Fran Brown worked his way through the ranks to finally get his first head-coaching job with the Syracuse Orange.
The 43-year-old grew up in Camden, N.J., and played his college football at FCS Western Carolina. The cornerback spent a couple of years with the Cincinnati Bengals before moving into coaching.
The rise was slow, but steady. One year at Paul VI High School in New Jersey. Five years at Temple under Matt Rhule. Brown followed his boss to Baylor and spent two years there as an assistant head coach before turning to Temple to be the program’s co-defensive coordinator.
He spent two years at Rutgers and then landed at Georgia for two more seasons, where he won a national championship ring and developed a reputation as one of the nation’s top recruiters.
He took over at Syracuse last season and turned the Orange around, leading them to a 10-3 season and a trip to the Holiday Bowl and a season-ending Top 25 rankings.
Now, he’s preparing for Year 2. During a press conference leading up to spring football, he revealed something about how he deals with NIL and his players. He requires them to save a significant portion of that they make.
“We also have it set where our players, they have to save 40% of their checks,” he said. “So, they understand, the have to put 40% of their check away so that way they can be better later on. I’m your coach and there’s no way i’m gonna pay you a lot of money if you’re a good player and you’re going to walk away from here with no money.”
Fran Brown has a policy that his players must save 40% of their NIL checks.
“There’s no way, as a coach, that I’m going to pay you a lot of money, and then you’re going to walk away from here with no money.”
Says during his upbringing in Camden, NJ, it could have been the… pic.twitter.com/DZUnn9Mwhy
— Ashley Wenskoski (@AshleyWenskTV) March 19, 2025
Brown admitted that his upbringing in Camden, N.J., has a lot to do with that requirement. He couldn’t tap into NIL like his players can now. Had he been able to, it would have gone a long way to helping him and his family.
“We had it extremely tough growing up so every NIL dollar would have not just been for me, it would have been able to help my mom at home,” Brown said. “Like we would have been able to not have to move all the time, pay what needed to be paid that didn’t get paid all the time. There were different things, the electric bill, living in the dark and food on the table for my younger siblings.”
Brown also has his players take financial literacy seminars, so they know how to handle their money once they get out of college.
With players able to make their own money, it’s not just about making it. It’s about learning how to keep it.
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