Syracuse, N.Y. -- Syracuse’s offense and defense both rank near the bottom of the ACC this season but head coach Fran Brown said Monday that he expects both of his coordinators to return next year.
Brown declined to assess the performance of his coordinators this season, saying he would wait to do that until after the year was over.
He said there will be changes made within the Orange football program heading into next season but did not offer details on Monday.
“A lot of times you want to make excuses for why we lost so many games,” Brown said. “It’s never acceptable, but I’m learning so much about being a football coach. I’m learning so much about our football team, our program, coaching staff, players. There’s a lot of change that will be made. There’s a lot of things that will happen.”
Brown said he does not expect those changes to include the departure of the two men leading his two primary units, both of which have struggled this year.
“They’ll be here next year,” Brown said, when asked if he expected offensive coordinator Jeff Nixon and defensive coordinator Elijah Robinson to return.
Nixon interviewed for opportunities in the NFL last offseason, while both he and Robinson were discussed as logical candidates for Temple’s head coaching job.
Robinson’s unit is on its second straight season of below-average performance.
The Orange defense currently ranks 115th out of 134 teams nationally, allowing 31.5 points per game. It ranks 123rd in total defense, allowing 430.4 yards per game.
It’s the second consecutive year that the Orange has been in the bottom half of the country in both statistics under Robinson, a first-time play caller who has a reputation as an elite recruiter and has a close relationship with Brown.
Syracuse ranked 96th in the country last year in points per game (29.2) and 79th in total defense (377.5 yards per game). The defense did improve as the season progressed last season, resulting in a 10-3 record.
Brown attributed some of the struggles late this year to the Orange’s lackluster offense.
Syracuse has struggled to score points since quarterback Steve Angeli suffered a season-ending injury, making small deficits feel insurmountable and limiting the amount of time the Orange defense gets to rest on the sidelines between series.
When Brown took over the program, Syracuse’s defense felt like the biggest challenge to rebuild given the different-sized defensive linemen required by defenders in Tony White’s 3-3-5 scheme.
“We go up and down,” Brown said. “We have to be a little more consistent throughout the game. I think if you watch the games you can see we’re doing really, really well and then there’s a few plays you wish you could get back.”
Despite losing by double-digits in six straight games, Syracuse hasn’t given up more than a touchdown in the first quarter in the past five. It has given up 16 points in the first quarter during that stretch and 65 points in the second quarter.
Syracuse’s offense was excellent last season and was performing well again this year until Angeli’s injury in the fourth week of the season. Angeli entered that week leading the country in passing yards and was enjoying his best performance of the season in the Orange’s 34-21 win over Clemson.
The Orange’s offensive production has plummeted in the weeks since.
Syracuse currently ranks 82nd in the country in total offense averaging 362.4 points per game, with most of that production piling up in the four games with Angeli under center.
The Orange is 105th in the country in scoring offense at 22.3 points per game.
With Kyle McCord at quarterback last year, Syracuse finished seventh in total offense and 21st in points per game.
Brown often offered up various critiques of the team’s offense over the course of this year’s 3-7 effort.
He has suggested that running back Yasin Willis needs more touches, that he and the offensive staff should have started adjusting the offense faster after Angeli’s injury and that Orange should have been less aggressive in two-minute situations that resulted in touchdowns for the opponents before halftime.
Nixon reportedly signed a multi-year contract extension last offseason that made him one of the highest-paid coordinators in the ACC.
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