Coach Brown Inducted into MHSFCA Hall of Fame

Coaching for 32 years at Deckerville, Football Head Coach Bill Brown sums his career up in this quote, “I hope the student athletes have had great experiences in our program – learning how to become a team, working together for a common goal and achieving it when no one else believes you can. I believe that many life lessons are taught in the game of football and I know many of our young men have used these lessons in their lives.”
Because of his many years of dedication to the Deckerville football program, Bill Brown, Deckerville Head Varsity Football Coach, will be inducted into the Michigan High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame on Saturday, March 9, at the Crowne Plaza, West Lansing.
Not only has he coached 32 years, he played the sport under Bob Staskiewicz for three years – 1984, 85 and 86, with records of 8-1, 7-2 and 9-0. When asked what he remembers most about those years, he said, “Competing with my friends and working together for a common goal.” Deckerville’s biggest rivals were Sandusky, Kingston and Peck. This love of football was the reason he got into coaching. It enabled him to stay in the game.
Coach Brown said that there are too many memorable events during his coaching career to list them all, but in 1994, Deckerville defeated Reese, who was ranked in the top five in the state at the time, giving the Eagles a share of the conference championship. In 1999, the Eagles got their first playoff win in school history, when they defeated McBain. In 2000, the boys were district champs when they defeated USA and were regional champions taking on McBain. And of course, the 2012 state championship and that entire season, and in 2016 and 2017 when the Deckerville Eagles were state runner-ups.
When asked if he ever thinks about giving up coaching, he replied, “Every year after the season I think about retiring. It’s just my way of re-booting and getting ready for the next year.”
So, why is Deckerville such a “football town”? Bill said that Coach Staskiewicz started it, and that he has been able to maintain it with a great staff, administration and community.
Deckerville’s coaching staff has over 100 years of experience. Coach Brown feels that this staff is among the best in their division in the state, right from 7th-12th grade. As far as the football program, “We are not going to become stagnant. We are working and learning every day, trying to get better to keep playing at a high level to win another state championship. I am going to continue coaching through my sons, Will and Aiden, and Coach Boone’s son, Cooper. Within that 10 years, I hope to mentor my successor.”
When talking about the change from 11-man to 8-man, Coach Brown said, “The adjustment wasn’t hard. The goal is the same and we needed to maintain a JV program which we have been able to do which is very important in my opinion. The perception of 8-man is wide open and lots of scoring but that is not always true or our philosophy. An example: we won a state championship with the score 14 to 12 on a goal line stand with no time remaining. Says a lot. All levels of football are becoming high-scoring. The biggest change in football is safety of the players. We as coaches have done a great job making the game safer and reducing the impacts. A lot of the negative publicity has come from media that is not properly informed on concussions by all professionals in my opinion! Our practices today have very little hitting or impacts compared to 1987 when I started when every play could be an impact play. So as a football program we have adapted and been able to maintain playing at a high-level which is great for the players, the parents and everyone involved!”
During Coach Brown’s coaching career, they were Academic All State 12 times; Bill received Regional Coach of The Year six times; the Eagles were All-Thumb 8-Player Team of the Year 2018,2017,2016, and 2012; and Coach Brown was Blue Water Coach of the Year in 2000 and 2012.
Congratulations to Coach Bill Brown on his Hall of Fame achievement, and to him and his coaching staff for making Deckerville football what it is.