Dec. 6, 2006

PHILADELPHIA, PA - Massachusetts head coach Don Brown, who guided the Minutemen to an undefeated season in Atlantic 10 play and 10-1 regular season mark, has been named the American Football Coaches Association Region I Coach of the Year.

Brown earned 2006 Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year honors after leading Massachusetts to the A-10 North Division title with a mark of 8-0 in league play, the first undefeated season in Conference play since Villanova in 1997. Riding a program-record 11-game winning streak and boasting a 12-1 overall record, UMass is the third overall seed in the 2006 NCAA Division I Football Championship and visits Montana on Friday at 7:30pm (EST) in the semifinals. The contest will be aired live on ESPN2.

Now in his third season in Amherst, Brown owns a 77-36 overall record and 25-10 mark at Massachusetts. Named the 2002 Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year while at Northeastern, Brown joins Jim Reid as the only coaches in league history to lead two different teams to Conference titles and earn Coach of the Year honors at two different schools. Brown guided the Huskies to the 2002 league crown.

The Minutemen rank first nationally in scoring defense (11.9 ppg.) and 17th in scoring offense (29.0 ppg.) and were ranked third in The Sports Network's final top 25 poll of the regular season. Under Brown's direction, a league-record 20 student-athletes were named to the 2006 Atlantic 10 All-Conference team.

Brown also earned AFCA Region I Coach of the Year honors in 2002 after leading Northeastern to a 10-3 record, and in 1994 after guiding Plymouth State to a 10-1 mark and a berth in the Division III quarterfinals.

The AFCA recognizes five regional Coach of the Year winners in each of the Association's five divisions: I-A, I-AA, Division II, Division III and NAIA. The winners are selected by active members of the AFCA who vote for coaches in their respective regions and divisions. In addition to Brown, the honorees in I-AA were Jerry Moore of Appalachian State (Region 2), Tennessee-Martin's Jason Simpson (Region 3), Jon Heacock of Youngstown State (Region 4) and Montana's Bobby Hauck (Region 5).

The 2006 Regional Coach of the Year recipients will be recognized at the AFCA Coach of the Year Dinner at the 2007 Convention in San Antonio, TX, on Jan. 10, 2007.

New Hampshire head coach Sean McDonnell was named the AFCA Region I Coach of the Year in 2005.