Jon Gruden weighs in on Fran Brown making Syracuse players run sprints after win

Jon Gruden weighed in on Fran Brown making his Syracuse players run sprints after their close win over UConn Saturday. The Orange needed overtime, a 27-20 victory, to beat the Huskies.

Brown clearly wasn’t proud of the effort, so he made his players run sprints in front of a postgame crowd at home. Safe to say, Gruden wasn’t a big fan of it, in this sort of fashion anyway.

Gruden has seen coaching tactics like this before, but not quite publicly. Frankly, he said Syracuse players should be embarrassed after doing some additional cardio after the game.

“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.”

Former tight end Greg 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.

“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. I think 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. I think 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 and Syracuse are back in action against Colgate on Friday. Kickoff is set for 7:00 p.m. ET at Syracuse.