Indiana Football Hires Tyson Brown as Head Strength Coach, Reuniting Him with Curt Cignetti
Curt Cignetti didn’t waste any time filling a key role on his Indiana football staff. With former head strength coach Derek Owings heading to Tennessee, Cignetti turned to a familiar face - and someone he clearly trusts - in Tyson Brown.
Brown, who most recently ran the strength and conditioning program at UConn under Jim Mora Jr., is set to take over the same role in Bloomington. Initially, Brown was expected to follow Mora to Colorado State, but instead, he’s reuniting with Cignetti, with whom he briefly worked during a prior stint at Elon.
This isn’t Brown’s first Power Five stop. Before UConn, he spent six seasons in the SEC at Mississippi State, working under the late Mike Leach.
That tenure included time at Washington State as well, where Brown also served as an assistant under Leach. So, we’re talking about a coach who’s been around some of the most innovative minds in college football - and that kind of exposure tends to shape a unique approach to player development.
Brown’s reputation is built on more than just weight room intensity. His background emphasizes injury prevention, sports science integration, and position-specific conditioning - all pillars of a modern strength and conditioning program.
That’s especially important for a team like Indiana, which has leaned heavily on staying healthy to stay competitive. Cignetti has consistently credited Owings for helping the Hoosiers maintain a relatively clean injury sheet over the last two seasons, and Brown will be expected to keep that standard intact.
With this hire, Indiana has its full complement of top-tier assistants in place. There’s still work to do on the support side - several of Owings’ assistants followed him to Knoxville - but Brown will likely have a hand in shaping that next wave of staffers.
Brown also brings a championship pedigree to the table. He played his college ball at Sioux Falls, where he won two NAIA national titles under then-head coach Kalen DeBoer - a name that should ring a bell for Indiana fans. DeBoer served as IU’s offensive coordinator before taking over at Alabama.
All told, this is a move that pairs familiarity with forward-thinking. Cignetti knows what Brown brings to the table, and Brown steps into a program that values the exact strengths he’s known for. The Hoosiers are betting that connection - and that experience - will pay off in the trenches and beyond.