The Syracuse football program is eyeing a talented assistant coach at an SEC school for its head coaching vacancy. Georgia football assistant Fran Brown is now officially the new head coach for Syracuse after emerging as the target, per the official release from Syracuse:

‘The nation's top recruiter, a member of the 2022 College Football National Championship coaching staff and a New Jersey native, will soon take the helm of Orange Football. Today, Director of Athletics John Wildhack announced that Fran Brown, currently defensive backs coach at the University of Georgia, has been named the 31st head coach of Syracuse University Football.'

Brown has had a great deal of success with Georgia, helping lead the team to this year's SEC Championship as well as an undefeated record. He was on the staff for Georgia's 2022 National Championship team. Brown also served as an assistant at Temple, Baylor and Rutgers. Brown grew up in the Northeast and has ties to the Syracuse area, having been born and raised in New Jersey. He also briefly played with the Cincinnati Bengals in the NFL.

Syracuse was looking for a coach after firing Dino Babers on Nov. 19. Babers coached at the school for 8 years. He had a mixed bag of success at Syracuse, winning 10 games in the 2018 season, including a bowl win that year over West Virginia. He had only one winning season after that, with a 10-loss campaign in 2020.

The school was also looking at other candidates, per ESPN. This includes Toledo coach Jason Candle, Holy Cross coach Bob Chesney, and Nebraska defensive coordinator Tony White. Dan Mullen was an option before he announced his decision not to go for the job.

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Syracuse is going to a bowl game this season and tight ends coach Nunzio Campanile is serving as the team's interim coach for that game. It's not been announced who Syracuse will play and where.

Brown and Georgia will play Alabama in this year's SEC championship, and the game has major implications for the College Football Playoff. Georgia and Alabama kick off Saturday at 4 Eastern.