Thursday, May 5, Eastern Michigan University’s head men’s basketball coach Rob Murphy announced Mike Brown will be joining the ranks as assistant coach. Before coming to EMU, Brown was an assistant coach at the University of South Alabama for two seasons.
Brown is a 31-year-old Ann Arbor native who played basketball for Huron High School, where he was named a sixth-team All-Stater as well as first-team All-Area player in his senior season. Brown has a well-endowed basketball-coaching career as he has experience at the high school, junior college and college levels, and has held two head coaching positions.
Brown’s coaching career began with an assistant coaching job at Belleville High School in the 2005-2006 season. He helped the Tigers achieve a 21-2 record as well as the MEGA Red Division championship.
In the next season, Brown headed to Schoolcraft Community College and took the position of assistant men’s basketball coach. He helped lead the team to a 23-5 record and accepted the head coaching position for the 2006-07 season. For all of its hard work, SCC posted a 23-10 record along with a MCCAA State Championship. At the end of the season, Brown was named the MCCAA Coach of the Year.
After SCC, Brown became the director of basketball operations at Kent State University. The Golden Flashes won the Mid-American Conference (MAC) regular season title as well as the MAC Tournament, earning an automatic bid in the NCAA Tournament. That year, KSU had four players earn All-MAC honors and one All-American.
Brown then went to Motlow, taking the head coaching position and leading the team to a 22-8 record and a TJCAA Championship. From Motlow, Brown moved to Mobile, Alabama, where he was the assistant coach and a recruiter at the University of South Alabama.
Brown earned his bachelor’s degree in business and master’s degree in sports management at Wayne State University. While in undergraduate school at WSU, Brown earned all-Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference honors as a junior after leading the team in scoring, assists and steals. He was also named the preseason player of the year in 2001 after having played in only seven games due to a season-ending injury.
Brown is married to Melissa (Green) Brown who is a 2008 EMU graduate. While in her tenure at EMU, Brown was a standout track runner.
Apart from head coach Murphy, Brown is the first coach to be hired since the EMU coaching staff was dismissed in April. More coverage will be available as information on new coaches is released.
