However, Brown said on the Rich Eisen Show that he gave no such blessing.
MORE: 10 best overall programs are … | Coach rankings: Urban or Saban at No. 1?
“I didn’t exactly endorse it. I just didn’t complain,” Brown said, via Syracuse.com.
After former Syracuse QB Donovan McNabb blasted the school for its decision, Syracuse said the number would only be worn in a “special circumstance” by an “extraordinary” player.
“To unretire something, there has to be a commercial aspect to it,” Brown said Thursday. “So if it’s going to help the team professionally or help a scholarship fund or something like that, then that’s good. But for me, to endorse something that takes away something from you, that doesn’t make sense.
“Unless I did something to deserve it. It seems like a punishment to me. I didn’t take it that way, but it couldn’t be a positive thing unless someone explained it so all of us could see the positive aspect of it.”
A special committee will determine which, if any, player will wear the number. Little is on that committee.
The last player to wear No. 44 was Rob Konrad — most recently known for his life-or-death swim to the Florida shore — during the 1998 season.
