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Brie Thomas
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Brown hired to coach CU’s Secondary
He coached the Army secondary last year that ranked sixth in the FBS against the pass
BOULDER – University of Colorado head coach Mike MacIntyre announced Monday the hiring of ShaDon Brown as an assistant on his staff in charge of coaching the Buffalo secondary.
Brown, 37, comes to CU after spending the 2016 season coaching the cornerbacks at Army and the five seasons before that at Wofford College.
"ShaDon is an excellent secondary coach who brings knowledge of the 3-4 defense that they ran at Army and is a perfect fit for what we've been doing here at Colorado," MacIntyre said. "I'm excited about ShaDon working with our secondary and helping us continuing to have one of the top pass defenses in the country."
Army's secondary was one of the top units in the nation last season with Brown coaching its corners. The Black Knights ranked sixth in the nation in passing defense at 170.2 yards per game, was 11th in interceptions with 17 and ranked 17th with a pass efficiency defense of 115.12.
"I'm excited to be there, happy to be on staff that has a head coach who is well respected around the country like Coach MacIntyre," Brown said. "I feel like this is a program very similar to where I came from, it's on the rise, and I'm excited to work with the guys here, high character guys that love playing the game of football.
"I'm excited about coming on staff with D.J. Eliot, who I've heard nothing but good things about as a person and as a football coach and I'm excited to get going and win a Pac-12 Championship."
Overall, Army, who like the Buffs also ran a 3-4 defensive scheme, ranked fourth in the nation in total defense by allowing just 291.5 yards per game during an 8-5 season that saw the Black Knights win the 2016 Zaxby's Heart of Dallas Bowl 38-31 in overtime over North Texas. That was Army's first bowl appearance and winning season since 2010.
Brown had a large impact on Army's turnaround from going 2-10 the year before his arrival to winning a bowl game last December. Army went from being ranked 47th in the nation in total defense to fourth and from 48th in passing defense to sixth with Brown added to its coaching staff. On top of that all, the success Army's secondary found came with Brown working with true freshman for most of the season. He lost his top four cornerbacks either before or early in the season and had true freshman starting at cornerback for most of the year – Elijah Riley started the final nine games of the season and Jaylon McClinton the last five.
In his five seasons (2011-15) at Wofford College, he spent the first four of those as cornerbacks coach before moving on to safeties in 2015. Brown was also the special teams coordinator during the 2013 and 2014 seasons and was promoted to recruiting coordinator in the spring of 2015. Additionally, he spent the summer of 2015 working in the NFL as a defensive backs intern with the Super Bowl 50 runner-up Carolina Panthers.
Brown coached three all-conference corners at Wofford, including Blake Wylie who in 2012 was named a third-team All-American by College Sports Madness.
Before Wofford, Brown was a coach in the high school ranks in the state of Kentucky. From 2008-10 he was head coach at Rowan County (Ky.) High School where he led the Vikings to the 2010 Class 4A District 8 Championship, its first since 1982. He was named the Kentucky Class 4A District 8 Coach of the Year in 2010 and 10 of his players at Rowan County went on to play college football.
As a player himself, Brown started at linebacker for Campbellsville University, a NAIA school in Kentucky that in 2001 won a school-record 10 games and finished the season ranked No. 10 with Brown starting at linebacker. He was a team captain his senior season in 2002.
After graduating in 2002 with a bachelor's degree in Physical Education, he became a graduate assistant coaching linebackers at the University of the Cumberlands in Williamsburg, Ky. in 2003. He was promoted to a full-time assistant coach for the inside linebackers for the 2004 and 2005 seasons, helping lead the Patriot football team to a ranking as high as No. 5 in the nation.
In 2006 he returned to his alma mater (Campbellsville) as the inside linebackers coach before moving to the high school ranks in 2007 where he was an assistant coach at Boyle County High School for one season.
A native of Danville, Ky., he and his wife, Rhonda, have a daughter, Shaelyn, and two sons, Braylon and Keenan.
He coached the Army secondary last year that ranked sixth in the FBS against the pass
BOULDER – University of Colorado head coach Mike MacIntyre announced Monday the hiring of ShaDon Brown as an assistant on his staff in charge of coaching the Buffalo secondary.
Brown, 37, comes to CU after spending the 2016 season coaching the cornerbacks at Army and the five seasons before that at Wofford College.
"ShaDon is an excellent secondary coach who brings knowledge of the 3-4 defense that they ran at Army and is a perfect fit for what we've been doing here at Colorado," MacIntyre said. "I'm excited about ShaDon working with our secondary and helping us continuing to have one of the top pass defenses in the country."
Army's secondary was one of the top units in the nation last season with Brown coaching its corners. The Black Knights ranked sixth in the nation in passing defense at 170.2 yards per game, was 11th in interceptions with 17 and ranked 17th with a pass efficiency defense of 115.12.
"I'm excited to be there, happy to be on staff that has a head coach who is well respected around the country like Coach MacIntyre," Brown said. "I feel like this is a program very similar to where I came from, it's on the rise, and I'm excited to work with the guys here, high character guys that love playing the game of football.
"I'm excited about coming on staff with D.J. Eliot, who I've heard nothing but good things about as a person and as a football coach and I'm excited to get going and win a Pac-12 Championship."
Overall, Army, who like the Buffs also ran a 3-4 defensive scheme, ranked fourth in the nation in total defense by allowing just 291.5 yards per game during an 8-5 season that saw the Black Knights win the 2016 Zaxby's Heart of Dallas Bowl 38-31 in overtime over North Texas. That was Army's first bowl appearance and winning season since 2010.
Brown had a large impact on Army's turnaround from going 2-10 the year before his arrival to winning a bowl game last December. Army went from being ranked 47th in the nation in total defense to fourth and from 48th in passing defense to sixth with Brown added to its coaching staff. On top of that all, the success Army's secondary found came with Brown working with true freshman for most of the season. He lost his top four cornerbacks either before or early in the season and had true freshman starting at cornerback for most of the year – Elijah Riley started the final nine games of the season and Jaylon McClinton the last five.
In his five seasons (2011-15) at Wofford College, he spent the first four of those as cornerbacks coach before moving on to safeties in 2015. Brown was also the special teams coordinator during the 2013 and 2014 seasons and was promoted to recruiting coordinator in the spring of 2015. Additionally, he spent the summer of 2015 working in the NFL as a defensive backs intern with the Super Bowl 50 runner-up Carolina Panthers.
Brown coached three all-conference corners at Wofford, including Blake Wylie who in 2012 was named a third-team All-American by College Sports Madness.
Before Wofford, Brown was a coach in the high school ranks in the state of Kentucky. From 2008-10 he was head coach at Rowan County (Ky.) High School where he led the Vikings to the 2010 Class 4A District 8 Championship, its first since 1982. He was named the Kentucky Class 4A District 8 Coach of the Year in 2010 and 10 of his players at Rowan County went on to play college football.
As a player himself, Brown started at linebacker for Campbellsville University, a NAIA school in Kentucky that in 2001 won a school-record 10 games and finished the season ranked No. 10 with Brown starting at linebacker. He was a team captain his senior season in 2002.
After graduating in 2002 with a bachelor's degree in Physical Education, he became a graduate assistant coaching linebackers at the University of the Cumberlands in Williamsburg, Ky. in 2003. He was promoted to a full-time assistant coach for the inside linebackers for the 2004 and 2005 seasons, helping lead the Patriot football team to a ranking as high as No. 5 in the nation.
In 2006 he returned to his alma mater (Campbellsville) as the inside linebackers coach before moving to the high school ranks in 2007 where he was an assistant coach at Boyle County High School for one season.
A native of Danville, Ky., he and his wife, Rhonda, have a daughter, Shaelyn, and two sons, Braylon and Keenan.
