David Brown, an assistant coach who worked with one of the nation’s top defenses at Ohio University for the past four seasons, is now head of the Missouri S&T football program.

Brown

Brown takes over for Kirby Cannon, who stepped down to join the staff at Central Michigan University. He is the 14th head coach in the history of the Miner program.

“Our team will play with great effort and lots of enthusiasm,” Brown says. “We will place a high level of importance on special teams play. We’ll use an aggressive, attacking style of defense and will get the ball in the hands of our playmakers on offense.”

Brown was the defensive backs coach at Ohio and he has also worked with aspects of the special teams. He was in charge of the punt return unit and also assisted with the punt and kickoff teams.

During his stint at Ohio, the Bobcat defense was one of the best in the nation, ranking among the top 20 at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level in pass efficiency defense and leading the nation with 38 turnovers gained in the 2009 season. That same year, the Bobcats won the Mid-America Conference’s Eastern Division title and earned a berth to the Little Caesar’s Pizza Bowl to face Marshall University, the Bobcats’ second bowl berth during Brown’s time at the school.

Prior to joining the staff at Ohio, Brown spent five seasons on the staff at Cal Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, Calif., serving as the team’s defensive coordinator in the 2004 and 2005 seasons. In the two years as defensive coordinator at his alma mater, Brown headed one of the top units in Division I-AA .