Will Brown leaving Albany after 20 seasons as head coach

The head coach at Albany since 2001, Will Brown, announced on Monday that he and the program had agreed to part ways.

“Anyone who knows me knows this decision was extraordinarily difficult,” Brown said in a press release. “But I leave the University at Albany with an enormous sense of pride in the positive impact that my staff, my family and, most important, the student athletes I had the honor of coaching, have had on UAlbany basketball and the greater Albany community.”

Brown was hired as an assistant in 2001 during Albany’s first season in the America East and just its third season in Division I competition. He was promoted to head coach that same year and over the next two decades built the program into a perennial league contender. Brown took the Great Danes to five NCAA Tournaments, two CITs and one CBI as head coach.

“We are grateful for all that Will has done for UAlbany Athletics,” AD Mark Benson said. “Will’s tenure on the bench for the majority of our Division I history and his five championships have left indelible memories with our fans. We wish Will and his family all the best as they move forward from UAlbany.”

After winning the America East title and reaching the NCAA Tournament in 2006, Brown’s teams won 19+ games in a season nine times and only had three sub-.500 seasons. Two of those losing seasons were the two most recent, including a 7-9 (6-6) mark in 2020-21. In total, Brown was 315-295 as head coach, the second most wins in program history.

credit to the University of Albany for the image