Now entering his second season leading Syracuse, Fran Brown silenced those critical of his outside-the-box hire to lead the Orange by leading the program to a 10-win season and the top passing offense in college football by nearly 20 yards per game last season.
Brown landed his opportunity to lead a Power Four after being a standout position coach for Kirby Smart at Georgia, and while a lot of Power Four programs tend to hire from the Group of Five head coaches pool, and star coordinators, the veteran secondary coach hadn't previously held a defensive coordinator role.
His battle to land the Syracuse job has been well documented, and while his hire might have been unconventional by college football standards, the way Brown talks about how he views his role leading a staff and roster is a bit outside the norm at times as well - in the best possible way.
For example, after practice today, Brown was asked building relationships with his staff and how that could possibly lead to more wins after he shared a few weeks ago how he was focusing on being a better listener.
Fran's response was enlightening.
"You just get to know who people are, and you understand a little more," he shared. "I mean, listen, that's why me and my wife are still together, because I do more listening than talking."
"Being a better listener, you learn more, and then you can make better decisions, and you will be able to make those decisions during chaotic situations because I already know what you're thinking and what you're about because everyone has a voice."
"Your voice might not be the one used for that particular situation, at that time, but everyone has a voice, so speak what you have because you can learn from everyone on staff. So I ask a lot of stuff from them all."
"Being a better listener helps you become a better decision maker, and then they feel more comfortable coming to you. There are so many bright ideas that young guys don't want to say because they don't want to be turned away, or pushed down from doing it, and I just don't want to be that guy when one of those guys could have been thinking that, but didn't have the confidence to speak up, or didn't have the relationship with me to say that, or even say it to someone else."
Hear Brown's full answer in the clip.