Earlier this week, we learned that Syracuse football coach Fran Brown was demoting defensive coordinator Elijah Robinson to a co-defensive coordinator position for 2026. In addition, he will also work with the defensive line and serve as an assistant head coach.

Brown told the media that Robinson will help him with a lot of assistant head coaching duties, and he essentially made it seem like he is prepping Robinson for a future head coaching role.

Then, on Thursday night, we heard that new LSU head coach Lane Kiffin is courting Robinson to be his new defensive line coach. Robinson is also known as a great recruiter.

Clearly, it's an ego hit to be demoted. Clearly, LSU is a higher profile job than Syracuse. And that job likely pays more money as well.

So, if Kiffin truly wants Robinson, why would he stay at Syracuse?

The potential draw

There are the obvious things like he may just like the area or that he feels a sense of loyalty to the players he's coached for two years, but deeper than that, perhaps he feels that the assistant head coach side of things is more valuable to him than possible experiences at LSU.

If Robinson ultimately wants to be a head coach some day, learning the ins-and-outs of NIL, compliance, dealing with athletic administration, donors - it is all important. If Syracuse can provide that in a way that LSU can't, then that could be enough to get Robinson to stay, at least for another year.

You can hear more thoughts in the video player above.

The Robinson file

Robinson has been with Syracuse for two seasons, helping the defensive unit have immense success in a 10-win 2024 campaign. As noted by the university website, Robinson worked with 10 different players who recorded interceptions in 2024, and 12 who recorded a sack.

Robinson has also worked at Texas A&M, where he served as interim head coach in the wake of Jimbo Fisher's firing. He's also been at Baylor, Temple and Penn State. He played at Penn State.

Also on campus

The Orange women's basketball team moved to 7-1 on Wednesday by beating Auburn in the ACC-SEC Challenge. Dominique Darius led the way with 20 points while Uche Izoje had 16 and Laila Phelia had 14. They'll be back in action on Sunday afternoon at SMU. That's the ACC opener for the Orange.

The Orange men's basketball team is now 5-3 after beating No. 13 Tennessee on Tuesday night, and they'll be off until Dec. 11 when they play against St. Joseph's at the JMA Wireless Dome. We'll have on-site coverage of that game.

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