Dec. 10, 12:59 p.m. — Mitch Browning made it clear in his first press conference as Syracuse offensive coordinator that the offensive line is his first priority.

The former Minnesota offensive coordinator said his coaching philosophy revolves around having a solid front five to support a team’s position players. And after a year when the Orange finished as one of the worst five teams in the country in nearly every offensive category, Browning said it’s time for a new system.

‘Obviously the offensive line needs fixed, and that’s where we’re going to start,’ Browning said. ‘We’re going to start by evaluating what was done here in the past, how it was done, and at the same time evaluate the talent.’

Browning coached at Minnesota for 10 years, four years of which he was co-offensive coordinator and two of which he led the offense solo. Before previous stints at Kansas, Kent State and Ohio State, Browning coached with Syracuse head coach Greg Robinson for two years at North Carolina State from 1980-81.

In 2005, Browning put together one of his best offensive squads, including the third-best rushing offense and the fewest sacks per game allowed in the country. Last season, Syracuse ranked second-to-last in both those categories.

Apart from criticism of the o-line, Browning mostly praised the rest of Syracuse’s offense, including quarterback Andrew Robinson, running back Delone Carter, and SU’s corps of wide receivers.

While Greg Robinson had indicated the every starting job was up for grabs, including quarterback, Browning called Andrew Robinson a ‘proven quarterback’ and made no mention of any other Syracuse quarterbacks.

But Browning spent most of his 18-minute press conference addressing issues with the front five, acknowledging that he would have to work with the players he had, despite their lack of success last season.

‘Well we’re not the NFL so we can’t trade players, can’t cut them, can’t go out and draft them,’ Browning said. ‘We’ve got to coach the guys that we have in the program. Greg and I have done a lot of talking in the last day or so. I find it hard to believe that we can’t come up with five guys that are good enough to play at this level that are already in this program.’

And despite not having coached the group yet, he ventured to say that part of their struggles has been because of poor attitude. He said, as he has seen throughout his years of coaching, that getting criticized in the media can get to players, and speculated that was part of the reason the offensive line performed so poorly last season.

‘When you pick up that newspaper and you constantly read about how terrible you are, you have a tendency to start believing that,’ Browning said.

Browning also stressed that he knew the timetable with which the offensive situation must be remedied. After being fired from Minnesota in 2006 after reaching seven bowl games, Browning knows the expectations of being a coordinator at a major college football program.

‘I’m smart enough to know in this business the future is now, probably as in yesterday,’ Browning said. ‘There is a sense of urgency, and that’s going to be our approach. We’re going to get this fixed and get it turned around and going in the right direction.’

Published on December 14, 2007 at 12:00 pm