Brown doesn’t let opportunity pass at UCA

CONWAY -- Nathan Brown sat behind his big desk Tuesday afternoon at Estes Stadium, trying to juggle preparation for the season opener with a few additional requirements that come with his new position.

Brown spent part of the morning on a conference call with personnel from Fox Sports Network before doing an interview leading up the University of Central Arkansas' game against Texas Tech on Saturday bught in Lubbock, Texas.

It may be Brown's first season as the offensive coordinator of his alma mater, but he mixed in cliches like a veteran.

• On his excitement about the season opener: "We're just antsy to hit someone other than ourselves."

• On naming junior Taylor Reed as his starting quarterback: "He's earned the right to be the starter."

• And on the Bears' offensive philosophy: "We really don't care. When you look at the box score after the game, you want to see a 'W' next to your name."

Less than two weeks after his 28th birthday, the school's all-time passing leader who started 45 games in 2005-2008 enters this season as the youngest offensive coordinator in the Southland Conference and one of the youngest play-callers at the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision level.

He has been UCA's quarterbacks coach since 2010 but was promoted last December when Steve Campbell was hired to replace Clint Conque as head coach. Campbell's offer allowed Brown to stay on the only college campus he's known. It was Conque, who left to take over the Stephen F. Austin program, who recruited Brown to UCA before hiring him as an assistant coach.

Brown helped lead UCA in its jump from Division II to Division I less than a decade ago, and now he wants to help lead the Bears to an even higher level.

"I could really see Central Arkansas blowing up and being a national power," Brown said.

It's a level Brown never reached as a player.

Brown become the starter as a redshirt freshman in 2005, leading UCA to a Gulf South Conference title and a quarterfinal appearance in the Division II playoffs. Less than two weeks later, UCA applied for membership in Division I. Because a three-year transitional period was required of all new Division I members, UCA was never eligible to play in the postseason again with Brown at quarterback.

"There was obviously some disappointment," Brown said, "but whenever you get an opportunity to be a trailblazer, you take pride in that."

Brown returned as a volunteer assistant coach the next season after spending time in training camp with the Jacksonville Jaguars and the New Orleans Saints. He was cut before playing in a preseason game, but he sat in a meeting room with Drew Brees and copied the passing concepts UCA is using from Saints Coach Sean Payton's offense.

For a brief time Brown had regrets about how quickly his playing career ended, but he knows that if he had hung on longer his coaching career wouldn't be where it is.

He was elevated to quarterbacks coach in 2010 and remained in that position four seasons while helping the Bears win a Southland title in 2011 and to playoff appearances in 2011 and 2012.

Injuries derailed the Bears last season, and Conque left in December after 14 seasons. Brown didn't want to leave Conway -- he's from Russellville, and his wife is from North Little Rock -- but assistants are at the mercy of the head coaches during a coaching change.

Brown said he was close to leaving for Nacogdoches, Texas, but it didn't take Campbell long to decide to keep him. Campbell said Brown's age didn't bother him.

"It was a no-brainer," said Campbell, who became a head coach for the first time at 31. "He's on a fast path, and he's done a great job. Not everybody can handle that."

Reed, who arrived at UCA last year after spending a year at Memphis and a semester at Arkansas, said Brown was a main reason he landed in Conway. It was Brown who made the recruiting visits to El Dorado when Reed was in high school.

"You can tell that he has a special passion about UCA football," Reed said.

Reed said Brown still has it on the football field, too. Last week, the UCA quarterbacks were going through a drill that required stepping through tackling dummies on the ground and when Brown did it "it looked better than when all of us did it."

But Brown is calling plays instead of running them these days, and that's enough for him.

"You know, this is a dream job for me," he said. "I'm not one of those people that wants to be the next Dallas Cowboys head coach. It's cliche to say it, but I truly bleed purple.

"I'm indebted to this university for what they've done to me, and hopefully I can give back in a manner that wins a lot of football games."

Sports on 08/29/2014