CHARLOTTE, N.C. (the.ACC.com) – First-year Syracuse head coach Fran Brown was recognized for his first season at Syracuse, earning the 2024 Paul “Bear” Bryant Newcomer Coach of the Year Award, presented by The American Heart Association, and the 2024 Steve Spurrier First-Year Coach Award, presented by Chris Doering Mortgage and awarded by the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA), on Wednesday, January 15.
Named the head coach on November 28, 2023, Brown immediately made an impact, leading the Orange to a 10-win season in his first year. It marks the first time since 2018 and just the third time since 2000 that the Orange won 10 games or more in a season.
Syracuse finished the season ranked No. 21 in the final College Football Playoff rankings and ended the regular season ranked in the top 25 in both the Associated Press (AP) and the US LBM Coaches Poll.
Under Brown in 2024, Syracuse posted three top-25 wins, the most in a single season for the Orange since 1998, and won nine games over teams that played in a bowl game. Syracuse capped an impressive first season under Brown with a 52-35 win over Washington State in the DIRECTV Holiday Bowl.
In Brown’s debut campaign, a program record 12 Syracuse players earned All-ACC honors, as Syracuse featured one of the nation’s most prolific offensive attacks that scored at least 30 points in nine of 12 games, led by quarterback Kyle McCord who led all of FBS in passing with 4,779 yards and passing yards per game with 367.6 and was second in total offense with an average of 362.6 yards per game. McCord set an ACC single-season record for passing yards and pass completions and school bests for completions, passing yards, touchdown passes and total offense.
The Syracuse offense finished the season ranked in the top 25 nationally in passing offense (first – 370.0 ypg), first downs made (fifth – 338), time of possession (sixth – 33:04), total offense (seventh – 467.6 ypg), third-down conversion percentage (eighth – 49.0 percent), fourth-down conversion percentage (16th – 66.7 percent), competition percentage (20th – 65.7 percent), scoring offense (21st – 34.1 ppg) and team passing efficiency (148.03).
McCord finished in the top 10 of the Heisman Trophy balloting, while tight end Oronde Gadsden II earned AP All-America honors and Maraad Watson earned Freshman All-American recognition by 247Sports.
Brown will be recognized with the 2024 Paul “Bear” Bryant Newcomer Coach of the Year Award during the 2025 Bear Bryant Awards on January 22.
Brown will also be honored with the Steve Spurrier First-Year Coach of the Year Award at a special reception on February 24 at Spurrier's Gridiron Grille in Gainesville, Florida.