Report: Georgia hires Rutgers secondary coach Fran Brown to staff
Report: Georgia hires Rutgers secondary coach Fran Brown to staff
Georgia is set to hire Rutgers secondary coach Fran Brown to its staff, according to a report by ESPN Senior Writer Pete Thamel.
A source confirmed to DawgWatch on Friday morning that this move is official. Brown has spent the past two seasons coaching the Scarlet Knights under Greg Schiano.
In his first season at Rutgers in 2020, its defense forced 19 turnovers, which is the most in a season since 2012. Brown helped four members of the secondary earn All-Big Ten honors.
Before, Brown spent a season at Temple University, where he served as the co-defensive coordinator and cornerbacks coach. It was his second stint working for the Owls.
In 2019, Brown helped coach a Temple defensive unit that ranked fourth nationally in red zone defense, 10th in sacks, 11th in defensive touchdowns, 12th in tackles for loss and 13th in fumbles recovered, respectively. Brown also helped coach or recruit five players on that roster that went on to have careers in the NFL, including three who were drafted.
The Camden, NJ. native spent two seasons at Baylor University (2017 & 2018) before his second stint at Temple. He served as an assistant head coach and defensive backs coach for the Bears.
Brown began his coaching career at Temple in 2011 as the assistant director of internal operations. He became a graduate assistant the following season and was promoted to defensive backs coach from 2013-15. The following year, Brown was named associate head coach and defensive backs coach, which was before he left for Baylor.
He helped Rutgers sign the nation’s 33rd-ranked class in the 2022 recruiting cycle.
Brown was the lead recruiter for four-stars Moses Walker, Samuel Brown and Anthony Johnson. He also helped sign three-stars Kenny Fletcher (EDGE rusher) and Amarion Brown (wide receiver).
Schiano spoke highly of Brown on National Signing Day.
“Fran is certainly one of those guys who works incredibly hard at recruiting,” Schiano said. “Everyone says, well, Fran’s a young guy. Fran relates. Absolutely, he does all that. But what gets lost is that Fran works and works and works and works at recruiting. The best recruiters that I’ve ever been around, there’s one common denominator, hard work.”
The long-time Rutgers head coach also talked about Brown being relentless on the recruiting trail.
“He’s an important part, whether he’s the primary — you know, we do something called team recruiting,” Schiano said. “There’s a captain for each player, but we have a whole team of people that are recruiting each individual prospect. So Fran is a captain of many teams, and he’s also a member of many teams. I think that in itself says a lot about who Fran is because he’s willing to take the lead on some and be a supporting cast on others, but he’s certainly a big part of our recruiting picture.”
Brown, 40, received his bachelor's degree in criminal justice from Western Carolina University in 2006. He was a team captain and earned First-Team All-SoCon honors during his time with the Catamounts. Brown spent two seasons in the NFL playing for the Cincinnati Bengals (2007, 2008).