An Eagle for six seasons from 2009-14, Allen Brown returned to Eastern in 2019 to become EWU’s cornerbacks coach and defensive passing game coordinator. The 2021-22 school year will be his third season since returning, and ninth overall.
Sophomore cornerback Tre Weed earned second team All-Big Sky honors in the 2020-21 season, and he and sophomore Darrien Sampson each started all seven games for the Eagles under Brown. As a team, Eastern held three of its seven opponents to 22 points or less, including 13 versus Northern Arizona and 10 against Cal Poly. In a 32-22 victory over 11th-ranked UC Davis, Eastern allowed just 115 total yards and registered its first shutout in a half in the last 18 games.
In his first year at the helm, he coached a quartet of Eagle cornerbacks who had just two full seasons of experience between them. Sophomore Darreon Moore started seven games and Ira Branch started three in their second seasons as Eagle cornerbacks. First-year players included Weed (11 starts) and Sampson (three starts). Weed earned honorable mention Freshman All-America honors from Hero Sports.
Eastern finished the 2019 season 7-5 overall and 6-2 in the Big Sky to finish with at least five league wins for the 13th-straight season. Eastern's defensive highlights included a 48-5 victory at Idaho State in which EWU held the Bengal offense to just a field goal and out-gained ISU in total offense 689-416.
After concluding his playing career at EWU, Brown was a strength and conditioning intern at EWU in 2014 and also assisted with the secondary. Brown then spent four seasons from 2015-18 at Cal Poly as coach of the team’s cornerbacks.
Brown helped the Mustangs to a berth in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs in 2016 as the team went 7-5 overall and 5-3 in Big Sky play. Among the players he coached at Cal Poly was Dominic Frasch who led FCS in passes defended with 19 (16 passes broken up and three interceptions) and earned third team All-America honors from Associated Press.
Brown redshirted in 2009, then was part of EWU’s national championship team in 2010 and NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Playoff semifinal appearances in 2012 and 2013. In his four years on the field as an Eagle, Brown helped EWU compile a 42-13 record overall and 27-5 mark in the Big Sky Conference.
The Eagles won three league titles and advanced to the FCS Playoffs in three of the four seasons he lettered at EWU from 2010-13. He then spent the 2014 season as a strength and conditioning intern at EWU, which advanced to the quarterfinals of the playoffs that year.
He earned second team All-Big Sky honors in 2012 and honorable mention in 2013. He was also team captain as a senior and recorded 237 total tackles to currently rank 21st in school history. He also intercepted four passes and broke up 15 passes during his 52-game career.
He finished with 56 tackles, two interceptions and three passes broken up in 12 games played as a senior in 2013 when EWU finished 12-3 and won the Big Sky title with a perfect 8-0 record. As a junior in 2012, Brown notched 91 tackles and broke up seven passes. Eastern was 11-3 overall, 7-1 in the Big Sky and made the first of two-straight appearances in the semifinals of the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs.
He had 39 tackles and one interception as a freshman and 51 more tackles and another interception as a sophomore. The 2010 Eagles captured the NCAA Division I title and finished 13-2 overall and 7-1 in the Big Sky, then was 6-5/5-3 in 2011. Brown recorded double-digit tackles in six games, including a career-high 11 against Montana in 2012 and 10 more against Cal Poly in 2011.
“Winning a national championship and donning the No. 4 jersey as a player are just two of the notable accomplishments Allen has earned over his time as an Eagle,” added Best. “He has a bright future as a coach, and anytime you can bring our own Eagles back to the nest that is a huge victory.”
A native of Anchorage, Alaska, Brown graduated from Eastern Washington in 2014 with a bachelor's degree in business administration. He is a 2009 graduate of Foss High School in Tacoma, Wash., where he was a wide receiver and defensive back in football and also competed in basketball and track and field. His high school and EWU teammate was Nicholas Edwards, who is now offensive coordinator and receivers coach at Cal Poly after serving as a coach at Cal.