Will Brown Won't Return as Albany CBB HC After 20 Years with Program
Mar 1, 2021
Albany head coach Will Brown watches from the bench during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against Cincinnati, Monday, Nov. 14, 2016, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Gary Landers)
The Will Brown era at Albany has ended.
In a release from the university, Brown said he and the athletic department "agreed to mutually part ways" after 20 years. He was in the final year of a contract extension, according to the Associated Press.
Brown compiled a 315-295 record and brought the program to five NCAA tournament appearances, including a run of three straight from 2013-15.
The 49-year-old led the program to five America East championships and two conference regular-season titles. After a 14-18 campaign in 2019-20, the Great Danes finished 7-9—their third consecutive losing season.
"Anyone who knows me knows this decision was extraordinarily difficult," Brown said, per the release. "But I leave the University at Albany with an enormous sense of pride in the positive impact that my staff, my family and, most important, the student-athletes I had the honor of coaching, have had on UAlbany basketball and the greater Albany community."
Brown initially joined the program as an assistant, but replaced Scott Beeten during the 2001-02 season, according toPete Doughertyof theTimes Union. At 30, he became the second-youngest active Division I coach, and he was tasked with helping transform Albany into a legitimate competitor. The school had just joined Division I in 1999, per the AP.
Before his run at Albany, he had coached Sullivan County (New York) Community College for three seasons, where he led the group to a 90-10 record.
The school, whichcurrently listsassociate head coach Jon Iati as the interim head coach, said it will begin a national search for Brown's replacement.
