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AmeriCU Fran Brown Show Debuts Thursday - Syracuse University Athletics
(This has their schedule for the season)
The show originates from Heritage Hill Brewery in Jamesville:
heritagehillbrewery.com
3149 Sweet Rd · 3149 Sweet Rd, Jamesville, NY 13078
You can catch the show on TK99/105 locally, Cuse.com and the 'Cuse App, You can also get it on: https://tunein.com/radio/home/ or https://cuse.com/watch/?Live=6944&type=Live . Fans are invited to participate in the show by calling 888-7Go-Cuse, (1-888-746-2873), or 424-8599 or on twitter (@CuseLearfield) with the hashtag #AskFran or through Cuse.com, (the SU Athletic website): Submit a Question! - Syracuse University Athletics.
And the half-hour follow-up on Twitch will turn up on You-Tube later that evening, (we hope).
Cuse Sports Talk
My Question(s) or Comments (or theories)
(After I acknowledge we got a punt off with 2 protectors)
“Coach, in 2021 we were 5-3 and wound up 5-7. In 2022 we were 6-0 and wound up 7-6. In 2023 we were 4-0 and wound up 6-7. Now we are 5-1 but the injuries are piling up. Do we have the depth to continue playing at a high level through a 12 game season?”
For the twitch segment:
“Coach, against NC State we had 20 running plays that gained three yards or less. Yasim Willis had three straight three yard losses. Shouldn’t our passing game spread the defense out and make things easier for our running backs?”
The Show
(Since both the show and the Twitch segment were available the same evening the first time out this year, as long as that’s the case, I’m going to just focus on the highlights, including the answers to my questions. I sometimes re-arrange the comments so that statements made on the same subject are reported together, even if they came at different points of the show.)
First the answers to my questions:
Coach had told me in his last show that if I sat next to me in a film session he could explain to me why he uses two protectors on a punt. I acknowledged that we got a punt off in the NC State game and that it was a beauty, although I wasn’t sure if the block was one. The best thing about it was that it was our only punt.
I also lauded the team for beating NC State, a team that has beaten us 13 times in 17 games over the years. I told him that a great way for a new SU coach to win the heart of Syracuse fans was to beat NC State.
Q1- Fran said he hoped that I asked basketball Coach Red Autry the same questions. Matt assured him that I do. [I don’t know whether Fran thinks that’s a good thing.] “We practice hard. Players have to step up. It’s next man up. As long as our quarterback stays healthy, if God wants him to be healthy.” [Why wouldn’t God want him to be healthy?] “We acknowledge the records and talk about it.”
Q2 – Fran seemed amazed that anyone would ask this question. “It should (passing game opening up running game), but they will put in the box whoever they want to. I don’t call their plays. They probably thought when Willis is in, they want to crowd the box. Different things happen. It’s the nature of football.”
What did they do in the off week? “We concentrated on academics and community service. With our academic support, you’d have to try in order to fail. Then we fixed some things. Not everything has been good.
Coach is excited for the coming basketball season. “They’ve been working their butts off. Their coaches are all alums.” Matt: “Like you, he’s been looking over the country for guys who aren’t necessarily superstars who will fit into his vision and there’s a higher calling, a purpose.” FB: “You need to leave the team better than you left it. Our final destination is heaven. But you’ve got to ‘fill in the flesh’. You have to have goals. You have to have individual goals but you also need team goals and obtaining team goals helps you obtain individual goals.” Coach and his staff selects goals for each player at the beginning of the year. On Sunday nights they plan out the schedule of each player for all 168 hours of the week. [Ugh!] “It gives kids a daily purpose. You have to work out three times a week or you don’t play.” He also wants his players to exercise DART in their personal lives, even raising children. He said that his wife exercises DART on him, holding him accountable.
Michael in Manlius quoted The Shawshank Redemption: “Get Busy Living or Get Busy Dying.” And added that “Sometimes the dime falls into the well and sometimes the well falls into the dime”.
[I’m not sure what that second one means.]
They talked about Pittsburgh’s team and Coach mentioned virtually ever player and admires all of them.
Coach is for all things Philadelphia but “I might mess with the Knicks, too. I know Jalen Brunson.” He was rooting hard for the New York Liberty to win the WNBA, He’ll also root for the Yankees to win the World Series as they are a New York team.
His biggest challenge in coach is that there aren’t more hours in the day. “26 would be good. We’ll have to go set it up.”
Someone in the restaurant asked who was better: Ironhead Heyward of Larry Csonka? Coach knew the correct answer and even got Larry’s name right.
His favorite childhood memory of a football game was the one where Randall Cunningham nearly got tackled but threw a TD pass. There were a lot of those but I think he means this one:
Randall Cunningham Monday night football
I prefer this one:
Randall Cunningham 95 Yard Touchdown Pass vs Bills
Injury update: Marlowe Wax will be back for Virginia Tech. Trebor Pena isn’t ready yet. He’s having equilibrium problems. Emmauel Ross is the “the next man up” in the slot. J’Onre Reid is doing better. Marcelllus Barnes will play a lot tomorrow.
They brought on Robert Wright, linebacker coach and ‘co-defensive coordinator”. [Coach Brown said in an earlier show that some of these titles are ‘honorary’ and help coaches get head coaching jobs at other schools.] Coach Brown said that he works well with Elijah Robinson [the real DC].
Coach Wright says their goal is to get 3 turnovers a game, as we did at NC State. “1-2 is a big deal. But the ball isn’t round and you never know where it’s going. The more chances we can get for Kyle McCord, the more victories we will have.”
On the Twitch segment with Gomez, (see below), Fran was asked to comment on Davien Kerr’s punt returning. “He’s done very well and Lequint can always return punts.”
Coach described someone as a “Young Tony Siragusa” but I didn’t get who he was talking about. We could use a Tony Siragusa of any age. [Looking at the You-Tube clip at the 6 minute mark and the roster, I’m wondering if he was saying David Omopariola.]
He was asked about bowl games. “Every time I find myself thinking about bowl games, I tell myself ‘Fran – you can’t be thinking about bowl games! Think about what you can control.’”
He was asked what were the points of emphasis in off season training? “Strength, speed, endurance and playing 5th quarters.”
Have they practiced outside on grass? Yes.
“Kyle McCord is a team leader. I’m the coach and even I follow him. He’s gotten more comfortable and more vocal. Kyle could play both ways. He could play linebacker. Cinco, (Alijah Clark wants to play both ways – he wants to be a wide receiver and he probably could be. I keep trying to make Darrell Gill into a cornerback…Kyle plays as himself on EA Sports, which is cool. But the best player is Fadil Diggs.”
He wats transfer portal guys with 2 or more years (left to play) so he can develop them.
Coach was asked what his models were as a coach. “I want to be like Kirby Smart. He’s a mentor. I love the game the way he does. I didn’t know that could happen. I love his culture and his coaching style. But I model myself.” They talked about Georgia’s big win over Texas. Coach said he “could imagine Coach Smart’s practices before the game with Texas.”
What was Coach’s reaction to Tony Bennett’s retirement? He understands his reasons but “I need the money”. He also wants to develop young men and not embarrass the university.
Gomez noted that Bobby Bowden was once asked what was the greatest team he’d ever seen. He said it was the 1976 Pittsburgh Panthers team, with Tony Dorsett. It caused some chatroom posters to start making their own choices. Mine was the 1995 Nebraska team. Coach Brown picked the 1921-22 Georgia teams. He said that almost won three straight national championships. I posted that they should have been in the playoff, since the circumstances were the same as their first title in 2021: Undefeated regular season and #1 rankings, loss to Alabama in the SEC title game. Coach also admired the 2000-01 U of Miami teams.
If he could go back in time to watch one football game, it would be SU’s victory over Texas in the 1960 Cotton Bowl. There’s no full presentation of the game on You-Tube anymore, (there once was, with Harry Caray doing the play-by-play in a radio broadcast that was wed to coach’s films of the game), but I sent them this clip:
1960 Cotton Bowl-Ernie Davis
Someone asked which three players Coach wanted with him in the event of a zombie apocalypse. He laughed at the thought and chose “Nate Prater because he prays for us, LeQuint Allen because he sticks to the mission and Savion Washington because he’s so big he would scare the monsters away.”
The remaining SU games, beginning with Virginia Tech, will be played on five consecutive Saturdays so the remaining Fran Brown Shows are scheduled for 5 consecutive Thursdays beginning October 31st, (Halloween). The first Adrian Autry Show is tentatively scheduled for November 14 but that could change – it’s also the day the football team is scheduled to fly to California. How they are doing a Fran Brown Show, an Adrian Autry Show and a flight to California on the same day, I don’t know. I’m guessing the Adrian Autry Show will be done in Syracuse by someone other than Matt, (Tim Leonard? Brian Higgins?) and that the Fran Brown Show will be done from California. It would make more sense to do it here on Wednesday. We’ll see.
(This has their schedule for the season)
The show originates from Heritage Hill Brewery in Jamesville:
Heritage Hill Brewhouse
Heritage Hill Brewhouse in Pompey. Handcrafted Beer, Homemade Food & Amazing Views set upon our active crop and animal farm. A family friendly destination that's an escape but close enough to call home.
heritagehillbrewery.com
You can catch the show on TK99/105 locally, Cuse.com and the 'Cuse App, You can also get it on: https://tunein.com/radio/home/ or https://cuse.com/watch/?Live=6944&type=Live . Fans are invited to participate in the show by calling 888-7Go-Cuse, (1-888-746-2873), or 424-8599 or on twitter (@CuseLearfield) with the hashtag #AskFran or through Cuse.com, (the SU Athletic website): Submit a Question! - Syracuse University Athletics.
And the half-hour follow-up on Twitch will turn up on You-Tube later that evening, (we hope).
Cuse Sports Talk
My Question(s) or Comments (or theories)
(After I acknowledge we got a punt off with 2 protectors)
“Coach, in 2021 we were 5-3 and wound up 5-7. In 2022 we were 6-0 and wound up 7-6. In 2023 we were 4-0 and wound up 6-7. Now we are 5-1 but the injuries are piling up. Do we have the depth to continue playing at a high level through a 12 game season?”
For the twitch segment:
“Coach, against NC State we had 20 running plays that gained three yards or less. Yasim Willis had three straight three yard losses. Shouldn’t our passing game spread the defense out and make things easier for our running backs?”
The Show
(Since both the show and the Twitch segment were available the same evening the first time out this year, as long as that’s the case, I’m going to just focus on the highlights, including the answers to my questions. I sometimes re-arrange the comments so that statements made on the same subject are reported together, even if they came at different points of the show.)
First the answers to my questions:
Coach had told me in his last show that if I sat next to me in a film session he could explain to me why he uses two protectors on a punt. I acknowledged that we got a punt off in the NC State game and that it was a beauty, although I wasn’t sure if the block was one. The best thing about it was that it was our only punt.
I also lauded the team for beating NC State, a team that has beaten us 13 times in 17 games over the years. I told him that a great way for a new SU coach to win the heart of Syracuse fans was to beat NC State.
Q1- Fran said he hoped that I asked basketball Coach Red Autry the same questions. Matt assured him that I do. [I don’t know whether Fran thinks that’s a good thing.] “We practice hard. Players have to step up. It’s next man up. As long as our quarterback stays healthy, if God wants him to be healthy.” [Why wouldn’t God want him to be healthy?] “We acknowledge the records and talk about it.”
Q2 – Fran seemed amazed that anyone would ask this question. “It should (passing game opening up running game), but they will put in the box whoever they want to. I don’t call their plays. They probably thought when Willis is in, they want to crowd the box. Different things happen. It’s the nature of football.”
What did they do in the off week? “We concentrated on academics and community service. With our academic support, you’d have to try in order to fail. Then we fixed some things. Not everything has been good.
Coach is excited for the coming basketball season. “They’ve been working their butts off. Their coaches are all alums.” Matt: “Like you, he’s been looking over the country for guys who aren’t necessarily superstars who will fit into his vision and there’s a higher calling, a purpose.” FB: “You need to leave the team better than you left it. Our final destination is heaven. But you’ve got to ‘fill in the flesh’. You have to have goals. You have to have individual goals but you also need team goals and obtaining team goals helps you obtain individual goals.” Coach and his staff selects goals for each player at the beginning of the year. On Sunday nights they plan out the schedule of each player for all 168 hours of the week. [Ugh!] “It gives kids a daily purpose. You have to work out three times a week or you don’t play.” He also wants his players to exercise DART in their personal lives, even raising children. He said that his wife exercises DART on him, holding him accountable.
Michael in Manlius quoted The Shawshank Redemption: “Get Busy Living or Get Busy Dying.” And added that “Sometimes the dime falls into the well and sometimes the well falls into the dime”.
[I’m not sure what that second one means.]
They talked about Pittsburgh’s team and Coach mentioned virtually ever player and admires all of them.
Coach is for all things Philadelphia but “I might mess with the Knicks, too. I know Jalen Brunson.” He was rooting hard for the New York Liberty to win the WNBA, He’ll also root for the Yankees to win the World Series as they are a New York team.
His biggest challenge in coach is that there aren’t more hours in the day. “26 would be good. We’ll have to go set it up.”
Someone in the restaurant asked who was better: Ironhead Heyward of Larry Csonka? Coach knew the correct answer and even got Larry’s name right.
His favorite childhood memory of a football game was the one where Randall Cunningham nearly got tackled but threw a TD pass. There were a lot of those but I think he means this one:
Randall Cunningham Monday night football
I prefer this one:
Randall Cunningham 95 Yard Touchdown Pass vs Bills
Injury update: Marlowe Wax will be back for Virginia Tech. Trebor Pena isn’t ready yet. He’s having equilibrium problems. Emmauel Ross is the “the next man up” in the slot. J’Onre Reid is doing better. Marcelllus Barnes will play a lot tomorrow.
They brought on Robert Wright, linebacker coach and ‘co-defensive coordinator”. [Coach Brown said in an earlier show that some of these titles are ‘honorary’ and help coaches get head coaching jobs at other schools.] Coach Brown said that he works well with Elijah Robinson [the real DC].
Coach Wright says their goal is to get 3 turnovers a game, as we did at NC State. “1-2 is a big deal. But the ball isn’t round and you never know where it’s going. The more chances we can get for Kyle McCord, the more victories we will have.”
On the Twitch segment with Gomez, (see below), Fran was asked to comment on Davien Kerr’s punt returning. “He’s done very well and Lequint can always return punts.”
Coach described someone as a “Young Tony Siragusa” but I didn’t get who he was talking about. We could use a Tony Siragusa of any age. [Looking at the You-Tube clip at the 6 minute mark and the roster, I’m wondering if he was saying David Omopariola.]
He was asked about bowl games. “Every time I find myself thinking about bowl games, I tell myself ‘Fran – you can’t be thinking about bowl games! Think about what you can control.’”
He was asked what were the points of emphasis in off season training? “Strength, speed, endurance and playing 5th quarters.”
Have they practiced outside on grass? Yes.
“Kyle McCord is a team leader. I’m the coach and even I follow him. He’s gotten more comfortable and more vocal. Kyle could play both ways. He could play linebacker. Cinco, (Alijah Clark wants to play both ways – he wants to be a wide receiver and he probably could be. I keep trying to make Darrell Gill into a cornerback…Kyle plays as himself on EA Sports, which is cool. But the best player is Fadil Diggs.”
He wats transfer portal guys with 2 or more years (left to play) so he can develop them.
Coach was asked what his models were as a coach. “I want to be like Kirby Smart. He’s a mentor. I love the game the way he does. I didn’t know that could happen. I love his culture and his coaching style. But I model myself.” They talked about Georgia’s big win over Texas. Coach said he “could imagine Coach Smart’s practices before the game with Texas.”
What was Coach’s reaction to Tony Bennett’s retirement? He understands his reasons but “I need the money”. He also wants to develop young men and not embarrass the university.
Gomez noted that Bobby Bowden was once asked what was the greatest team he’d ever seen. He said it was the 1976 Pittsburgh Panthers team, with Tony Dorsett. It caused some chatroom posters to start making their own choices. Mine was the 1995 Nebraska team. Coach Brown picked the 1921-22 Georgia teams. He said that almost won three straight national championships. I posted that they should have been in the playoff, since the circumstances were the same as their first title in 2021: Undefeated regular season and #1 rankings, loss to Alabama in the SEC title game. Coach also admired the 2000-01 U of Miami teams.
If he could go back in time to watch one football game, it would be SU’s victory over Texas in the 1960 Cotton Bowl. There’s no full presentation of the game on You-Tube anymore, (there once was, with Harry Caray doing the play-by-play in a radio broadcast that was wed to coach’s films of the game), but I sent them this clip:
1960 Cotton Bowl-Ernie Davis
Someone asked which three players Coach wanted with him in the event of a zombie apocalypse. He laughed at the thought and chose “Nate Prater because he prays for us, LeQuint Allen because he sticks to the mission and Savion Washington because he’s so big he would scare the monsters away.”
The remaining SU games, beginning with Virginia Tech, will be played on five consecutive Saturdays so the remaining Fran Brown Shows are scheduled for 5 consecutive Thursdays beginning October 31st, (Halloween). The first Adrian Autry Show is tentatively scheduled for November 14 but that could change – it’s also the day the football team is scheduled to fly to California. How they are doing a Fran Brown Show, an Adrian Autry Show and a flight to California on the same day, I don’t know. I’m guessing the Adrian Autry Show will be done in Syracuse by someone other than Matt, (Tim Leonard? Brian Higgins?) and that the Fran Brown Show will be done from California. It would make more sense to do it here on Wednesday. We’ll see.
