North Carolina A&T has named former NFL All-Pro and former Mississippi Valley State linebacker Vincent Brown as its next head coach.
“I am humbled and honored to be in this position to lead this program,” said Brown in a statement. “Thank you to Chancellor (Harold L. Martin) and athletics director Hilton and all those involved in the search process for entrusting the future of these young men into our hands.”
Brown has spent the past four seasons as William & Mary’s associate head coach, defensive coordinator and linebackers coach. In 2022, the Tribe went 11-2 overall and 7-1 in the Colonial Athletic Association. The Tribe won a share of the regular-season title and reached the NCAA Division I-FCS playoff quarterfinals.
“When going down the list of things we were looking for in a head coach as North Carolina A&T football enters the Colonial Athletic Association, Vincent Brown checked all the boxes,” Martin said. “He will be an excellent fit for our university, our athletics department and the young men he leads. Coach Brown has a significant familiarity and understanding of what it takes to win in the Colonial. He has an extensive and proud history with HBCUs and played and coached on the NFL level.”
Brown will replace longtime coach Sam Washington, who was let go by N.C. A&T after the 2022 season. Washington held a 31-15 overall record and help lead the program to HBCU national championships in 2018 and 2019 in his four seasons with the Aggies.
Brown was a 1988 second-round NFL Draft pick of the New England Patriots and a three-time All-Pro linebacker after first being an All-American linebacker at Mississippi Valley State.
Brown has also made Division I collegiate coaching stops at Howard University, UConn, the University of Virginia; Richmond and was a Dallas Cowboys assistant in 2006.
Brown led an opportunistic defense last season. The Tribe led the nation in fumble recoveries (15) and ranked sixth nationally in turnovers gained. William & Mary also had the sixth-best third-down defense in the country, allowing opponents only to convert 31.5 percent of their third-down opportunities. The Tribe’s defense topped the CAA in third-down defense, fumbles recovered, red zone defense and turnovers gained.
“Our goal as a football program is to be excellent and operate within the core values of the university,” said Brown. “We want to excel in the classroom, community and on the field, consistently competing for championships. The program will be run with passion, purpose and integrity so the faculty, staff, students and alumni can shout Aggie Pride and know that we will represent them well.”
