Merritt Island Head Coach Hurlie Brown Steps Down, Will Join Bubba McDowell at Prairie View A&M in Texas
By Space Coast Daily // January 20, 2022
Honored as the Space Coast Daily–Friday Night Locker Room Coach of the Year
Related Story:SCD–FNLR Prep Football All-Star Team Announced: Denaburg Player of the Year, Brown Coach of the Year
BREVARD COUNTY • MERRITT ISLAND, FLORIDA – Space Coast Daily–Friday Night Locker Room Coach of the Year Hurlie Brown will depart Merritt Island and join former Mustang and Space Coast Sports Hall of Famer Bubba McDowell, who was recently named Prairie View A&M’s head coach.
During the 2021 season, Brown led the 13-2 Mustangs to their best season since 1989 and was honored as the Florida Dairy Farmers Class 5A Coach of the Year.
A 1987 Merritt Island graduate, he starred for the Mustangs before playing on two Miami Hurricanes National Championship teams and then spent four seasons in the Canadian Football League.
Brown took over as head coach for the Mustangs in 2018 and posted a record of 26-16 over four seasons. Prior to that, he had been an assistant coach for the Mustangs.
Brown will now return to the college level, where he previously coached at the University of Miami, Florida International and Louisiana-Lafayette.
Merritt Island has yet to name a successor to replace Brown.
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COACH OF THE YEAR – Hurlie Brown, Merritt Island: Hurlie Brown led his Mustangs farther than any Mustangs team in recent memory. Brown is a player’s coach. He coaches hard, but attributes all of the team’s success on the players and coaches. As Brown said after the state semifinal game against Sebring, “It’s not about me, it’s about these kids.” He wants people to know that the kids have done what he has asked and have done things the right way.
