to Billy Harris and Paul Staroba, the Golden Gophers' head coach Murray Warmath said: "Brown was the big player. He was a genius on the field. I've never seen a better game from a quarterback. This is what chopped us up. His quick passes were tremendous. [Ron] Johnson's a great back and he runs real well, but Brown was the big man today." Two weeks later, Brown had his best game of the 1968 season against Illinois. He led Michigan to a 36-0 win, completing 13 of 27 passes for 226 yards and throwing touchdown passes of 69 yards to Billy Harris and 14 yards to Paul Staroba. In that game, Brown added 45 rushing yards for 271 total offensive yards. In the third quarter, he threw a 69-yard touchdown pass to William Harris for Michigan's longest scoring play of the 1968 season. After the score, Brown ran for a two-point conversion. Brown finished the season with 109 complete passes for 1,562 yards, 12 touchdown passes and 10 interceptions, and ranked as the Big Ten's leader in total offense. He was selected by the Associated Press as the first-team quarterback on the 1968 All-Big Ten Conference football team, and was also selected to play quarterback in the 1968 East–West Shrine Game and the 1969 Hula Bowl. Career statistics In three years at Michigan, Brown completed 194 of 388 pass attempts for 2,534 yards, 20 touchdowns and 17 interceptions. Brown also rushed for 616 yards and had six rushing touchdowns. At the end of his playing career at Michigan, he held most of the school's career passing records, including passing yards (2,534), pass attempts (388), and touchdown passes (20). Coaching career After graduating from Michigan, Brown spent the next two decades as an assistant football coach. He spent the 1970 season as a graduate assistant and then coached the freshman football team at Dartmouth College in 1971. From 1972 to 1979, Brown was an assistant coach at Michigan under Bo Schembechler. Michigan compiled a record of 76-14 in the eight years that Brown served as an assistant coach. After the 1979 season, Don Nehlen left Schembechler's staff at Michigan to become the head football coach at West Virginia. In January 1980, Brown joined Nehlen's staff. Brown remained at West Virginia for eight years and was the Mountaineers defensive coordinator when future Michigan head football coach Rich Rodriguez played there from 1981