University of Toledo Athletics

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Darrick Brown enters his second season as the assistant coach of the University of Toledo softball program in 2023. Brown works primarily as the pitching and hitting coach.

In his first season n staff in 2022, Brown saw Toledo finish with a 12-37 record and 5-21 in MAC play. Sophia Knight went the distance against Michigan State (March 30), allowing four earned runs on 10 hits. She threw 166 pitches in a season-high 10.2 innings, good enough for second all-time innings pitched in a single game. Brown coached Dayna Denner to Second Team All-MAC accolades and become a 2022 Senior CLASS Award finalist at the end of the season. He also saw Bri Robeson earn the MAC Medal of Excellence Award at the end of the 2022 campaign.

Brown brings 30 years of coaching experience to the Toledo softball staff including 28 years as a head coach. Brown has coached travel, high school, and just about every collegiate level during his softball coaching career. Brown also coached professionally in the National Pro Fastpitch league and led his Chicago Bandits team to an NPF Championship in 2011. 

Brown has spent the last year and a half as a mental performance coach for sports teams all over the country through his business, Brown Mental Performance. Prior to that, Brown served five years as the head coach at Olivet College.  

In five seasons at the NJCAA level, his teams at Glen Oaks, Kalamazoo, and Kellogg totaled over 30 wins four times, including three MCCAA Western Conference championships and one MCCAA State championship. Brown also coached several NJCAA All-Americans from those teams. 

Brown served as an assistant coach at Davenport University as the pitching coach from 2011-13. Under his watch, the pitching staff produced a WHAC Pitcher of the Year, won a conference championship, won a conference tournament championship, and qualified for the national tournament. 

Brown is a nationally well-known hitting and pitching instructor. He has traveled to Hawaii, North Carolina, California, Nevada, Arizona, Tennessee, Kentucky, Michigan, and all over the Midwest to conduct clinics. Brown has helped place hundreds of student-athletes to all levels of softball and even produced several All-American players through his organization, Brown Fastpitch.

Brown is a 26-year veteran of men’s fastpitch softball. He was a member of the King and His Court during its final tour in 2011 and currently serves on the executive advisory board to help historically preserve the King and His Court and its’ founder – the late Eddie Feigner’s legacy.

Brown attended Kalamazoo Valley Community College where he played collegiate baseball and earned his associate degree in general studies. He then transferred to Western Michigan University to earn his bachelor’s degree in Science.