Presbyterian College and men’s basketball head coach Dustin Kerns announced Thursday the addition of Tommy Brown as an assistant coach. He brings 22 years of coaching, including 18 as a head coach, and has amassed almost 400 wins during his career.
“I am thrilled about the opportunity to be part of the men’s basketball program at Presbyterian College,” said Brown. “I’ve known Dustin for a long time and he is a rising star. I am eager to help him build something big. I will work hard to help him and our student-athletes in any way that I can. I’ve always heard wonderful things about Presbyterian College and I look forward to being a part of the Clinton community.”
Brown comes to PC after a brief stint as Director of Operations for the Illinois women’s basketball team.
A native of Chattanooga, Tenn., Brown came to Champaign after spending 11 years as head basketball coach at Lee University. A semifinalist for the 2012-13 Don Meyer National Coach of the Year Award, Brown led Lee to the NAIA National tournament in eight consecutive seasons, including an Elite Eight and two Sweet Sixteen appearances. He led the Flames to more than 240 victories, two 30-win seasons, and six additional seasons with 20 plus wins. Brown was named SSAC Coach of the Year and the Victory Sports NAIA Division I Coach of the Year in 2008 after leading Lee to a 33-2 record and the SSAC regular season and tournament championships.
“First of all, I have known Tommy a long time and he is a great coach, but a better person,” said Kerns. “It was important to me to have a lot of experience on our bench and for our players. Tommy is a winner and understands the process of building a winning team and program as he has continued to do throughout his career. He is going to be a tremendous asset to our student-athletes, college, and Clinton community. I am delighted to add Tommy to our basketball family here at Presbyterian.”
Prior to his time at Lee, Brown spent seven years as the head coach and Athletic Director at Bluefield College where he directed the Rams to the Division II National Tournament on four different occasions. He was a three-time Appalachian Athletic Conference Coach of the Year award recipient and led Bluefield to five straight 20+ win seasons. In addition, he led Bluefield to a Division I win at Elon. In addition, he led Lee to a Division I win at East Carolina during his tenure there. Brown also has four years of coaching experience at the high school level, posting a 96-21 record as head coach.
In his stints at Lee and Bluefield, Brown posted 13 straight 20-win seasons and was named a conference coach of the year six times.
Brown earned his Bachelor of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies from Covenant College, where he was a standout on the basketball squad. He received his master’s in Physical Education from the University of Tennessee.
Brown has three children, two sons, Mason and Joseph, and one daughter, Emma Kate.
