In one his early interviews after being named the coach, Fran said that, when he was a kid (teen), the first college game he saw in person was an SU game at the Meadowlands. He said a bunch of Camden kids were taken up as a group and it was SU against a Big Ten team (Wisc, Mich or tOSU, I think). The opponent had a Heisman-trophy-candidate running back who got completely shut down by Donovan Darius and company. Evidently, that game and all the things hungrychuck and cliftonparksufan mention above had a lasting impact on him.