AMHERST, Mass. - In a business measured by wins and losses, Don Brown sees the victories outside of his team’s record.

What You Need To Know

  • UMass football head coach Don Brown was previously the college's head coach from 2004-2008

  • Brown is a Spencer, Massachusetts native and has coached for over four decades

  • The Minutemen finished the 2022 regular season with a 1-11 record

  • Brown re-signed with the program in fall of 2021, making him the 7th highest paid employee in the state

​The Spencer native is in his second stint as the head football coach at UMass Amherst. He has more than 40 years of coaching experience, many spent far from home, so one big win for Brown is being closer to his 11 grandchildren.

"I spent five years in Ann Arbor, two years in Maryland, two years at UConn," Brown said. "So in terms of proximity and distance, it hasn't always been easy to connect with my family, so this has been, again like I said, this was a personal decision."

Brown called his previous tenure at UMass some of his most cherished years in the business and coming back to help turn the program around holds a lot of weight for him. He said football is about connecting with young players and providing them with mentorship and guidance.

"Help them when they need it," Brown said. "Give them direction when they need it. Or just try to allow guys to maximize their potential. That right there isn't done enough in this day and age. Maximizing someones potential, I take that really personal."

After a loss to Army finished his first season back with a record of 1-11, Brown said the buy-in from his players and his coaches has made the ride enjoyable. Coaching in his home state, Brown said he’s solely focused on bringing the program back to prominence.

"The bottom line is I can't tell you how happy I am to be here," Brown said. "It's a great working environment with the staff that I have and I'm just gonna keep working till I get the ship righted and then get it set up for somebody else to take over."​