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On Sunday night, the football world received awful news as it came out that Wisconsin Badgers assistant coach, and former star tailback himself at Penn State, Gary Brown passed away in his hometown of Williamsport, Pa. Brown coached the Badgers running backs last season and was moved to an off the field analyst role recently as he had been away from the team since before last season’s Las Vegas Bowl.
Former Dallas Cowboys running back coach Gary Brown, who spent this past year coaching running backs at Wisconsin, passed away tonight. He was in hospice for the last couple of weeks at in hometown in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Brown was a star running back at Penn State. RIP
— Clarence Hill Jr (@clarencehilljr) April 11, 2022
Brown was a standout with the Nittany Lions in college before playing eight seasons in the NFL with the Houston Oilers, San Diego Chargers and New York Giants. Before coaching with UW last year, Brown was the running backs coach for the Dallas Cowboys, Cleveland Browns and Rutgers.
Twitter has been flooded with people from all of his stops in football remembering how kind and energetic he was. We send condolences to all of his friends, former players and, most importantly, his wife, Kim, and their daughters Malena and Dorianna and son Tre.
RIP coach Brown.
Updated (Sunday, April 10, 11:09 p.m. CT) with a statement from head coach Paul Chryst:
“I am deeply saddened by Gary’s passing,” UW head coach Paul Chryst said. “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.”