DAVID BROWN begins his third season as the head coach at Missouri S&T after serving a four-year stint an assistant coach at Ohio University, where he worked with one of the nation’s top defenses at that level.
Brown officially assumed the head coaching duties March 15, 2010 and is the 14th head coach in the history of the Miner program -- and only the sixth since 1937.
"It is an honor and a privilege to be the head football coach at Missouri S&T," Brown said. "S&T is a great place to get a first-class education, play competitive football and live in one of the best regions in the country," Brown said. "I look forward to coaching and recruiting the type of student-athletes who strive to attain All-America status on the field and in the classroom."
"I am exceedingly pleased to have David on our staff," said S&T director of athletics Mark Mullin. "He brings tremendous experience and enthusiasm to our program. The common theme that emerged was that David is an outstanding person, tremendous coach and rising star in the coaching ranks of college football and the interview process did nothing but reinforce that."
Missouri S&T posted a 6-5 record under Brown's direction during the 2011 season, the first winning season for the Miners since the 2008 campaign. The Miners went 4-1 on their home field in the process -- losing only to a Midwestern State team that finished the regular season undefeated and ranked No. 2 in the nation -- and the mark included a win over a highly-regarded Lindenwood team in Rolla.
The Miners' performance in the 2011 season helped earn Brown share the Great Lakes Football Conference's "Coach of the Year" honor with Urbana's Dave Taynor.
The Miners went 3-8 during Brown's first season as head coach, but the Miners were able to win the Great Lakes Football Conference title when they pulled out a late victory at Saint Joseph's in their next-to-last game of the season.
Over his four seasons at Ohio, Brown served as the defensive backs coach and also worked with aspects of the special teams. He was in charge of the punt return unit and also assisted with the punt and kickoff teams.
During his stint at Ohio, the Bobcat defense was been one of the best in the nation, ranking among the top 20 at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Series level in pass efficiency defense and leading the nation with 38 turnovers gained in the 2009 season. It was a year that saw the Bobcats win the Eastern Division title in the Mid-America Conference and earn a berth to the Little Caesar’s Pizza Bowl to face Marshall University.
It was the second division title and bowl appearance for the Bobcats since 2006, when Ohio played the University of Southern Mississippi that season in the GMAC Bowl.
Ohio’s defense also ranked 29th overall, 15th in pass efficiency and 18th against the pass in 2006, with two members of that team’s secondary ranking as the top two players in the MAC in passes defender per game.
Prior to joining the staff at Ohio, Brown spent five seasons on the staff at Cal Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, Calif., serving as the team’s defensive coordinator in the 2004 and 2005 seasons. Cal Poly won the Great West title in each of those two seasons and earned its first berth – and victory – in NCAA Division I-AA (now Division I Football Championship Series) championship play in 2005.
In the two years as defensive coordinator, Brown headed one the top units in Division I-AA. Both teams led the nation in quarterback sacks, with the 2005 squad recording a school record of 67. The 2004 squad led the nation in rushing defense by allowing an average of just 84.3 yards per game and also ranked among the top 10 nationally in scoring defense, turnovers gained and interceptions, while the punt return team averaged better than 12 yards per return.
The Mustangs also had the recipient of the Buck Buchanan Award for the top defensive player in Division I-AA in 2004 in linebacker Jordan Beck and again the following season when defensive end Chris Gocong – who led the nation with 23.5 sacks – landed the honor.
Brown was the Mustangs’ linebackers coach and recruiting coordinator in his first three seasons at Cal Poly and also assisted with the kickoff and punt return teams.
Throughout the years at both Ohio and Cal Poly, Brown’s return units have also ranked high nationwide with seven of the nine teams posting team averages of better than 10 yards per runback.
In total, Brown has coached six All-America performers at four different positions (one linebacker, two cornerbacks, one safety and three return specialists), including five at Cal Poly and one at Idaho State, where he spent the 2000 season as the running backs coach and mentored a 1,000-yard rusher in Nick Wentworth.
In the summer of 2004, Brown participated in the National Football League’s minority internship program with the Detroit Lions. In the spring of 2005, he traveled to Tokyo, Japan to help teach the Fujitsu Frontiers’ coaching staff on defensive and overall coaching strategies.
Brown has also served stint as the defensive coordinator at Venice High School in Los Angeles, Calif., the defensive coordinator for the Cologne Crocodiles in Cologne, Germany, the defensive backs coach at Claremont McKenna College in Claremont, Calif., and the defensive backs coach at Allan Hancock College in Santa Maria, Calif..
"Our team will play with great effort and lots of enthusiasm," Brown said. "We will place a high level of importance on special teams play. We’ll use an aggressive, attacking style of defense and will get the ball in the hands of our playmakers on offense."
A native of Los Angeles, Brown earned his associate’s degree from Santa Monica College in 1992 and went on to receive a bachelor’s degree in physical education from Cal Poly in 1996. He was a two-year member of the Mustangs’ football team, leading the squad with 69 tackles and intercepting three passes in 1994. As a senior, when he was a team captain, he registered 54 tackles and three interceptions.
Brown also received a master’s of education degree in cross-cultural teaching from the National University in San Diego in 2000.
