Cliff Brown

  • Title
    Head Coach (Former)
Head Coach of the Harper Hawks baseball program from 2010-2019. In his 10 seasons, the team went 139-272-3.

After winning a combined 25 games in his first two seasons, the Hawks nearly equaled that total in 2012 with 22 victories and were only one win away from reaching the Region IV final. In 2013, the Hawks were one win away from reaching the NJCAA Division III World Series. In 2014, the Hawks won 24 games, the most in Brown's tenure as head coach, and went 10-2 in conference play.
 
Brown has coached 21 All-Conference players (three in 2015), 22 All-Region Players (two in 2015), two All-Americans (Kurt Becker in 2014, Roy Pettingill in 2015), one Conference Player of the Year (Kurt Becker in 2014) and one ABCA/Rawlings Gold Glove Award® winner (Kevin Conrad in 2014) in his tenure at Harper.  In his first season at Harper, Coach Brown guided the Hawks to second place in the Region IV tournament, losing a heart breaker to Waubonsee Community College on a walk-off single in the championship game.
 
In his 17 years as a collegiate coach, 35 of Brown’s players have signed professional contracts and two have gone on to play in the major leagues.  Brown coached Jay Gibbons and Mike Burns at California State LA.
 
Prior to Harper, Brown worked at the Chicago White Sox Training Academy where he was the Director of Satellite Academy/Instruction in La Grange.  As the lead instructor, he was responsible for developing and implementing all instruction and curriculum for classes and camps.  He also was a head coach for the 17-under Amateur City Elite (ACE) team and in the White Sox fall wooden bat league.
 
Brown was an assistant coach for eight years (1996-2004) at California State University in Los Angeles, CA. He spent time there as the recruiting coordinator, hitting coach and bench coach as the team won two conference titles. In addition, Brown developed and implemented a year-round strength program for all players. After moving back to the Midwest, Brown spent one year at Valparaiso University (2006) as the team’s pitching coach.
 
Other coaching experience includes a season as the head coach of the Minot Greenheads of the Northwoods League, an assistant coach at Northeastern Illinois University and a one-year stint as the strength and conditioning coach of the Chicago White Sox rookie ball team. Brown has also been a featured speaker/instructor at a number of camps.
 
Brown is a 1996 graduate of Northeastern Illinois University with a Bachelor of the Arts degree. He then continued his education, earning his Master of Science in Education with a specialization in sports management in 2006 from Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, FL.