Yuck. I'll start with that.
Penn State fired its head coach, James Franklin, on Sunday. So national writers, commentators and oddsmakers are firing off their lists of potential replacements for Franklin in Happy Valley.
While he's not presumed to be a top candidate, at least for the time being, Syracuse football head coach Fran Brown has come up a couple of times since news broke about Franklin being let go by the Big Ten Conference school.
This isn't surprising, but it's also not fun to see if you're an Orange fanatic like me. Vegas oddsmakers have listed the odds for a bunch of potential candidates regarding the Penn State head coaching vacancy, with Brown at 66/1.
On Sunday, USA Today noted nine candidates that Penn State should consider, and our beloved head coach was included here. As USA Today discussed, Brown does have limited head coaching experience, with the 2025 campaign his season term at the helm of the 'Cuse.
USA Today added: "Brown was the defensive backs coach at Georgia from 2022-23 after serving in a variety of roles at Temple and Baylor under (Matt) Rhule. The Camden, New Jersey, native was also at Rutgers from 2020-21. Brown led Syracuse to a 10-3 record last season, and the Orange were 3-1 this year after an upset of Clemson. But with starting quarterback Steve Agneli injured in the defeat of the Tigers, Syracuse has lost two in a row."
Syracuse football head coach Fran Brown is a hot commodity.
Even if the 'Cuse winds up with a not-so-great record in 2025, that shouldn't diminish Brown's status on a national stage. Other coaches, players, high school prospects and their families respect the culture that Brown is building on the Hill, and his name will likely come up often as teams fire their head coaches. This off-season, the coaching carousel in college football will be wild.
Last month, USA Today wrote an article with the following headline: "Syracuse's Fran Brown will be hottest SEC coaching target in next hiring cycle."
Of course, the question becomes: If Brown is offered the head coaching job at a bigger program this off-season or at any point in the future, would he take it? Let's remember, at his introductory press conference with the Orange in early December of 2023, he said in part about the 'Cuse, "I’m here for life. I promise you that."
Understandably, things can change. But I hope that Brown's declaration nearly two years ago holds true, because he's building something special in Central New York.