Wisconsin football loses assistant coach to Notre Dame

Dec 10, 2023
The University of Wisconsin football team lost one of its assistant coaches at a crucial recruiting juncture.
  Wisconsin Associate head coach and receivers coach Mike Brown was hired as the receivers coach at Notre Dame. The move was reported last week by 247Sports and made official Sunday by Notre Dame.
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Brown, 34, is highly regarded in coaching circles and he was given the associate head coach title by Badgers coach Luke Fickell when Brown jumped from the Cincinnati coaching staff to Wisconsin’s with Fickell.
“So when people start to say titles, like I'm not a big title guy," Fickell said in the spring. "I know that now, this day and age, they mean more things to more people. This is one that I would say this was basically just saying, ‘I respect what the hell you've done, and where you're going.’
“I just think he's a whole package.”
Brown’s position group didn’t have the kind of season it’d hoped outside of slot receiver Will Pauling (66 catches, 694 yards, four TDs), a transfer from Cincinnati who transitioned well to offensive coordinator Phil Longo’s system. It was a fairly disappointing season for the rest of the group as eight players combined for 108 catches, 1,266 yards and three touchdowns. No one but Pauling eclipsed 400 receiving yards and dropped passes were a position-wide issue.
A former quarterback and receiver at Liberty, Brown earned All-American recognition at both positions before embarking on a three-year NFL career with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
He started his coaching career as an analyst at Michigan in 2016 before taking running backs coaching jobs at Delaware (2017) and Liberty (2018). Brown helped develop receivers such as Alec Pierce, who was a second-round pick by the Indianapolis Colts last year, and multiple other all-American Athletic Conference selections. Brown's receivers tallied 70 touchdowns in 2021.
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Brown spent time last summer with the Green Bay Packers as one of the 32 people to earn a spot in the Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellowship, a program designed to increase diversity in the NFL coaching ranks.
Brown’s jump to Notre Dame adds another layer of connections between Wisconsin and the Fighting Irish. Notre Dame coach Marcus Freeman was the defensive coordinator for three seasons under Fickell at Cincinnati, and Irish quarterbacks coach Gino Guidugli was on the Bearcats staff under Fickell as well. Guidugli had signed a contract to be the tight ends coach at Wisconsin last winter before he took the job at Notre Dame.
Notre Dame’s offensive line coach is former Badgers offensive lineman, O-line coach and offensive coordinator Joe Rudolph.
Wisconsin is slated to play Notre Dame at Lambeau Field in Green Bay in 2026.