Lester Watson Brown (born April 19, 1950) is a retired

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

coach and former player. He was most recently the head football coach at

Tennessee Technological University Tennessee Technological University, commonly referred to as Tennessee Tech, is a public research university in Cookeville, Tennessee, United States. It was formerly known as Tennessee Polytechnic Institute, and before that as University of Dixie ...

, a position he held from 2007 to 2015. Previously, Brown served as the head coach at

Austin Peay State University Austin Peay State University () is a public university in Clarksville, Tennessee. Standing on a site occupied by a succession of educational institutions since 1845, the precursor of the university was established in 1927 and named for then-sitt ...

(1979–1980), the

University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati) is a public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1819 as Cincinnati College, it is the oldest institution of higher education in Cincinnati and has an annual enrollment of over 44,00 ...

(1983),

Rice University William Marsh Rice University (Rice University) is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas. It is on a 300-acre campus near the Houston Museum District and adjacent to the Texas Medical Center. Rice is ranke ...

(1984–1985),

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...

(1986–1990), and the

University of Alabama at Birmingham The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) is a Public university#United States, public List of research universities in the United States, research university in Birmingham, Alabama. Developed from an academic extension center established i ...

(1995–2006). He was also the

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches and ...

at Rice from 1984 to 1985 and at UAB from 2002 to 2005. Brown played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

as a

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

at Vanderbilt. He is the older brother of

Mack Brown William Mack Brown (born August 27, 1951) is an American college football coach. He is currently in his second stint as the head football coach for the University of North Carolina, where he first coached from 1988 until departing in 1997, whe ...

, the head football coach at the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

Early years and playing career

A native of

Cookeville, Tennessee Cookeville is the county seat and largest city of Putnam County, Tennessee, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, its population was reported to be 34,842. It is recognized as one of the country's micropolitan areas, or smaller ...

, Brown was one of the top-rated

s in the nation coming out of high school. He was also recruited to play

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

and was drafted by the

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Founded as part of the American Associati ...

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

team as a

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball or softball fielding position between second and third base, which is considered to be among the most demanding defensive positions. Historically the position was assigned to defensive specialists who ...

. He chose to stay in state and played as a quarterback at

from 1969 to 1972. He started all four years at Vandy and led the

Commodores Commodores are an American funk and soul band, which were at their peak in the late 1970s through the mid 1980s. The members of the group met as mostly freshmen at Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University) in 1968, and signed with Motown in ...

to their best seasons in terms of wins since 1960. One of his victories was a 14–10 upset over the #13

Alabama Crimson Tide The Alabama Crimson Tide refers to the intercollegiate athletic varsity teams that represent the University of Alabama, located in Tuscaloosa. The Crimson Tide teams compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I as a mem ...

in 1969. It was Vanderbilt's first victory over Alabama in 13 seasons.

Coaching career

After graduating from Vanderbilt, Brown spent the 1973 season as a

graduate assistant A graduate assistant serves in a support role at a university, usually while completing post-graduate education. The assistant typically helps professors with instructional responsibilities as teaching assistants or with academic research respons ...

at his alma mater. From there, he went to

East Carolina University East Carolina University (ECU) is a public university, public research university in Greenville, North Carolina. It is the fourth largest university in North Carolina. Founded on March 8, 1907, as a Normal school, teacher training school, East ...

, where he spent two seasons as an assistant to

Pat Dye Patrick Fain Dye (November 6, 1939 – June 1, 2020) was an American football player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at East Carolina University (1974–1979), the University of Wyoming (1980), ...

, coaching quarterbacks and wide receivers. In 1976 and 1977, he served as the

offensive coordinator An offensive coordinator is a member of the coaching staff of an American football or Canadian football team who is in charge of the team's offense. Generally, along with the defensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator, this coach re ...

Jacksonville State University Jacksonville State University (JSU) is a public university in Jacksonville, Alabama. Founded in 1883, Jacksonville State offers programs of study in six academic schools leading to bachelor's degree, bachelor's, master's degree, master's, educati ...

. The

Gamecocks A cockfight is a blood sport, held in a ring called a cockpit. The history of raising fowl for fighting goes back 6,000 years. The first documented use of the ''word'' gamecock, denoting use of the cock as to a "game", a sport, pastime or ente ...

played for the

NCAA Division II Football Championship The NCAA Division II Football Championship is an American college football tournament played annually to determine a champion at the NCAA Division II level. It was first held in 1973, as a single-elimination tournament with eight teams. The tourna ...

in 1977. Brown spent the 1978 season as an assistant at

Texas Tech University Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas Tech University Sys ...

under

Rex Dockery Rex may refer to: * Rex (title) (Latin: king, ruler, monarch), a royal title ** King of Rome (Latin: Rex Romae), chief magistrate of the Roman Kingdom People * Rex (given name), for people with the given name * Rex (surname), for people with t ...

before landing his first head coaching position a year later. At age 29, he began a two-year stint as the head coach at

. The

Governors A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political_regions, political region, ranking under the Head of State, head of state and in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of ...

had a record of 14–8 under Brown. In 1981, Brown returned to Vanderbilt to become the school's offensive coordinator. In the 1982 season, Vanderbilt finished 8-4 and appeared in the Hall of Fame Bowl in Birmingham that year. Following the 1982 season, he took his first major college head coaching job, taking over the program at the

. In one season with the Bearcats, he had a record of 4–6–1. In 1984, Brown was named head football coach and

. In two seasons with the

Owls Owls are birds from the Order (biology), order Strigiformes (), which includes over 200 species of mostly Solitary animal, solitary and Nocturnal animal, nocturnal birds of prey typified by an upright stance, a large, broad head, binocular vi ...

, he compiled a record of 4–18. From there he returned to his alma mater to take over as head coach of the

football program. Brown's five-year stint with the Commodores from 1986 to 1990 produced a record of 10–45. After leaving Vanderbilt, Brown spent the 1991 and 1992 seasons as the offensive coordinator at

Mississippi State University Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university adjacent to Starkville, Mississippi. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Unive ...

under

Jackie Sherrill Jackie Wayne Sherrill (born November 28, 1943) is a former American football player and coach. He was the head football coach at Washington State University (1976), the University of Pittsburgh (1977–1981), Texas A&M University (1982–1988), a ...

, then the 1993 and 1994 seasons with the same responsibilities at the

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two Territories became the state of Oklahom ...

under

Gary Gibbs Gary Gibbs (born August 13, 1952) is an American football coach and former player who previously served as the head football coach at the University of Oklahoma for six years, compiling a record of 44–23–2. Gibbs spent the first half of his a ...

. In 1995, Brown was hired by the

(UAB) to lead the fledgling program as it prepared to move from

NCAA Division I-AA The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the Football Bowl Subdivision. Sponsored by the National Collegiate Athleti ...

to Division I-A. In 12 seasons as the head coach of the Blazers he compiled a record of 62–74 and led the team to its first

bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivis ...

appearance, in the

2004 Hawaii Bowl The 2004 Sheraton Hawaii Bowl, part of the 2004 bowl game season, took place on Christmas Eve 2004, at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, Hawaii. The competing teams were the UAB Blazers, representing Conference USA (C-USA) and the Hawaii Warriors, repre ...

. Brown resigned from UAB to take over the head coaching responsibilities at

on December 9, 2006. Brown is the first coach in NCAA football history to lose 200 games. With Tennessee Tech's 50–7 loss to Northern Iowa on September 27, 2014, Brown eclipsed

Amos Alonzo Stagg Amos Alonzo Stagg (August 16, 1862 – March 17, 1965) was an American athlete and college coach in multiple sports, primarily American football. He served as the head football coach at the International YMCA Training School (now called Springfie ...

's mark of 199 losses. On December 2, 2015, Brown announced his retirement as coach at Tennessee Tech.''Sportsnight'', 102.5 FM The Game Nashville ( WPRT-FM), December 2, 2015 As of September, 2019, Brown was the co-host of ''The

George Plaster George Plaster (born May 7, 1959 in Nashville, Tennessee) is a former collegiate sports administrator and a sports broadcasting personality. He previously served as associate athletic director at Belmont University. In May 2019 it was announced that ...

Show'' on Nashville radio station

WNSR WNSR (560 AM) is a Nashville-area Class D radio station operating on the AM frequency of 560 kHz. WNSR's majority owner is Randolph Victor Bell, and the station's general manager is former WSM personality Ted Johnson. The station broad ...

weekdays from 2-4 pm; however, in 2022 this program was moved to online streaming only.

Head coaching record

References

External links

Tennessee Tech profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Watson 1950 births Living people American football quarterbacks Austin Peay Governors football coaches Cincinnati Bearcats football coaches East Carolina Pirates football coaches Jacksonville State Gamecocks football coaches Mississippi State Bulldogs football coaches Oklahoma Sooners football coaches Rice Owls athletic directors Rice Owls football coaches Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles football coaches Texas Tech Red Raiders football coaches UAB Blazers athletic directors UAB Blazers football coaches Vanderbilt Commodores football coaches Vanderbilt Commodores football players People from Cookeville, Tennessee Players of American football from Tennessee

Early years and playing career

Coaching career

Head coaching record

See also

References

External links