Chris Brown (American football coach)

American football player and coach (born 1974)

Chris Brown

Current position
Title| Head coach
Team| Fort Hays State
Conference| MIAA
Record| 86–58
Annual salary| $124,888[1]
Biographical details
Born|  (1974-07-03) July 3, 1974 (age 50)[2]
Liberal, Kansas, U.S.
Playing career
1992–1995| Pittsburg State
Position(s)| Safety
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1999–2001| Liberal HS (KS) (DC)
2002–2010| Washburn (DC)
2011–present| Fort Hays State
Head coaching record
Overall| 86–58
Bowls| 1–1
Tournaments| 0–2 (NCAA D-II playoffs)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
2 MIAA (2017–2018)

Christopher J. Brown (born July 3, 1974) is an American college football coach and former player. He is the head football coach for Fort Hays State University, a position he has held since 2011. He played for Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, Kansas, from 1992 to 1995. He became the head coach at Fort Hays State in 2011.

## Playing career

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Brown is a 1996 graduate of Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, Kansas. As a player for the Gorillas, he recorded 470 tackles in 43 starts during his career at free safety. Brown is one of only three Gorillas to earn All-American honors three times.[3]

As a player, Brown was a unanimous All-American First Team selection his senior year, was named the CNN NCAA Division II National Player of the Year in 1995, and was named to the NCAA Quarter Century Team for all players from 1975 to 1999 at free safety. Brown recorded a record 21 tackles in the NCAA Division II National Championship as a freshman against Jacksonville State and was inducted into the Pittsburg State Athletic Hall of Fame in 2006.[4]

## Coaching career

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### High school and college assistant coaching

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After completion of his playing time at Pittsburg State, Brown returned to his hometown Liberal, Kansas[5] to be an assistant coach at Liberal High School from 1999 until the end of the 2001 season. He then became an assistant coach at Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas under head coach Craig Schurig from 2002 until completion of the 2010 season.[3]

### Fort Hays State

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Brown was named the head coach for the Fort Hays Tigers located in Hays, Kansas beginning with the 2011 season.[3] His team went 4–7 in the first season. The first game of the season was a 27–17 victory over cross-state rival Emporia State.[6] In 2017, Brown broke a school record by leading the team to an undefeated regular season, the first in 100 years.[7]

## Head coaching record

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Year  | Team  | Overall  | Conference | Standing  | Bowl/playoffs

|
|
|
|
|

Fort Hays State Tigers (Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association) (2011–present)
2011 | Fort Hays State  | 4–7 | 3–6 | T–6th |
2012 | Fort Hays State  | 5–6 | 4–6 | T–9th |
2013 | Fort Hays State  | 6–5 | 4–5 | 8th |
2014 | Fort Hays State  | 7–4 | 7–4 | T–4th |
2015 | Fort Hays State  | 8–4 | 8–3 | T–3rd | L Mineral Water
2016 | Fort Hays State | 8–4 | 7–4 | T–4th | W C.H.A.M.P.S. Heart of Texas
2017 | Fort Hays State  | 11–1 | 11–0 | 1st | L NCAA Division II Second Round
2018 | Fort Hays State  | 9–3 | 9–2 | T–1st | L NCAA Division II First Round
2019 | Fort Hays State  | 8–3 | 8–3 | T–3rd |
2020–21 | No team—COVID-19 |  |  |  |
2021 | Fort Hays State  | 5–6 | 5–6 | 7th |
2022 | Fort Hays State  | 3–8 | 3–8 | 10th |
2023 | Fort Hays State  | 7–4 | 6–4 | T–5th |
2024 | Fort Hays State  | 5–3 | 3–3 |  |
Fort Hays State: | 86–58 | 78–54 |
Total: | 86–58 |
National championship Conference title Conference division title or championship game berth

## References

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1. ^ "Kansas Government Employee Payroll List". Kansasopengov.org. Archived from the original on April 16, 2019. Retrieved August 8, 2019.}
2. ^ "2015 Fort Hays State Tigers Football Media Guide" (PDF). September 2, 2015. Retrieved September 10, 2016.
3. ^ a b c Nicholl, Connor (December 11, 2010). "Football: Fort Hays State introduces Brown". Salina Journal. Archived from the original on July 28, 2011. Retrieved January 12, 2011.
4. ^ "Chris Brown Named Head Coach of Fort Hays State Football". KAKE. December 10, 2010. Archived from the original on July 13, 2011. Retrieved March 14, 2011.
5. ^ Gonzales, Randy (December 23, 2011). "Fort Hays made change in football in 2010". Hays Daily News. Archived from the original on December 25, 2010. Retrieved March 14, 2011.
6. ^ "Coaching Records Game-By-Game: 2011 (Fort Hays State)". College Football Data Warehouse. Archived from the original on September 10, 2015. Retrieved March 20, 2012.
7. ^ "Work ethic, family bond has Fort Hays State off to its best start in 100 years". October 18, 2017. Retrieved April 25, 2018.

## External links

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* Fort Hays State profile

* v
* t
* e

Fort Hays State Tigers head football coaches

* Unknown (1902–1907)
* Claude Bice (1908–1909)
* No team (1910–1911)
* Ira Van Cleave (1912–1914)
* W. G. Speer (1915–1918)
* Alfred J. Robertson (1919)
* George Woodward & Ralph Archer (1920)
* George Woodward (1921–1922)
* William D. Weidlein (1923–1928)
* Andrew Frank Schoeppel (1929)
* W. C. Riley (1930–1934)
* James J. Yeager (1935)
* Paul D. Waldorf (1936–1941)
* Bill Bearley (1942)
* No team (1943–1945)
* Ralph Huffman (1946–1955)
* Wayne J. McConnell (1956–1968)
* Tom Stromgren (1969–1971)
* Bill Giles (1972–1978)
* Bobby Thompson (1979–1980)
* Jim Gilstrap (1981–1983)
* Bobby Thompson (1984)
* John Vincent (1985–1989)
* Bob Cortese (1990–1997)
* Jeff Leiker (1998–2000)
* Tim O'Connor (2001–2004)
* Kevin Verdugo (2005–2010)
* Chris Brown (2011–2019)
* No team (2020)
* Chris Brown (2021– )

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* e

Head football coaches of the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association

* Josh Lamberson (Central Missouri)
* Adam Dorrel (Central Oklahoma)
* Garin Higgins (Emporia State)
* Chris Brown (Fort Hays State)
* Atiba Bradley (Missouri Southern)
* Tyler Fenwick (Missouri Western)
* Ryan Held (Nebraska–Kearney)
* Chad Bostwick # (Northwest Missouri)
* Tom Anthony (Pittsburg State)
* Zach Watkins # (Washburn)

# denotes interim head coach
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