When hired to take over for legendary Mount St. Mary’s coach Jim Phelan in 2002, Milan Brown wanted to make sure that he continued the strong reputation of Mount St. Mary’s basketball. After gradually building the program the past few years, Brown saw his team break through last season went he guided the Mount to the Northeast Conference title and the school’s first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1999. On the heels of the championship run, Brown was signed to a five-year contract extension in early April.

"I am extremely excited that I will continue to be a part of the Mount St. Mary’s community," said Brown. "We are proud of last year’s success because we were able to realize a vision that we had five years ago."

Brown has built the Mount into one of the top defensive teams in the NEC. Last year, the team led the NEC in both scoring defense and field goal percentage defense in league games. In the Mount’s four postseason victories, the team held the opposition to 62.5 points per game and 38.8 percent from the field. On the offensive end, Brown’s decision to take the reigns off the offense midway through the season last year proved to be the final piece in the Mount’s late season surge to the NEC title.

Under Brown’s guidance, the Mount produced one of the best seasons since the school moved to NCAA Division I in 1989. Last year’s historical season saw the Mount finish with a 19-15 record, the second-most wins by a Mount team since joining NCAA Division I in 1988-89. It was also the Mount’s first winning season since the 1996-97 team finished 14-13. In addition, the Mount was 11-7 in NEC play, the third-straight season with a .500 or better mark in league play. The Mount earned its first-ever NCAA Division I Tournament win with a 69-60 victory over Coppin State in the NCAA Opening Round before falling to top-seeded North Carolina in the First Round.

"We all have a greater respect for the commitment and sacrifice it takes to win a championship," said Brown. "I’m proud that our guys seem hungry for more, which means they are willing to work for our success."

The Mount has been one of the top teams in the NEC the past few years, posting three straight fourth-place finishes in the regular season. The Mount’s record in NEC play over that stretch is 31-23, the best three-year stretch for the Mount in NEC play since going 38-16 from 1994-97.

In 2005-06, Brown guided the Mount to its best season in seven years. The Mount finished fourth in the Northeast Conference with an 11-7 record, its highest finish in the league since 1996-97. Honored by www.CollegeInsider.com as the Northeast Conference’s Coach of the Year in 2006, Brown has led the Mount to the NEC Tournament in four of his five seasons at the school. Brown’s rookie season was capped by an exciting stretch that included a 68-62 win over NEC champion Monmouth at Knott Arena on the final day of the season. That win, coupled with Sacred Heart’s loss to Wagner, propelled the Mount to the NEC Tournament. The Mount won four of its final five games to earn the playoff appearance.

The 19th coach in Mount history, Brown took over for Phelan who retired in 2003 after an NCAA record 49 years at Mount St. Mary’s. He began his collegiate coaching career by joining Old Dominion University’s coaching staff in 1995. In his second and final season at Old Dominion, the Monarchs captured the Colonial Athletic Conference title and a berth in the 1997 NCAA Tournament. In his two years, the Monarchs went a combined 40-24, including 22 wins during the 1996-97 season, the most wins by a Monarchs’ team in 10 years.

The following season Brown left for Mount St. Mary’s to assist Phelan and two years into Brown’s tenure, he helped guide the Mount to a Northeast Conference Tournament title and a bid into the NCAA Tournament. After the following season, Brown left the Mount for a two-year stint at William & Mary. He returned to the Mount for the 2002-03 season as the team’s associate head coach.

Brown, who graduated from Howard University in 1993 with a bachelor’s degree in marketing, earned All-Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference honors his senior year after averaging 13.1 points and 4.4 assists per game. He currently holds the Bison’s all-time career record for assists with 445 and ranks eighth in scoring with 1,102 career points. He led the Bison to their last appearance in the NCAA Tournament in 1992. He had his number at Howard retired in December of 2005.

Brown has been a participant in the "Runway to the Fashionable 4" in each of the past four seasons for the best-dressed head coaches in NCAA Division I by www.CollegeInsider.com, advancing to the "Elegant Eight" this past year. He also has a website, www.MilanBrown.com, which features updates, camp information and other interesting facts.

He is the oldest of three children to Charles and Pamela Brown. His brother Morocco played football at North Carolina State while Marseille played basketball at Richmond and Hampton, going to the NCAA Tournament at each school.

Brown, who turns 37 in January, and his wife Tina, live in Frederick, Md., with their two-year old daughter, Nyla and newborn daughter Sanaa.