Don Brown - Football Coach - University of Michigan Athletics

Don Brown

Title:
Defensive Coordinator

Don Brown is in his fifth season as Michigan's Matthew and Nicole Lester Family Football Defensive Coordinator in 2020. Brown is regarded as one of the top defensive minds in the country; his units are known for their attacking style and stingy run defense, with a fierce commitment to a heavy blitz scheme.

Brown has twice been a finalist for the Broyles Award given to the nation's top assistant in college football since coming to Ann Arbor. He was also nominated for the award three times (2013-15) for his work in helping to turn the Boston College program around, and earned American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) 2015 Assistant Coach of the Year (FBS) his final season there. In 2006, Brown was AFCA Region I Coach of the Year at UMass. He also won Atlantic and New England Coach of the Year that season, an honor he had won previously at Northeastern in 2003, where he was also named New England Football Writers Coach of the Year. As a head coach at Plymouth, he was AFCA District I Coach of the Year in all three seasons (1993-95).

In each of Brown's four seasons leading the defense, Michigan's unit has listed among the top 12 in the NCAA in total defense, with three seasons in the top-three. U-M has led the nation or ranked second in passing defense on two occasions and has twice posted an NCAA-leading third down conversion percentage allowed. From 2016-18, U-M became the first program since 2001-03 to allow fewer than 2,000 yards passing in three straight seasons.

Under Brown's leadership, an incredible 43 of 44 defensive starters have earned All-Big Ten recognition (11 in 2016, '18-'19, 10 in 2017). Ten individuals have totaled 14 first-team honors.

Brown has coached seven All-Americans at Michigan: Devin Bush (2018), Lavert Hill (2018), Chase Winovich (2018), Chris Wormley (2016), and consensus picks Maurice Hurst (2017), Jourdan Lewis (2016), and Jabrill Peppers (2016). He has also coached Bush (Butkus Award twice; Bronko Nagurski Award), Peppers (Heisman Trophy, Bronko Nagurski Award, Chuck Bednarik Award, Paul Hornung Award, Rotary Lombardi Award, Maxwell Award, Walter Camp Player of the Year, Lott IMPACT Trophy) and Lewis (Jim Thorpe Award) to wins or finalist bids for major national honors.

He has coached three players to five major Big Ten honors: two Nagurski-Woodson Defensive Players of the Year (Bush, 2018; Peppers, 2016), two Butkus-Fitzgerald Linebackers of the Year (Bush, 2018; Peppers, 2016) and one Tatum-Woodson Defensive Back of the Year (Jourdan Lewis, 2016).

U-M ranked first or second nationally in seven categories in 2016, listed top-three in five categories in 2017, and ranked top-seven nationally in five major defensive categories in 2018. In the span of Brown's tenure, U-M has the top cumulative national ranks in the following categories: total defense, pass defense, third down defense, opponent completion percentage, sack rate, tackle for loss rate, and three-and-outs forced.

Opposing offenses were forced into three-and-outs at a high rate against Michigan from 2016-18; 33.3 percent of opponents' drives fail to move the chains. Michigan's defensive mayhem rate, which measures the percentage of plays ending in a sack, tackle for loss, or turnover, is 15.8 percent, which led the nation over the same span.

In 2019, Michigan's high-end pass defense continued, with the team finishing top-25 in third down conversion defense (.324, 20th) and pass defense (185.5 yards allowed per game, 10th) among eight total categories.

U-M led the Big Ten in eight, five, and five categories from 2016-18, typically including pass defense, first and third downs allowed, and total defense. Michigan was the only program in the country in 2016 with more than three sacks (3.54) and nine TFLs (9.3) per game, allowing 28 red zone trips, fewest in the nation. The following season, U-M was the only team in the country to hold five opponents to fewer than 200 yards of offense something only three other schools accomplished four times during the season and something no other Big Ten school has accomplished the previous 20 years. In 2018, five opponents were held to fewer than 10 points, including 41 total points allowed in three conference games in October.

A native of Spencer, Massachusetts, Brown brought 35 years of coaching experience to U-M, including 21 as a defensive coordinator, as of the end of the 2015 season. He has spent time all over New England, including 12 seasons as a head coach, compiling a 94-45 record at three different institutions (Plymouth State, 1993-95; Northeastern, 2000-03; Massachusetts, 2004-08) with five conference titles and six playoff appearances.

Before coming to Ann Arbor, he guided the Eagles' defense to a banner year, with the unit leading the nation in eight defensive categories. Boston College also ranked second in pass defense and pass efficiency defense.

B.C. held seven opponents to sub-100-yard rushing performances overall. They played their best football against their biggest opponents, including suffocating the No. 9 Florida State offense to its lowest total yardage figure since 2011 (217 yards) and forcing five turnovers against No. 4 Notre Dame.

The team’s front seven improved greatly during the three years Brown was at the helm of the BC defense. The Eagles improved from six sacks (last, NCAA) and 45 tackles-for-loss for minus-147 yards before Brown arrived to three seasons of 36, 33, and 34 sacks and 88, 89, and 115 tackles for loss for 371, 351, and 470 yards lost.

Brown has been part of a number of championship teams at all levels of college football. He helped Dartmouth to a co-Ivy League championship as an assistant in 1982 and coordinated the Yale defense to an Ivy League title in 1989. He was also a part of staffs that earned conference titles at Plymouth State (Division III; two), Massachusetts (four) and Northeastern (one).

Before his time in Chestnut Hill, Brown served two years as the defensive coordinator and cornerbacks coach at Connecticut. The Huskies defense ranked among the nation's top 25 in five major categories during his two-year tenure, including a top-five ranking against the run. During Brown’s two-year stretch in Stoors, five defensive players were selected in the NFL Draft, including 2012 first-round selection Kendall Reyes (31st overall).

He spent two years at Maryland (2009-10) in the same role, improving the Terps top a top-40 overall unit with top-25 rankings in rushing defense and turnovers gained, and a top-10 ranking in pass efficiency defense.

At Massachusetts, Brown was head coach from 2004-08, leading the winningest five-year stretch in school history. The Minutemen went a program-best 43-19 in that span (.694 winning percentage), highlighted by a two-year stretch (2006-07) during which the team went 23-5 overall, with a school-record 12-game win streak capped by a 13-2 record and national championship game appearance in 2006. It was his second stop at UMass after a 1998-99 defensive coordinator stint highlighted by a Division 1-AA national championship in 1998.

In the four seasons prior, Brown was head coach at Northeastern during a turnaround effort, taking a team that went 2-9 in 1999 to a 10-3 record in 2002, leading the Huskies to the school's lone NCAA Division I-AA playoff appearance. Brown's tenure culminated in a 27-20 overall record, including an 18-7 record over the last two seasons.

He spent two seasons as the defensive coordinator at Brown prior to his first stop in Amherst (1996-97). His final year at Brown saw the team post its best record in 20 years at 7-3. Brown coached the defense to a school-record 28 interceptions and 36 takeaways overall, the second-highest total in program history.

As a head coach, Brown led Plymouth State to two Division III playoff appearances in three seasons (1993-95), collecting AFCA District I Coach of the Year honors in all three years.

He spent time as a defensive coordinator at Dartmouth (1984-86) and Yale (1987-92), where he also served as the interim baseball coach in 1992, leading the team to a 26-10 season and an NCAA Tournament bid. He was an assistant at Mansfield University in Pennsylvania (1983) before that, and he began his coaching career as an assistant at Dartmouth in 1982 after coaching and teaching at Hartford High School in White River Junction, Vermont, in the years earlier.

Brown graduated from Norwich University in 1977 with a bachelor's degree in physical education and later earned his master's degree from Plymouth State in 1996. He was a star running back and four-year letterwinner at NU, from 1973-76 and earned another two varsity letters playing basketball. Brown was elected into the Vermont Military academy's Hall of Fame in 2007, 30 years after his graduation.

Brown graduated from David Prouty High School in Spencer, Massachusetts. He and his wife Deborah have four children and 10 grandchildren.

COACHING EXPERIENCE

Year	Team	Position
1977-82	Hartford High School (Vt.)	Assistant Coach
1982	Dartmouth	Assistant Coach
1983	Mansfield University (Pa.)	Defensive Coordinator
1984-86	Dartmouth	Defensive Coordinator
1987-92	Yale	Defensive Coordinator
1993-95	Plymouth State	Head Coach
1996-97	Brown	Defensive Coordinator
1998-99	Massachusetts	Defensive Coordinator
2000-03	Northeastern	Head Coach
2004-08	Massachusetts	Head Coach
2009-10	Maryland	Defensive Coordinator/Cornerbacks Coach
2011-12	Connecticut	Defensive Coordinator/Cornerbacks Coach
2013-15	Boston College	Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers Coach

THE BROWN FILE
Full Name: Don A. Brown
Birthdate: July 31, 1955
Wife: Deborah
Children: Echo, Zachariah, Rana, Chelsea
Grandchildren: Lola, Piper, William, Remington, Jacoby, Aisling, Hudson, Mack, Lucy and Charlie
Hometown: Spencer, Mass.
High School: David Prouty
College: Norwich University (Vermont)