Ross Douglas, a rising star in coaching who most recently served as a wide receivers coach with the New England Patriots, has joined Fran Brown's staff as the Passing Game Coordinator and Wide Receivers Coach.
"I'm excited for this opportunity. I believe wholeheartedly in what Coach Fran stands for as a man," Douglas said. "I believe he'll take Syracuse to new heights and I want to help him do that. I'm forever thankful to Mr. Kraft, Coach Belichick and the Patriots organization for a great three years, where I grew tremendously, not only as a football coach, but as a man."
Douglas spent three seasons in New England in various roles after a brief stint at Richmond and three years on Rutgers' staff, where he first worked with Fran Brown.
"Ross is one of the young bright minds in football," Brown said. "He'll be a great head coach one day. I'm happy we got him, of the people we looked at, he was the best fit. He has it all. He understands and knows football. He's worked with arguably the best coach in football and Coach Belichick said nothing but great things about him. To be able to get someone to our staff from Bill Belichick's staff alone is something I'm excited about."
Douglas joined the Patriots prior to the 2021 season, working as a defensive assistant. In 2022, he was promoted to wide receivers coach, becoming the youngest position coach in the NFL at the time. Under his guidance in 2022, wide receiver Jakobi Meyers set new career highs in receiving yards (804) and receiving touchdowns (6), tripling his previous season high.
Prior to the 2022 season, Douglas served as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the West team in the East-West Shrine Bowl, helping his team to a 12-3 victory. In his first season in New England, the Patriots reached the postseason after earning a wild card spot.
Douglas last coached collegiately at Richmond in the spring of 2021 before moving on to the NFL.
He spent the 2018-20 seasons as a graduate assistant at Rutgers, coaching on the defensive side of the ball, primarily with the secondary. The Scarlet Knights led the Big Ten in takeaways during his final season (2020), and also led the league in tackles for loss.
He helped five Rutgers defensive backs to All-Big Ten honors in his tenure, including Tre Avery, Saquan Hampton (twice), Christian Izien, Brandon White and Avery Young.
Douglas started his collegiate career at Michigan (2013-15), where he appeared in 18 games, before transferring to Rutgers, where he was a two-time letterwinner. He started every game of the 2017 season as a senior, totaling 38 tackles and four pass breakups. He received an invite to the Pittsburgh Steelers' Rookie Mini-Camp in 2018.
A native of Avon, Ohio, he graduated from Michigan with a bachelor's degree in 2016 and earned his master's degree from Rutgers in 2018.
Douglas and his wife, Kaylyn, welcomed their son, RJ (Ross Jr.), in 2023.
