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UMass to bring back Don Brown as next head coach

Originally posted on Larry Brown Sports | By Larry Brown | Last updated 11/21/21

UMass has made a decision on its next head coach.

The Minutemen are trying to rekindle some past success and bringing back Don Brown as their head coach. The hiring was reported on Sunday night and is expected to be announced this week.

UMass will be hiring Don Brown as its next head football coach.

UMass athletic director Ryan Bamford is expected to conduct a team meeting tomorrow to announce Brown as the next head coach, according to sources inside the program.

— Jeff Howe (@jeffphowe) November 22, 2021

Brown turned down a big offer from Arizona in order to return to UMass.

Arizona pushed to keep Brown as its defensive coordinator, offering him a two-year contract that would have made him the highest-paid assistant coach in the Pac-12, according to a source.

Brown opted to return to UMass, where he was the head coach from 2004-08.

— Jeff Howe (@jeffphowe) November 22, 2021

Brown, 66, was UMass’ head coach from 2004-2008 before leaving to become Maryland’s defensive coordinator. He went 43-19 over five seasons, topping out at 13-2 in 2006.

Brown served as Jim Harbaugh’s defensive coordinator at Michigan from 2016-2020. He was in his first season as the defensive coordinator at Arizona under Jedd Fisch. Now he will be returning to UMass, which has fallen upon tough times. UMass is 1-10 this season and has gone 2-25 the last three seasons. They fired Mark Whipple after consecutive 4-8 seasons in 2017 and 2018 and probably never thought it would get so much worse.

This article first appeared on Larry Brown Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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