Gary Brown, a former NFL player and an assistant coach at both the NFL and college level, passed away on Sunday.
His passing was announced in a statement from the Wisconsin athletics department. Brown was a running backs coach last year with the Badgers.
The statement from Wisconsin did not release a cause for Brown’s passing but the Associated Press notes that “Brown had battled cancer on multiple occasions.”
Wisconsin represented the third Big Ten program on Brown’s resume.
“I am deeply saddened by Gary’s passing,” Wisconsin head coach Paul Chryst said in the statement released by the athletic department.
“Though he was only on our staff for a year he had a profound impact on our players and our program. We are all better people for having known Gary. He was a tremendous person, a terrific coach and a joy to be around. He had great energy and passion for life and that showed every day. My deepest condolences go out to his wife, Kim, his children, Malena and Dorianna and Tre, and his entire family, his friends and everyone who loved him.”
A graduate of Penn State, Brown was an eighth-round pick of the Houston Oilers in the 1991 NFL draft. He spent five seasons with Houston before playing a season with the then-San Diego Chargers and then the final two years of his career with the New York Giants.
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After coaching for several seasons at a lower level, Brown got his big coaching break from Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano when the now Big Ten program was then in the Big East.
He spent one season in 2008 at Rutgers where he helped transition the running backs room from the Ray Rice era into a balanced attack that averaged 128.0 yards per game. He then moved to the NFL where he was a running backs coach with the Cleveland Browns and the Dallas Cowboys.
Brown returned to college last year and spent one season with Wisconsin. Under Brown, Wisconsin running back…