ABILENE - Abilene Christian University head track and field coach Don D. Hood announced recently that he has added former Texas A&M assistant track and field coach Abe Brown to the Wildcat coaching staff.
Brown will begin his duties in Abilene on Aug. 1, and he will be responsible for coaching the horizontal jumps (long jump and triple jump), and he will assist Suzanne Dickenson with the hurdles. Brown is joining the coaching staff of one of the most legendary track and field programs in NCAA history.
The ACU men's team recently won the 2006 NCAA Division II outdoor championship to give the Wildcat men's and women's teams a combined 54 team national championships. Hood hopes Brown will be a big part in continuing the Wildcat track and field tradition.
"To be able to get a guy with Abe's experience and success is great for our program," Hood said. "He'll be an unbelievable asset for us. He's probably coached as many all-America athletes as any coach in the country. He has a lot to offer, not only in terms of his coaching ability, but also his network of coaches throughout Texas and the nation. He wants to continue coaching, and we're glad he'll continue his career here at ACU."
In 15 seasons as an assistant to Ted Nelson at Texas A&M, the 56-year-old Brown coached four national champions in the hurdles, 49 all-America athletes and 23 conference champions. During the Aggies' run to the 2001 Big 12 outdoor team crown, Brown's hurdlers and jumpers produced 41 points - 17 in the long jump, 13 in the 110 hurdles and 11 in the triple jump.
Aside from his caoching duties, Brown has long-been a sought-after contributor to various track and field publications, such as Texas Coach, and is a long time instructor at the USATF/UTA National Track & Field Clinic.
Brown joined the Texas A&M coaching staff after seven years as an assistant at Texas Tech, where he coached the men's relay teams, jumpers, hurdles and the field events. While in Lubbock, Brown was the head coach of the Olympian Track Club, which competes in a summer-long TAAF age group competition at the local, area and state levels.
Prior to his stint at Tech, Brown served five years as an assistant coach at his alma mater, North Texas. He coached Donna Thomas, who was the AIAW national long jump champion as a freshman in 1982.
A native of Jacksonville, Ill., Brown was a standout jumper at UNT, claiming Missouri ValleyConference crowns in the triple jump in 1973 and 1974 and qualifying for the NCAA Championships in the triple jump as a junior and senior. After graduation, Brown was a home management technician for the Denton School of Mental Health and Mental Retardation before returning to his alma mater to coach.
In 1987 Coach Brown was inducted into the Lincoln Land Community College Athletic Hall of Fame in Springfield, Ill. Brown and his wife, Jacquie, have three children: Abraham III, Adam and Ashlee.
