TennTech To Name Watson Brown as HC

[TexasTerror]

Big named hire for Tennessee Tech, though not officially announced on the TTUSports.com web site. Watson Brown is going to leave UAB and head for Tennessee Tech. He's a helluva recruiter, in fact according to this article, "he was ranked as the No.2 recruiter in the country at non-BCS schools by rivals.com earlier this year."

Brown headed back home
Saturday, December 09, 2006
STEVE IRVINE
News staff writer

Watson Brown is headed back to his hometown to become the head football coach at Tennessee Tech.

Brown, a Cookeville, Tenn., native, who spent the past 12 seasons as the head football coach at UAB, resigned Friday and will be officially announced today as the Tennessee Tech head coach. He'll replace Mike Hennigan, who resigned because of health reasons after 10 seasons as the head coach.

Neither Brown nor Tennessee Tech Athletics Director Mark Wilson returned phone messages left Friday. But multiple sources confirmed that Brown would become the next head coach at Tennessee Tech. The hiring will be announced at some point today during a men's and women's basketball doubleheader in the Eblen Center on the Tennessee Tech campus.

The 56-year-old Brown was 62-74 in his tenure at UAB and finished 3-9 in his final season on the Southside. He came to UAB in 1995 when the program was just four years old. The Blazers competed in Division I-AA in Brown's first season before moving to Division I-A the following season.

http://www.al.com/sports/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/sports/1165659558105990.xml&coll=2

[JaxSinfonian]

What really interests me about this is that a week ago Samford hired Pat Sullivan from UAB, who worked as an assistant under Brown and apparently didn't get along with him. Sullivan was offered the UAB job, but may have chosen Samford in part to get away from Brown, who was rumored to be moving up to the AD position. Now they're going to be staring across the field at eachother every year.

I wonder about the fate of Doug Malone, who took over TTU after Mike Hennigan's leave of absence just a few weeks before the season started. He led the team to a sixth-place OVC finish (they'd been pricked no higher than seventh), including an early shocking win over the predicted conference champ.

[Mr. C]

Sounds like Watson Brown was getting out of Dodge before the ax fell on him at UAB. Not a normal career progression when you quit at a school like UAB to go to a fixer-upper program like Tennessee Tech.

One thing I'll say for Brown, though, is I liked what he did offensively at UAB. He always seemed to have some athletic guys on the offensive side of the ball. That's something that has been lacking at Tennessee Tech.

[BearsCountry]

UAB fans were up in arms wanting him out.

[Golden Eagle]

Hey, nice, he can coach in a 2/3 empty stadium in this job as well.

[Cocky]

I don't understand this hire. Brown is a proven loser.

[Golden Eagle]

I don't understand this hire. Brown is a proven loser.

On the other hand, he's a very very good coach and it was an amazing stroke of luck that we could get such a quality coach at Tech.

[colonelblitz]

Time will tell...Oh wait, he's been coaching for 22yrs.. 22yrs of losing football. Should have taken Randy Sanders..
TTU, still my favorite road trip.. :thumbsup:

[TxSt02]

wonder what his pay cut was...

[Cocky]

He was going to be ran out of UAB. He stabbed Sully in the back and he is a very respected man. Plus Sully just having beat cancer was another strike against Brown. The image of Watson Brown has forever been changed in the State of Alabama.

[TexasTerror]

Release from TTU Athletics..

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - Watson Brown is coming home.

Brown, 56, was named Saturday as the new head football coach of the Tennessee Tech University Golden Eagles. He returns to his hometown as the 10th head football coach in Tech history."We're excited to be coming back to Cookeville. It's a great time for us at Tennessee Tech. The time is right, and this is a great opportunity to make a quick move and really improve the Golden Eagle football program to the point where we can win conference championships and make a run at a national championship," Brown said. "We want to win immediately."

Brown leaves his position as head coach at UAB after 12 seasons. He replaces Mike Hennigan, who spent 10 years as TTU head coach but spent the 2006 season on medical leave. Doug Malone served as acting head coach for the Golden Eagles during the past season.

Mark Wilson, TTU Director of Athletics, echoed the excitement voiced by Brown about the future of TTU football.

"We are excited to attract a coach with the head coaching experience that Watson Brown has," Wilson said. "We look forward to him leading our team to Ohio Valley Conference championships, regional and national prominence."

http://www.ttusports.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2105&Itemid=46

[jsualum97]

I for one am a little nervous. I think that Watson Brown will be an excellent 1-AA coach.
The OVC is going to be very interesting next year.

[DinoDex200]

He was going to be ran out of UAB. He stabbed Sully in the back and he is a very respected man. Plus Sully just having beat cancer was another strike against Brown. The image of Watson Brown has forever been changed in the State of Alabama.

This is not what I heard at all...what I was told is that this was all the handy work of Paul Bryant, Jr. As a member of the BOT, and of course, a big Tide Booster...he wants UAB to fail. He put the brakes on Sully's and Brown's promotions...and Sully bolted for Samford. Brown had apparently had enough of Bryant's constant attempts to get UAB's program shut down that he split for Cookeville.

Again, all hear say...but I don't put much past Bama boosters these days.