Louisville's Bryan Brown knows few black coaches occupy the space he holds

Bryan Brown made an impression on David Robbins at a young age. In sixth grade, Brown became Robbins' manager for the Corinth High School basketball team in Mississippi. 

One evening after Robbins finished lecturing his team and cleaning the locker room, he turned to his young manager and asked, “Bryan, do you think they understood what I was saying?”  

Preparing to walk through the rain to get on the bus, Brown looked up at Robbins and said “I don’t know if they did, but I did.”  

“From that moment, I knew he was going to be special,” Robbins, who is now the basketball coach and athletic director at Northeast Mississippi Community College, said.  

Brown always had one career goal, to be a head football coach, and many could see his potential early. By all accounts, Brown was always an attentive, detailed and energetic person. He has carried those same traits to Louisville, where he's the team's defensive coordinator. 

But as much as he's still focused on that goal, equally important to him is representing a small group of minority football coaches in top roles. 

In the ACC, there are just two African-American head football coaches, Syracuse’s Dino Babers and Florida State’s Willie Taggart. There are only 10 in all of Power Five football. Breaking it down more, there are 10 African-American coordinators or associate head coaches in the ACC, including Brown. One of those coaches, Duke associate head coach Derek Jones, is also a mentor for Brown. 

He knows advancing in a field dominated by white males has been an uphill battle for many, so he refuses to forget that. While it's not something he consciously thinks about each day, it's always in the back of his mind. 

"You make sure you are doing the right thing. That’s just being a human in general, not just being African American," Brown said. "But it is something you think about, making sure you don’t mess it up so the next guy may not have an opportunity because they are like 'Look, there's another African American not doing it the right way.'"

As many people will tell you, when Brown wants to do something, it usually gets done.  

"I know when he was a (graduate assistant) there were a couple times he could’ve gone in another way other than coaching, but he was determined to work his way up the ranks,” Robbins said. “He’s not going to shy away from work.”  

The beginning stages of a coach

On the way to a state basketball championship run in 2000, Corinth had to play an undefeated Byhalia team on the road.

Byhalia hadn't lost at home in years, Brown said. 

As a sophomore, he came up big. 

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Minutes after hitting a jump shot to send the game into overtime, Brown hit two free throws with the final seconds ticking away to seal the game. 

Robbins, sitting on the bench, felt a tap on his leg after the free throws. His assistant told him, “We are Jackson bound.”  

Since his early high school years, Brown was the coach on the floor for Robbins. Robbins didn’t coach football, but he knows Brown was the same way while playing quarterback during the fall.  

Though he wasn’t the biggest player — Brown was listed as 5-10 and about 190 pounds at Ole Miss — he demanded respect from his teammates. 

He didn’t do it by yelling.  

"He was the first there and the last to leave,” Robbins said. “I don’t remember many bad practices that the young man had.”  

He paid attention to everything, as well. Along with his athletic ability and competitiveness, his focus is part of the reason he was such a successful two-sport athlete playing football and basketball at Ole Miss.

Throughout high school, Brown watched Robbins intently. It was one of the reasons he wanted to be a head coach.  

"He (Robbins) was a great mentor of mine,” Brown said. “I saw how he touched those guy’s lives and I knew that was something I wanted to do.”  

That focus has translated now.  

As a cornerbacks coach at Appalachian State, he wrote down everything he could in meetings and at practice.

"Every day I prepared myself like I was the defensive coordinator,” Brown said. “I knew at some point I was going to be a DC; didn’t know where it was or when it would be. When the opportunity arose, I made sure I was ready for it.” 

Bringing along other minorities

Tae Hayes sat through the 2019 NFL draft without hearing his name, but signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars afterward. He had three tackles and an interception in the Jaguars preseason game against the Baltimore Ravens on Aug. 8, but he wouldn’t be there without Brown.  

More specifically, he wouldn't have a taste of the NFL had Brown not coached him through his struggles as a sophomore at Appalachian State. The defensive back had inconsistent technique and footwork. Brown took notice and pushed Hayes hard throughout the season.

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“I had a bad adjustment to it,” Hayes said. “But after that year and my senior year, that’s when I realized how much of a difference it made and an impact it made with him being so tough on me.”  

The two built a strong relationship. 

"He wanted the best for me, and I could tell,” Hayes said.  

For Hayes, a native of Decatur, Alabama, there was also a sense of respect and pride with seeing somebody like him in a position of power.  

"It’s a big deal. When you see black successful men; you want to see what they did, learn from them, take some advice and learn all the advice you can,” Hayes said. “Just seeing him is kind of encouraging to see that somebody can make it." 

Along with mentoring his players, Brown understands the importance to bring up young African-American coaches around him. Satterfield has nine minority coaches on his staff, three of whom are position coaches.

"With me being a coordinator, there’s not a lot of African Americans as well in those leadership roles," Brown said. "I think it’s very important for other young coaches to see that they can have success, it’s not based on the color of your skin. It’s a matter of you proving it each and every day and getting the players you want at your school to fit what you do defensively and offensively.”  

Adjusting as a coordinator

Brown’s first time calling the defense was in last year’s season-opening game at Penn State.  

“It was pretty cool. But I was like, ‘I wish this could’ve been somebody else,'" he said with a laugh. 

With 1 minute and 39 seconds left in the game, Appalachian State led 38-31. A seven-play 48-yard Penn State touchdown drive snatched victory from the Mountaineers. The game went to overtime and the Nittany Lions won 45-38.  

The rest of the season went well for Brown.  

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Adjusting to his attacking 3-4 defense that relied on his players staying aggressive, even in designated zone coverage assignments, the Mountaineers finished sixth nationally in scoring defense, third in passing defense and sixth in total defense.   

Appalachian State's defense wasn’t necessarily the biggest, but they were fast and bought into his game plan.  

"They played hard, like absolutely hard,” Brown said. “There were times when somebody might’ve been out of a gap, but it don’t look like it because somebody made up for it and it was a zero-yard gain.” 

When Satterfield told him he was leaving for Louisville, Brown had a decision to make. Would he stay and interview for the head coaching job, or go be a defensive coordinator at the Power Five level?  

He wasn’t ready to be a head coach, he felt.  

"I thought I needed to move on and be a coordinator at that level,” Brown said. “As well as something with me personally, with my family, getting them here as well was a big decision with my kids you know getting them around some other African Americans, which was great to do." 

Brown is not changing his scheme now. After being introduced to nearly every defensive scheme over his career, he fell in love with the way the 3-4 can match its opponent. But he had to adjust to his Louisville personnel.  

He added depth at linebacker and still wants more depth at defensive back.  

Regardless, the goal is the same.

"We want to attack and play behind the line of scrimmage a lot,” he said.  

All his life Brown has been preparing to be a head coach. He’s still doing that, but right now, he’s focused on rebuilding a Louisville defense that was one of the worst in the country last season. 

At the same time, he's working to represent minority coaches the right way.

"You have no idea how many calls I’ve gotten and texts I got talking about, 'Do it the right way' and saying 'You’ll be an inspiration to us all if you continue to have some success,'” Brown said. "The world needs it. It was really important, and it’s still important today." 

Cameron Teague Robinson CTeagueRob@gannett.com; Twitter: @cj_teague; Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/subscribe.