brown, who has not shied away from being a hard-nosed coach, opened up this week about tampering in the Transfer Portal during the latest episode of ‘I AM ATHLETE’ with Darien Rencher. The Syracuse head man sent a message to opposing teams, telling them that he’ll “come see them.”

“I ain’t no B*itch…I’m going to come after you.”

Coach Fran Brown on dealing with other programs tampering with his players.

Watch: https://t.co/bjp7W7k5JU pic.twitter.com/ZZfIbMLmO8

— 𝐃𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧 𝐑𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐫 (@D_Rench_) September 18, 2025

“I don’t even care bruh,” Brown said. “Dude’s be trying to push up on my wife. She’s bad. It’s just the game it’s what they do. I don’t care, but don’t let me find out and then I’ll see you. Cause I ain’t no b****. Like I’m gonna come at you like ‘what’s up?’ I’m gonna see you. There’s a couple of dudes I called and they tried to say ‘lose my line’. Like man, shut up.”

Following Syracuse‘s 10-3 season last year, 21 players transferred out of the program. This gave the Orange the No. 68-ranked Transfer Portal class in the country, according to On3’s 2025 College Football Team Transfer Portal Rankings.

Brown made players run wind sprints on field earlier this season

Brown made waves earlier this season when he had the Orange players run wind sprints on the field following a 27-20 victory over UConn in overtime on Sept. 6. This led to backlash from those within the industry, including former All-Pro tight end Greg Olsen and former Super Bowl-winning head coach Jon Gruden.

“I have not (seen this), but I have seen Howard Schnellenberger at Louisville, when my brother was the quarterback, have a one in the morning scrimmage in the pouring rain after they got beat by Memphis,” Gruden said on Wake Up Barstool. “I don’t think this is a real good thing for Syracuse football. If I was one of those players, I would be a little bit embarrassed today.”

Olsen, who joins Gruden on Wake Up Barstool weekly, agreed. Coaching youth football, Olsen sees a different perspective as well. There’s ways, unlike what Brown did, to get players’ attention after a lackluster effort.

Greg Olsen called Brown’s action ‘performative’

“I agree with coach, I’d rather the one o’clock scrimmage in the rain,” Olsen said. “To me, this is about doing it in front of everyone and saying, look at us. Look how much we care. Look how much I care. It does feel performative. I have no problem with accountability. I have no problem with getting in guys’ faces and challenging them, especially if you don’t feel like they’re playing up to the standard. Fran Brown’s done a great job in just a short time, kind of building that culture in Syracuse and getting them relevant in the football world. 

“But I just think there’s a time and a place, and I think anytime, I’m not a big like look at me, go out there, put yourself on the platform. And I don’t know I’m a coach. I don’t love it. There’s other ways to do it behind the scenes to make sure you get guys’ attention, that there’s an expectation of level of performance and standard and all those things. I don’t know if it needs to be on the field … I don’t love it. If I’m one of those players, I’m looking around saying, This is major college football … this doesn’t feel like it.”

Brown did not appreciate comments from Gruden & Olsen

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

“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. 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.”

Syracuse, now sitting at 2-1 on the season following a loss to Tennessee and wins over UConn and Colgate, opens ACC play at Clemson on Saturday. Kick-off is scheduled for 12:00 PM ET on ESPN.

On3’s Nick Schultz contributed to this article.