MADISON, Wis. – University of Wisconsin head coach Paul Chryst has named veteran running back coach Gary Brown as the Badgers’ next running back coach.
Brown replaces John Settle, who was named the running back/co-special teams coach at Kentucky earlier this month.
"Gary is really an impressive person," Chryst said in a statement. "Everyone I know that has worked with Gary speaks very highly of him and has loved working with him. I look forward to our staff being able to work with him, and I'm really excited that our players will get to learn from him. He brings great experience at both the collegiate and professional level and is a heck of a good football coach."
Brown has spent 11 years coaching in the NFL but did not coach last season after he underwent chemotherapy to combat a malignant tumor near his pancreas. It was the second time he’s battled cancer and won, overcoming colon and liver cancer a decade ago.
"I'm excited about being part of the Badger family because of the tradition that's been established over the years," Brown said. "They're one of the best programs in the Big Ten, and obviously they like to run the ball and run it very well. As a running backs coach, that certainly appealed to me. They've had a long line of great, great tailbacks and it's an honor for me to contribute to carrying on that tradition.
"If you're a running back guy, you're very aware of what they're doing at Wisconsin and you study their tape and their backs. In my work in the NFL, we've scouted them all. I've always been very impressed with how those guys go about their business and how they leave Wisconsin as truly complete tailbacks."
He was dismissed from the Dallas Cowboys after the 2019 season but Brown’s tenure with the Cowboys featured three NFL rushing titles, one from DeMarco Murray in 2014 and two from Ezekiel Elliott in 2016 and 2018. Elliott’s rushing title as a rookie included 1,994 yards from scrimmage, which were third by a rookie in NFL history.
In every season since his arrival in Dallas, the club has averaged at least 4.5 yards- per-carry - the longest streak in team history.
Elliott isn’t the only rookie tailback Brown has had success with. Coaching at Cleveland from 2009-12, Brown mentored rookie Trent Richardson and helped him record 1,317 yards from scrimmage, 950 rushing yards, 11 rushing touchdowns, 12 total touchdowns and 72 points, all Browns rookie records.
That development will be important considering UW's running back room is exceptionally young with three scholarship tailbacks - second-year Jalen Berger, third-year Isaac Guerendo and third-year Julius Davis - along with three tailbacks signed in the 2021 class who will arrive over the summer.
Prior to joining Cleveland, Brown spent six years coaching on the collegiate level. He spent 2008 as the running backs coach at Rutgers, where the running backs combined for 1,474 rushing yards, a 4.9-yard average and 15 rushing touchdowns. He was previously the offensive coordinator at Susquehanna University and the running back coach at Lycoming College (2003-05).
Brown enjoyed a four-year career at Penn State (1987-90), where as a sophomore, he led the Nittany Lions in rushing yards with 689 yards and six touchdowns on 136 carries (5.1 avg.). Selected in the eighth round of the 1991 NFL Draft by the Houston Oilers, Brown played eight years in the NFL for the Oilers (1991-95), San Diego Chargers (1997) and New York Giants (1998-99).
