Dwight Freeney joins 'Cuse staff; Syracuse football 'has a lot of good things going'

A Syracuse football legend is coming on board as the latest staff hire by head coach Fran Brown, and it's a tremendous one.

SU Athletics revealed on Friday that Orange icon Dwight Freeney, a member of both the College and Pro Football Halls of Fame, has joined the 'Cuse program to lead its player development efforts.

How fabulous. A huge congrats from Orange Nation to Dwight!

In the cuse.com press release, Freeney said, "The time is now. I think that Syracuse has a lot of good things going. A great foundation and I think they need a push to be able to maintain and exceed that – that is what I hope I'm able to do. My schedule is now a lot freer than it has been in years past, so I'll be able to help however is needed and in whatever way I can."

Syracuse football legend Dwight Freeney has joined the Orange coaching staff.

Freeney, an elite defensive end/outside linebacker, is one of the most dominant players in the history of the Orange program, college football and the NFL. At the pro level, he's in the top 20 on the NFL's all-time sacks list, he won a Super Bowl, Freeney was named a first-team All-Pro on three occasions, and he captured AFC defensive player of the year honors in 2005.

On the Hill, Freeney, who had his jersey retired last year, was a force to be reckoned with, tallying 34 sacks from 1998-2001 and being named a consensus All-American and Co-Big East Conference defensive player of the year as a senior.

In the announcement from SU Athletics, a couple of quotes from Brown stood out to me. For one, the Syracuse football head coach said, "Dwight beat all the odds. A lot of our players relate to him, he understands what they're going through and where they want to get. There was no better guy to be able to come back and help us in player development and to develop these guys – not just as football players, but as men."

Brown added of Freeney: "It's who we need to continue to advance our program into the next steps of being able to win a national championship."

This off-season, as I noted in another column earlier this week, Brown has made some stellar hires. One of the more recent coaches to come on board is Josh Gattis as a quality control/offensive specialist.

In 2021, while at Big Ten Conference powerhouse Michigan, Gattis scored the annual Broyles Award as the nation's top assistant coach.