Syracuse Athletics’ press conference has lacked a certain je ne sais quoi ever since Jim Boeheim retired.
Men’s basketball coach Adrian Autry’s press conferences don’t exist outside of Central New York. Former football coach Dino Babers’ “belief without evidence” mantra overstayed its welcome in the years leading up to his firing. Women’s basketball head coach Felisha Legette-Jack came close to matching that energy in 2024 with her “Nobody f***ing cares” rant; not much else has broken containment since.
Syracuse sports pressers have been missing the special sauce that only Boeheim brought with him. That juice always simmered just below the surface. That extra gear that could remake a media moment without warning, even befuddling the most veteran reporter.
Unnecessary defensiveness.
Boeheim was a master at injecting it into press conferences and directing his petty ire at reporters over preconceived assumptions.
Syracuse football coach Fran Brown, who has been chiefly a genial media figure to date, stepped into Boeheim’s shoes this week when he was asked whether or not he wanted to put Orange fans’ minds at ease over rumors that he could be in the mix for the Penn State job.
Brown could have taken any number of roads in answering. He chose unnecessary defensiveness.
“I’m working at Syracuse right now, so I really don’t need to talk about that,” Brown replied to reporter Javon Edmonds. “If this wasn’t where I wanted to be at in the moment, would I be standing here at this moment? Yeah, so I’m just focused on that. I’m focused on being here. I’m locked in on coaching the players that I have here. This is where I work at. I think that’s disrespectful to even bring that up and ask that. Like, what’s the point in asking that? To make some media of me saying something opposite? They hired me to come here and do a job to coach this team, and that’s what I’m doing.”
It was unnecessary because there was no real reason to get all fired up over a legitimate question. It was defensive because he dances around the question by focusing on how he’s here “right now” and “in the moment.”
“Brown’s grumpy response to the question about his commitment to Syracuse and subsequent threat to not answer questions from the reporter who asked it (whether he was just blowing off steam or not) was immature and disappointing from a coach who has earned a reputation as a straight shooter and demonstrated a savvy understanding of using both mainstream and social media,” wrote Syracuse.com’s Brent Axe afterward.
Brown appeared on Orange Nation with Steve Infanti and Paulie Scibilia on Thursday and had a chance to explain why he was defensive and, in doing so, doubled down on the defensiveness.
ICYMI: Fran Brown says Syracuse should be considered a “big time” job and clarifies why he was bothered by one question during his Monday press conference this week. pic.twitter.com/N9TjlYnmSD
— Cuse Sports Talk (@CuseSportsTalk_) October 16, 2025
“I just hate when people be like, these big-time schools or this big-time that going to come in,” said Brown. “They’re trying to talk like, how are you telling me that my job isn’t a big-time job? How about if I say, why you don’t work for a big-time reporting company? To me, I feel like that’s disrespectful to myself, to my family, to my players, to our alum, to just everybody to say when he’s big-time, it’s like, Who? Like, Who is Syracuse? I don’t know. I felt that was disrespectful. So I don’t know. That just irritated me a little bit in that sense of it, if that makes sense. That would be like me telling you all, Hey, how are you going to feel when a big-time radio station comes to try to get you guys to go on our big-time sports talk? I want you all to come on. What.”
That’s… fair. But it’s also still a deflection. Nowhere does Brown declare he will not leave Syracuse, big-time or not.
Here’s the thing. It’s 2025. College football fans know the deal. Hell, Syracuse fans know the deal (See: Marrone, Doug). As much as Brown has talked the talk and walked the walk so far with the Orange, his success in that position will always come with an expectation that if certain schools come calling (with their checkbooks open), he will probably leave. And if he genuinely isn’t planning on taking another job, he could win over Syracuse fans even further by just coming out and saying it.
Instead, he went with unnecessary defensiveness, and now it’s all a little weird for no good reason.
Jim Boeheim would be proud.
About Sean Keeley
Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Managing Editor for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.