Though Chris Brown was named the new soccer head coach in November, he is not new to USF Athletics. 

Brown has been with the team for 17 years. 

He was an assistant coach to his wife Denise Schilte-Brown who was also with the Bulls for 17 years. Together they won a conference championship every year from 2017-21.

With his wife taking a job as head coach for the Tampa Bay Suns in the USL Super League, he decided to stay back and finish what they started at USF. 

“I’m just not ready to leave this arena yet,” Brown said “So, I said I’d like to at least see if there is an opportunity to become the head coach and see how that plays out and if it doesn’t, then you know I’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”  

Brown and his wife built a standard over the years as being the best in the AAC. Now, it all falls into his hands. 

Related: OPINION: Brown for Brown: A current assistant coach should take over women’s soccer 

Having been with the team for over a decade, Brown is a familiar face that a lot of the girls are excited to see. He has had to show them a different side of him now that he is the leader of the team.

Being able to build that trust with the team is what Brown values the most. He describes himself as laidback and wants his players to be comfortable. 

Assistant coach Ashley Meade is a former player of Brown’s. She played for the Bulls for four years and graduated back in 2021.

“I loved every second of playing for Chris,” Meade said. “He is focused on making them feel comfortable and he has a great open door policy.​​ The players value him for that.”

Brown has led the Bulls to various championships since 2007. He even helped the team make five straight NCAA appearances from 2017-21 during his time at USF. 

Related: Women’s soccer ranked 24th in United Soccer Coaches Poll 

Brown and his wife balanced each other while coaching so this season he plans to make few changes. The system that they have created has won multiple championships. 

He also played 12 years professionally overseas, the last five years of which he played with the Richmond Kickers of the A-League. He described his coaching style as intense and very passionate. 

Meade said there wouldn’t be a more perfect person for the job than Brown. 

“No one has more experience than him at this university with the women’s soccer team,” Meade said, “No one had more success than him in this staff, in this team and in this program.” 

Brown wants to carry on and raise the standard for this program. He wants to give them information that is useful and that they can use anywhere. 

He doesn’t want to just be a coach who yells at his players, and he wants the players to hold him accountable for that.  

“I wanna win, but I think the main thing is that I wanna teach,” said Brown.

USF’s decision to have coach Brown stick around may just gain them another conference championship this year.