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Syracuse coach Fran Brown isn’t pulling any punches about the transfer portal chaos in college football — and he’s making it personal. During a candid conversation on the I AM ATHLETE podcast, Brown sent a clear message to coaches trying to poach his players: cross certain boundaries and he’ll handle it face-to-face.
“I don’t even care,” Brown said bluntly. “Dudes be trying to push up on my wife. She’s bad. She don’t even got to tell me… It’s just the game, it’s what they do. For me, I don’t care, but don’t let me find out and then I see you. Cause I ain’t no b—-.”
The Orange lost 24 players to the transfer portal after Brown’s first season, including four starters who had at least six games under their belts last year. One of the most notable exits was wide receiver Trebor Peña, who reportedly asked for a $2 million NIL deal that Brown wouldn’t approve. Peña eventually landed at Penn State.
This situation highlights just how complicated portal recruiting has become.
“If they came and they did it illegally and I find out, I’m not gonna go tell on you,” Brown explained. “But I’m gonna come at you like ‘What’s up?’ I’m gonna see you. There’s a couple of dudes I called and they tried [to say] ‘Hey, lose my line’. Like man, shut up.”
It’s About Respect
For Brown, this isn’t just about losing talented players — it’s about maintaining respect and accountability within his program, especially when outside coaches try to poach his guys through questionable methods.
He didn’t hold back when discussing coaches who lack principles.
“They don’t live by [principles] because they’re doing whatever it takes to impress somebody else,” Brown said. “They’ll even bite their own people back out just to go impress somebody else, just to move up one spot. Not knowing at some point I could be the guy calling the shot where you could have been at, but you wanted to go kick different backs in just to move up a little bit more.”
The Syracuse coach made it clear he’s ready to confront those who cross lines.
“But for me, I’m just gonna come at ’em,” he continued. “But I ain’t hitting them up. You in the portal, then I’m gonna talk to you. You’re not in the portal? I ain’t doing that. For me, they’re going to try to make an example. And I’m not about to be the example of somebody talking to somebody in the portal. I ain’t doing all that.”
Despite the roster overhaul — which included bringing in 16 transfers of their own — the Orange have started the 2025 season 2-1. They’ll face a tough test this Saturday when they travel to Death Valley to take on Clemson.
