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Fall 2004

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Great Sport

Seeing Brown
UMass football welcomes a fiesty (not-so-new) head coach

–Matt Vautour '96




	Coach Don Brown returns to UMass football this fall.

AS THE FINAL SECONDS TICKED off the clock at the 1998 Division I-AA National Championship game in Chattanooga, Tenn., the University of Massachusetts football players broke with tradition and gave the first celebratory Gatorade shower to then-defensive coordinator Don Brown. Head coach Mark Whipple’s cold and sticky baptism came shortly after: the players’ dousing pecking order wasn’t a slight to Whipple, but a credit to what they thought of Brown.

The Spencer native’s passion and fiery approach made him extremely popular with UMass players during his two-year stint as Whipple’s top lieutenant and later with Northeastern’s squad during Brown’s four-year tenure there. When Whipple accepted the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback coach post after last season, UMass brought Brown back to Amherst. He was excited about returning and the expectation of competing for championships.

“My goal is to put my mark there. I believe if you take care of the little things, big things will happen. My goal is to take care of the little things,” says Brown. “The challenge here is the expectation level. But that’s one of the reasons we’re here. I think those opportunities are available on a year-to-year basis. That’s ultimately how I’m going to be judged. The resources are there for us to be a top 10 program.”

Brown says his team’s play will mirror his personality. “I like it when people watch us play and say my guys play the game the right way. My teams play hard,” he said. “We’re extremely physical and our guys love to play the game.”

Even as head coach, Brown will focus on defense as he’ll call the formations from the sideline. He inherits a team that returns only four starters on that side of the ball. Despite an inexperienced team, Brown will blitz often.

“I’m a big believer in ‘no risk, no reward.’ I don’t think you can upset people and win big games unless you’re willing to take chances,” he says. “That’s what I’m all about. I believe in aggressiveness.”

Offensively, the Minutemen are experienced on the line, but will have some new faces at skill positions, most notably quarterback. Juniors Tim Day and Steve Howell and freshman Liam Coen will compete to be the starting passer. Offensive coordinator Kevin Morris’s attack won’t be as wide open as Whipple’s. His offense features a strong ground game and more play-action passing. His philosophy is simple. “Our goal as a unit is to score more,” Morris said. “Week to week, game to game, what the defense is giving us is what we’re going to take, whether it is running the ball a lot or throwing the ball a lot.”

The 2004 schedule features plenty of dates to circle with scores to settle and paybacks to be sought. The Minutemen face Colgate, the team that eliminated them from the postseason in 2000, on Sept. 11. They’ll host defending national champion Delaware on Sept. 25, followed by a game at Division I-A Boston College on Oct. 2. Brown faces his former employer, Northeastern, on Nov. 6 in Boston.
http://umassathletics.collegesports.com/

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