Syracuse, N.Y. — Fran Brown said Monday he shook up his staff to see how different coaching styles impact the team over the final month of the season.

Brown fired first-year wide receivers coach/passing-game coordinator Myles White and promoted Josh Gattis, a quality control coach who had received the Broyles Award as the nation’s top assistant in 2021, when he served as offensive coordinator and receivers coach under Jim Harbaugh at Michigan.

Brown also reassigned two assistants to different roles: Quarterbacks coach Nunzio Campanile will now coach tight ends, and Michael Johnson Sr. will coach quarterbacks.

Brown said making staff changes now allow him to “see if it works” with three games remaining in the regular season.

“We have a lot of experience on this staff when it comes to their expertise and coaching more than just one position,” Brown said Monday. “For us to get the best out of our players for the last few games of the year … I felt as though there was some stuff that needed to happen on our staff.

“I feel that when you make some of those decisions and those things now, it gives you an opportunity to see if it works. I think it will. But you get to do it now and not wait until after the season and say, ‘OK, this is gonna work.’ And then there’s no trial and error.”

Brown pointed toward Gattis having a different approach to coaching than White, an approach he believes will benefit Syracuse more, especially its freshman receivers.

Gattis spent most of the offseason assisting White, Campanile and working one-on-one with two-way freshman Demetres Samuel Jr.

“I just think [Gattis] has a lot of knowledge when it comes to the game of football,” Brown said. “He’s intelligent. He’s a strong personality that coaches with a lot of passion. So, I’m excited to see him go in and have an opportunity of putting his footprint on the wide receiver room right now.

“I think our wide receiver room needs it.”

Brown also said he wanted a change in the position group’s academic focus.

“Sometimes, it’s a direct correlation to the football,” Brown said. “And that’s the thing that I need to make sure is right. So, I think [Gattis will] do a really good job with that. And I’m not saying Coach White didn’t. I’m just looking forward to something a little bit different right now.”

Gattis and Johnson, along with offensive coordinator Jeff Nixon, will be responsible for providing a spark to an offense that had just 39 passing yards against North Carolina and hasn’t scored 20 points in a game since starting quarterback Steve Angeli suffered an Achilles injury at Clemson.

Alluding to a boxing analogy of styles making fights, Brown said the staff changes probably wouldn’t have happened if Angeli never got injured. However, he believes Johnson may be a better fit for the likes of Joe Filardi and Rickie Collins.

Johnson, a former quarterback at Arizona State and Akron, has coached quarterbacks for the San Diego Chargers, Atlanta Falcons, San Francisco 49ers and Florida Atlantic before becoming Syracuse’s tight ends coach and co-offensive coordinator last season.

Campanile returns to the tight ends group, a position he coached for four years at Rutgers before spending the 2023 season coaching it at Syracuse under former coach Dino Babers.

Johnson will have Filardi and Collins at his disposal for the full remainder of the season.

Brown said true freshman Luke Carney intends to redshirt, making him available for just one more game before bumping up against the four-game limit to preserve a season of eligibility.

Syracuse’s starter for Saturday’s game at No. 18 Miami will be determined by this week’s practices, Brown said.

“We feel that this will give us the best opportunity of going out to be able to compete and win a football game,” Brown said. “Styles make fights. I feel as though a lot of that was just on me. I thought Coach Myles did everything that he could to help us be the football program that we want to be.”

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