Kippy Brown, a longtime NFL assistant coach whose career stretched across multiple teams and decades, has died at 71.
Brown’s coaching path began at Memphis State in 1978, and he later worked at Louisville and Tennessee before moving into the NFL with the New York Jets as running backs coach in 1990. That job opened the door to a lengthy run in the league, with Brown later spending time with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Miami Dolphins, Green Bay Packers, Houston Texans, Detroit Lions and Seattle Seahawks.
After a short return to Tennessee in 1993, Brown continued building his NFL résumé across those stops, eventually landing his final role in Seattle. He served as the Seahawks’ wide receivers coach from 2010 to 2014.
Former Seahawks coach Pete Carroll paid tribute to Brown in a statement. “He was a great friend to everybody, because he had such a positive, good, fun-loving spirit,” Carroll said.
“Everybody loved being around Kip. And he had a light about him, he wanted to have a good time and have fun and make things pleasant for everyone around him.
That’s why so many people have rallied around him in this last month or so and reached out to (his wife) Deon, being supportive and loving. He was a wonderful person, and my heart goes out to Deon and the family.
It’s a beautiful family.”
Doug Baldwin, who wideout for the Seahawks, also reflected on Brown’s impact. “Kippy was the perfect person for us, for our group of guys who came in at that time-myself, Ricardo (Lockette), Jermaine, Golden, Sid,” Baldwin said. “Kippy and Sidney Rice paired really well together as being the elder statesmen in the room, helping us young guys get onboarded into the NFL life.”
Brown leaves behind a long coaching footprint, and the Brown family is in the thoughts of those who knew him.
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