2022 is Owls head coach Chris Brown's 18th year at Kenyon. In his time in Gambier, he has transformed the program into one that produces perennial nationally-ranked teams and legitimate contenders for conference and national championships.
Last season, Brown's team went a perfect 9-0 in NCAC play and won the conference regular-season title for the sixth consecutive season of play. The Kenyon squad got to the second round of the NCAA Championship Tournament before suffering a heartbreaking 2-1 loss to No. 8-ranked Messiah University. The team concluded the season with a 16-3-1 record and a No. 17 national rank. Those 16 wins boosted Brown's count to 219 in his 17 seasons at Kenyon. The total also includes 14 wins in the NCAA Tournament over the last eight seasons. Additionally, the Kenyon men have gone unbeaten in its last 43 conference regular-season matches dating back to October 1, 2016.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Kenyon men posted a 19-2-2 record in 2019, won the NCAC Tournament and advanced to the third round of the NCAA Tournament for the sixth time in seven seasons. By season's end, Brown and assistant Darren Moore helped mentor the NCAC's Offensive Player of the Year in Scott Upton and saw the program ranked in the top-ten in two different polls.
During the 2018 campaign, Brown and company put forward one of the best offensive seasons of all-time on the way to an 18-1-3 record. That included an 8-0-1 NCAC mark, the second straight undefeated conference campaign. Brown helped mentor David Anderson and Bret Lowry to NCAC Midfielder and Defender of the Year accolades, respectively, while also guiding the program to its fourth-straight NCAC Championship. The year prior, Kenyon posted a 16-3-3 record, went 9-0 in the NCAC. The team made the NCAA Tournament for the fifth straight season and advanced into the second round.
During the 2015 and 2016 seasons, Brown's squad was among the best in the nation. In 2015, at one point, two major polls had Kenyon ranked at No. 1 and by the end of the season, the team had posted a 19-2-1 record and registered an appearance in the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals. That was followed up in 2016 by a 20-3-0 mark, the most wins in single-season history and another trip to the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals.
In 2010, Brown guided Kenyon to a 15-3-2 record and its first appearance in the NCAA Division III Tournament since 1997. In 2013 and 2014 Brown directed the program to back-to-back appearances in the NCAA Division III Tournament Sweet 16.
Brown holds both the USSF and UEFA 'A' licenses. He is renowned for his innovative fitness methods, his teams' ball-oriented zonal defending, and a zest for coaching teams to play with attacking flair. He brings a wealth of knowledge to the position from his past experiences coaching elite youth players, working at Division I and Division III programs, and from professional coaching employment. He has coached in the USL for Columbus FC (which reached the playoffs in 1994) and is a highly-respected former Director of Coaching for Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. He has also coached at Marquette University, Ohio Northern University and Wittenberg University.
Since stepping on campus, Brown’s teams have featured 93 all-conference selections, seven NCAC Defensive Players of the Year, five NCAC Newcomers of the Year, two NCAC Offensive Players of the Year and two NCAC Midfielders of the Year. On top of that, Brown coached 22 players who combined to earn 40 All-Region honorees, as well as 13 players who combined for 23 All-America awards.
Brown was a coach in Region II ODP where he has been a Head Age Group Coach and had the opportunity to work with numerous Major League Soccer clubs such as Sporting Kansas, Houston Dynamo, Chicago Fire, Portland Timbers and New York Red Bulls as well as Premier League club, Manchester United, and Scottish League club, Inverness Caledonian Thistle. He has also served as an assistant coach for the USSF U14 national team under head coach Manfred Schellscheidt.
Brown was awarded his bachelor's degree and full colors as a player at Queen Mary, University of London, which is part of the United Kingdom’s Russell Group. He earned his master's degree from The Ohio State University.
