DART: A concept bigger than football.
It's an acronym that new Syracuse University football coach Fran Brown introduced in his first address to the team after being named head coach at the end of last season.
Detailed. Responsible. Relentless. Tough.
“When you think about the traits it takes to be successful in football, when you think about the traits it takes to be successful in life …” Brown told the Post when asked about the reasoning behind the thinking.
“That's all we're doing.”
Brown was raised by a single mother in Camden, New Jersey, and gravitated toward football, first playing youth baseball and eventually a brief NFL stint with the Bengals.
He started as a quarterback at Camden High School before switching to cornerback at Western Carolina University, where he was a team captain and a first-team SoCon selection.
“All the people I grew up with inspire me to keep on growing,” Brown said. “There were a lot of temptations to not be successful, but I'm really blessed to have had the opportunities.”
The 41-year-old went undrafted but played for the Bengals in the 2007 and 2008 seasons before moving into coaching.
“Honestly, everywhere is my turf,” Brown says. “It doesn't matter where I am, I'm comfortable. I'm happy with who I am. I'm not going to change.”
He coached at Temple, Baylor, Rutgers and finally the University of Georgia, where he won a national championship as the Bulldogs' defensive backs coach.
Brown was hailed as one of the top recruiters in the country when he took the job at Syracuse University.
“For them to have the opportunity to see me and know that I come from the same place as them, regardless of skin color. It's like, 'Wow, Coach Fran did it, so can I,'” Brown said.
Brown is a man of faith, a father of three children and already active in the Syracuse community.
“If I can uplift my community and uplift this community,” Brown said, “God has given me this incredible opportunity to be the face of the program and I owe it all to my community and this community.”
Brown replaces Dino Babers, who led Syracuse to one bowl win (the 2018 Camping World Bowl) in eight seasons.
The 2023 season ended with a 45-0 loss to South Florida in the Boca Raton Bowl.
Both Brown and soon-to-be Syracuse University quarterback Kyle McCord were in attendance, kicking off the opportunity to start a new culture in the locker room and introduce DART.
“That's everything we do,” McCord, who started at Ohio State last season, told The Post. “That was the first thing he talked about. From that point on, that's been the backbone of the program.”
McCord, who approached the quarterback position as an extension of the head coach, quickly recognized Brown's traits.
“Off the field he's a very easy guy to talk to. On the field he's very passionate and very competitive. I think people rally around a coach like that,” McCord said.
With the season fast approaching and Syracuse University opening the season at home against Ohio University on Saturday, the bar for success could be high for the first-year head coach.
For Brown, winning on the field is non-negotiable.
However, winning off the field has a different meaning.
“To be able to practice DART this year and get an education, that's a win for me,” he said. “Knowing that my players are moving in the right direction of being good fathers and good husbands, that's a win. It's a winning season.”
