Syracuse Football: Fran Brown is building up a strong assistant coaching staff

Following a rough 2025 season, Syracuse football Fran Brown, understandably, is making a lot of changes to his assistant coaching staff ahead of the next campaign.

Much as the Orange is seeing a bunch of 2025 players announce their plans to enter the transfer portal, which will be open from January 2 to January 16, the 'Cuse staff is getting a sizable shake-up.

That includes numerous 2025 assistants who were let go or moved on to other college programs, several coaches who have been hired lately, and more assistants who will be brought on board soon, whether before the portal opens or later on in the offseason.

On paper, these new hires look like strong moves by Brown, although we'll have to wait and see how things play out in the 2026 season. One thing I can say is that these new assistants have loads of experience in player development, beyond the focus on recruiting.

Fran Brown's hiring decisions at Syracuse football so far this offseason are looking good.

ESPN senior writer Pete Thamel reported in recent days that the Orange is expected to hire John Scott Jr. On his X page, Scott notes that he is the 'Cuse assistant head coach, co-defensive coordinator and defensive line coach.

He has served as a defensive line coach at numerous college programs, including Texas Tech, Arkansas, South Carolina and Penn State, among others. Scott has held similar roles in the NFL with the Detroit Lions and the New York Jets. Most recently, he has been a defensive assistant at fellow Atlantic Coast Conference school Clemson.

Jeremy Hawkins, most recently at Georgia State, will coach the edges at Syracuse football, as he notes on his X page. Hawkins was Georgia State's defensive line coach in 2024 and served as the team's assistant head coach in 2025.

Cam Mellor, the chief analytics officer at PFSN College, recently had a lot of positive things to say about Hawkins, citing his recruiting prowess and his performance as a positional assistant coach.

SU Athletics has announced the hiring by Syracuse football of Vince Kehres as the Orange's new defensive coordinator and Juan Castillo as the new offensive line coach. In 2025, the 'Cuse struggled on defense and on its offensive line, among other places. Kehres and Castillo should help in 2026 and beyond.

Most recently, Kehres served as the defensive coordinator at Toledo, which in 2025 has had one of the country's top defenses. Castillo, most recently an offensive analyst at Michigan, has 40-plus years of coaching experience at both the college and NFL levels.

On December 1, Brown announced the firing of special teams coordinator Ricky Brumfield, offensive line coach Dale Williams, defensive backs coach Joe Schaefer and co-defensive coordinator/linebackers coach Robert Wright.

In early November, Brown said that Josh Gattis would take over as wide receivers coach. Also, offensive associate head coach Nunzio Campanile has been moved from coaching the quarterbacks to coaching the tight ends. Co-offensive coordinator Michael Johnson went from tight ends coach to quarterbacks coach.

The Orange still needs to hire, as far as I can tell, a new special teams coordinator, a defensive backs coach and a linebackers coach (at a minimum).