Early years

Brown served as the head football coach at Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College and Polytechnic Institute—now Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University—in 1902, at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1904, and Washington and Lee University from 1905 to 1908. In 1909, he was head football coach at Tulane University,^[2] which he led to a 4–3–2 record.^[5] Brown was also the head baseball coach at Virginia Tech in 1904.

In 1905, Brown accepted a position as the athletic director and coach at Washington and Lee. He remained at Washington and Lee until 1910.^[4][6]

New Mexico

Brown at NMMI, 1937

Brown moved to Roswell, New Mexico in 1910 and became the football coach and athletic director at the New Mexico Military Institute.^[7][8] In his first year as the head coach at NMMI, he led the team to a 2–0 record with wins over New Mexico State (5–0) and New Mexico (80–0).^[9] He also led the team to undefeated records in 1912, 1916, 1917, and 1919.^[10] Players from his 1912 team were selected for four of the eleven spots on the 1912 All-Southwestern Eleven.^[11] In a historical account of that institution's football program, Brown is credited with the development of the program: "Gradually, football got under way and with the arrival of Mr. R.R. Brown and professional, precision coaching in 1910, interest in the sport boomed and regional success followed."^[7] With the exception of a brief period when he coached at New Mexico College of Agriculture, Brown remained the head coach at the New Mexico Military Institute until at least 1937.^[12][13][14]

Brown also served as the head football coach at New Mexico College of Agriculture, now known as New Mexico State University from 1923 to 1925. He led the 1923 New Mexico State Aggies football team to an undefeated 9–0 record, including victories over Hardin–Simmons, University of New Mexico, and University of Texas at El Paso.^[15]

In April 1928, Brown was selected as an aid in the southwest to Notre Dame Fighting Irish football coach Knute Rockne.^[16] In July 1928, Brown traveled to the 1928 Summer Olympics as part of Rockne's Olympic party, a group that also included Pop Warner.^[17]

As of 1918, Brown was also employed as a bank clerk at the First National Bank in Roswell. In a passport application filed that same year, he identified his profession as an athletic director and teacher. During World War I, he traveled to France for one year as part of a Y.M.C.A. service.^[1][18]

At the time of the 1930 U.S. Census, Brown was still living in Roswell, New Mexico, where he was employed as a teacher at the state school.^[19] Brown died on December 24, 1950, in Roswell. He had retired from his position as athletic director at the New Mexico Military Institute in 1948.^[20]

Football