The pain of the loss still stung. Fran Brown felt it. He saw it in the faces of his Syracuse players, too.

Especially his quarterback. Kyle McCord threw five interceptions. Three were returned for touchdowns in the first half. In a nationally televised, Friday-night tilt, Pitt raced to a 31-0 halftime lead, largely on the back of McCord's mistakes.

Brown found his quarterback and looked him in the eyes. He knew what McCord needed: Someone to remind him his world wasn't caving in around him.

"I love you," Brown said. "Keep your head up. We'll be back."

The brief exchange, in one of the lowest moments of the season, stands out as one of Brown's favorites in his 15-year coaching career.

In his mind, the moment tested his own mettle. He was furious about the loss and the missed opportunity, too.

"I was able to not worry about all that, and just be there for that player at that moment," Brown said.

It was a quiet moment that, like Brown's hiring, didn't make a big splash. But it made a difference: McCord threw just one interception the rest of the season, ending as the nation's leading passer as Syracuse won five of its final six.

As for big splashes? Brown, mostly unknown a year ago, made lots of them in his first season as head coach.

Brown led Syracuse to 10 wins, guiding the Orange to their most successful season since 2018 and just their second double-digit win season since 2001. Along the way, he established a brand and identity for himself and the program: honest and outspoken, but rooted in accountability.

Year two is about proving last season wasn't a fluke for a program with just six winning seasons in the last 23 years. On Saturday, Brown and the Orange will try to make another splash at a reeling Clemson team.

He's unbothered as a 17-point underdog headed to Death Valley to face a preseason national title contender.

"Vegas said Canelo (Álvarez) was about to win," Brown said this week, referring to last Saturday's boxing megafight. "(Terence) Crawford said different. ... I like being the underdog. I've been the underdog my whole life."

Brown's authenticity has made for frequent soundbites: He said last November, after a loss to Boston College, he doesn't shower after losses -- "I don't deserve soap" -- and then, after winning at Cal days later, exclaimed that "winners get washed."

He joked he ought to send Ohio State coach Ryan Day champagne for allowing Syracuse to secure McCord in the transfer portal. In the postgame revelry of a come-from-behind win over Miami that knocked the Hurricanes out of the ACC title game and put Clemson in, Brown finished answering a question and stared into the lens of ESPN's camera.

"Hey, Dabo Swinney, congrats," Brown said. "I got you in, baby."

This month, Brown made another headline when he put his team back on the field for conditioning drills after an overtime victory over UConn, his players running sprints as fans exited the JMA Wireless Dome. Some criticized it as performative. But Brown framed it as accountability.

Brown doesn't do performative. In the offseason, he received a text from a parent, suggesting the team work out on a beach near Lake Ontario.

"It could be a great media look," the text read.

Brown appreciated the suggestion but couldn't help but laugh.

"We practice for championships, not for media. I don't really do nothing for media looks," Brown said.

Brown's authenticity is part of what endeared him to Syracuse's leadership and his players. It's also what helped him land a head-coaching job after 15 years mostly spent as a position coach, an uncommon leap in title in college football.

"Being myself, it's the easiest thing to do," Brown said. "It put me in the position I'm in. And it allows me to do things the right way."

Brown's mother, Marla Brown-Johnson, gave birth to Fran when she was 13. She raised him in Camden, N.J., a place that often showed up on lists of America's most dangerous cities. Brown said his three younger brothers have all faced criminal charges. He grew up alongside Elijah Robinson, who Brown quickly tapped as his defensive coordinator when he was hired at Syracuse, stealing him away from Texas A&M.

He was a team captain at Western Carolina and spent two seasons as an NFL practice squad player before pivoting to coaching. He landed on Steve Addazio's Temple staff as a support staffer and graduate assistant and was promoted to defensive backs coach when Matt Rhule was hired in 2013. Four seasons later, Rhule brought Brown with him to Baylor as an assistant head coach. He returned to Temple as co-defensive coordinator in 2019, then joined Greg Schiano's Rutgers staff as a defensive backs coach a season later before Kirby Smart brought him to Georgia.

He won a national championship with Georgia in 2022, but was still mostly unknown when Syracuse athletic director John Wildhack looked to replace Dino Babers after the 2023 season. Brown called and left a voicemail introducing himself, hoping for a conversation and opportunity to make his case.

"What he didn't know was he was actually my next call," said Wildhack, who listened to the voicemail and called Brown back later that day.

As he began talking to those who worked with Brown, Wildhack learned he was a different kind of position coach.

Superagent Jimmy Sexton had made Brown what was believed to be his only position-coach client. Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles called Wildhack, unprompted, to paint a picture of the Brown he knew. Rhule relayed a near-identical picture when Wildhack called him.

Genuine. Authentic. Great recruiter. Great football mind. Incredible work ethic. Connects with players.

"We've seen all that to be 100 percent accurate in the last 19 months," Wildhack said.

When Wildhack spoke with Smart, he explained that when he hired Brown at Georgia, he made it clear he was going to prepare him to be a head coach. Brown sat next to Smart in meetings. He was intimately involved in program strategy and game planning, implementing defensive installs and helping with special teams. He was also integral in piecing together the Bulldogs' recruiting plan and efforts.

"He gave Fran far greater assignments than Fran's title," Wildhack said. "When you hear that from Kirby, that resonates."

Wildhack and Brown agreed Syracuse needed to lean into its recruiting base in the northeast and be more aggressive in pursuing blue-chip recruits. Brown wanted to chase championships at a program that hasn't contended for them in a generation.

Wildhack took a chance, hiring a coach he believed had a plan, a clear vision and an understanding of what it meant to run a program from the ground to 30,000 feet. Even if it looked unorthodox to the outside.

Brown's biggest recruiting wins in his first year came from keeping core players from the Babers era and adding key transfers. Players like tight end Oronde Gadsden II, leading rusher LeQuint Allen, linebacker Marlowe Wax, linebacker Justin Barron and defensive back Alijah Clark stuck around after a six-win 2023 season. He also added McCord from Ohio State, defensive lineman Fadil Diggs from Texas A&M and Jackson Meeks from Georgia, who became the Orange's leading receiver. Gadsden, Allen, McCord and Diggs were all drafted in April, Syracuse's largest draft class since 2006.

When Brown first met with players -- to get to know them, understand why they do what they do and learn their stories -- he laid out a vision for most of them. Tight end Dan Villari, a converted quarterback, said Brown gave him a two-year plan upon taking over.

"He said I was gonna help them this year, and the next year, I was gonna be the guy and help us even more. I'll be in a major role and get drafted," Villari said. "He had more detail, but he made me comfortable, showed me he believed in me and trusted me."

Villari leads the Orange in receptions this year, with 16 for 199 yards.

"He's like a cool uncle, a father, a friend and a coach all in one person," Villari said. "He uses them all at the right times."

Brown tells players the same thing he tells young coaches and prospective recruits: Nothing great can be built without unflinching confidence.

"Everybody takes from other people, but you've gotta be able to do it your own way," Brown said. "I'm a Black man. I have this opportunity. I've gotta do it right. I have to do it right so there's other young kids who look like me and -- maybe they're not Black, but they come up in the struggle like I did -- they're gonna know they can make it, and they can stay themselves and do it the right way."

Brown's aggressive recruiting approach spawned early punchlines. Why would a five-star prospect want to come to Syracuse?

But in July, he earned a commitment from five-star receiver Calvin Russell. He already has 28 players committed for the 2026 class, including two more four-star recruits in a group that ranks 23rd nationally. Syracuse hasn't had a class rank better than 50th in the last decade.

"Stages are created by the people on them," he said. "I want to win a national championship. If you're just in this to be an average team, you're in the wrong sport. I know it's possible to win because I'm the coach."

He went fishing on blue-blooded rosters to help his own this year, too. He added quarterbacks Steve Angeli and Rickie Collins III from Notre Dame and LSU, respectively. Angeli, following McCord a year ago, leads the country in passing yards entering Week 4. Former Texas receiver Johntay Cook could be the Orange's leading receiver this year. Other transfers arrived at Syracuse via Alabama, Florida State, South Carolina, North Carolina and Louisville.

"Honestly, I was sold on him from the first call," said Collins, who lost a preseason quarterback competition to Angeli. "He wants us to come talk to him about how we feel. Being able to not have to guess how he feels about you is probably his best attribute as a coach."

How far he'll go to retain talent was tested this offseason. In April, when leading receiver Trebor Pena pushed for a big payday, Brown let him leave rather than pay above market value to keep his best receiver. Then, he told the world why it happened.

"You gonna make $2 million at wide receiver? That's the homie at Ohio State (Jeremiah Smith). Ain't nobody else making that money. I'm not giving no wide receiver $2 million in college. That ain't me," Brown said in a local radio interview. "Sometimes people be asking for an outrageous number. You're not about to make more than every coordinator."

Many coaches might have kept the number quiet. But Brown understood how his best receiver leaving might be perceived. He felt the need to make the story public, to fill in the blanks.

"It is what it is. He was just uncomfortable. He didn't trust who we were going to have to quarterback at the moment, so we went another way," Brown told The Athletic. "If I don't answer it correctly and outwardly like that, it looks like a loss on our program-building, our culture."

Before he went on the radio, though, he explained what happened with Pena to his team in a brief meeting.

"It was good because it's the reality of the sport," Wildhack said. "Let's not keep this stuff behind the curtains anymore."

Time will tell how Brown's decision affects his program, but he's not losing sleep over doing what his instincts told him to do.

"I'm good," Brown said. "I like Johntay Cook. We gotta pay him a lot, but he's a good football player. If you don't want to be here, I'm gonna holla at you and move on to the next one."

Brown's priorities are straightforward. He sees his faith as the most important thing in his life. Then his marriage. Then his two sons and daughter. Then his football team, which does include Fran Brown Jr., his oldest son.

He spent his first year as a head coach leaning into his instincts while also trying to grow as a head coach. But authenticity has been cemented as the foundation and hallmark of his program. It's reflected in the acronym, DART, that Brown ascribes to and even sometimes wears on game-day gear: Detailed, Accountable, Relentless, Tough.

One emphasis in his program is community service. Not so players can have a resume bullet point or check a box, but because he grew up in a community that needed to be served, and he knew how much it meant when others lent time and resources.

When Brown looks at his roster, he sees versions of his younger self all over the locker room. He wanted flashy jewelry, too. He wanted expensive cars. He didn't have the money for it, but he felt the desire.

"You gotta ask yourself, 'Why are you doing that stuff?'" Brown said. "If I can get all my 18-to-22 year olds to act like they're 25-plus in every area of their life, we can have a better team. The quicker I turn these young men into men, the better we're gonna be on the football field."

This offseason, as Brown looked in the mirror, he saw a coach not willing enough to listen. Not willing to take in what others told him. That's been a point of emphasis for trying to build himself and his program alongside one another.

The moments that led to the three losses, not the 10 wins, were the ones he thought about in the offseason. Two losses were by one possession.

"Should have won at least two of those three," Brown said. "For me, those games, I have to put our kids in better positions to win."

Syracuse's schedule means a satisfying encore will be difficult. The Orange dropped their season opener against a Tennessee team eyeing a return trip to the Playoff. Saturday's game at Clemson looks more winnable than it did a month ago, but Brown's team is still a large underdog.

A quartet of brutal road trips still awaits after Saturday's trip to Clemson: SMU, Georgia Tech, Miami and Notre Dame. The first three are bona fide ACC title contenders, and Notre Dame is four points away from opening the season 2-0 with wins over top-20 opponents.

Even home dates against Pitt, North Carolina, Duke and Boston College aren't guaranteed wins. A winning season -- Syracuse hasn't had back-to-back ones since joining the ACC in 2013 -- would be considered a success.

But Brown has bucked convention in more ways than one already.

He was an unorthodox hire.

He's run his program with a disarming level of candor often unseen from head coaches.

It's worked so far.

"This whole last year, I hear people say like, 'Fran is direct. Fran is a little bit different, right? He's gonna be himself. You don't get the normal responses to things,'" Brown said. "To be honest? You're gonna get whatever I feel."

How Fran Brown is doing it his way at Syracuse: 'You're gonna get whatever I feel'