- April 15, 2024
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Seabreeze athletic director Brad Montgomery said that Pat Brown is such a quality coach that it was only a matter of time before he would take the next step and get a college job.
After four years as the Sandcrabs' head football coach, Brown is taking that next step. He is expected to be announced as Valdosta State's new receivers coach early next week.
Brown resigned at Seabreeze on Feb. 6, and Seabreeze placed an advertisement for a new coach in the Florida High School Athletic Association's job listings.
Montgomery said he is accepting applications through Feb. 25 and hopes to hire a coach by March 2.
"We definitely want to have a new coach on campus as soon as we can," he said.
Brown, who compiled a 20-21 record with the Sandcrabs, turned around a program that won a total of six games in the three seasons before he took over.
Brown's first Sandcrabs team went 5-5 in 2019, a year after it won just one game. He led Seabreeze to the playoffs in 2020 with an overtime play-in victory against Gulf Breeze and was named the Florida Athletic Coaches Association's District 9 Coach of the Year.
In 2021 he led Seabreeze to its first district championship in 14 years.
When Pat interviewed with us, he was a standout. Everything Pat said he'd do with the program he did. — Brad Montgomery, Seabreeze AD
"When Pat interviewed with us, he was a standout," Montgomery said. "Everything Pat said he'd do with the program he did. He said he would make sure the kids in (our) zone would want to play for Seabreeze, he would get good coaches in and he would establish the program as one of the best in the county. He did all of those things."
Brown said he is most proud about getting ineligible players when he got to Seabreeze back on the football field and eventually in graduation gowns.
"There were 13 players who were academically ineligible who were already here or transferred in when I got here," Brown said. "We put a plan in place to get them eligible and most of them graduated. Two of them graduated early. If these kids aren't graduating, their chances for success diminish significantly."
Brown said he informed his players he was leaving on Feb. 6.
"That was the toughest part," he said. "The positive thing was a lot of the kids were real understanding. I built a lot of relationships here. I coached several brothers, such as the Campbells — Dimitri, Eli and Denali. I'm not going to see Denali all the way through (high school), but possibly I'll see him as his college coach."
Twenty-one of Brown's players at Seabreeze have gone on to continue their football careers in college, including three players who signed letters of intent on Feb. 1. More players are expected to sign in upcoming weeks, he said.
Brown is a former receiver at Rutgers and Bethune-Cookman universities. He played at B-CU in 2010 and returned to Daytona Beach after playing pro football for a couple of seasons in the Canadian Football League and overseas in Germany. Before he was hired at Seabreeze, he was the defensive coordinator at Father Lopez for two seasons.
He is looking forward to the next stop in his coaching career.
"I'm definitely excited to have a new and different challenge," he said. "Valdosta State has a rich history of winning championships and contending for championships year in and year out. I want to have the best wide receiver room, and I want to recruit the best players to our program."
