Brown, Bears continue to push forward
Nathan Brown keeps both eyes focused on his players, coaches and opponents as the head football coach at the University of Central Arkansas.
But Brown is not stuck in the present.
“I’m a dreamer,” Brown told about 250 members of the Little Rock Touchdown Club on Monday at the DoubleTree Hotel. “I’m a person that believes in the product. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t going to be lumps and bruises, but I do believe in the end goal and what’s ahead for the University of Central Arkansas.”
Brown, 35, in his fourth season as UCA’s head coach, is guiding the Bears through a transitional season of sorts before fully joining the newly realigned Atlantic Sun Conference in 2022.
This comes one year after UCA was one of only a handful of schools in the Football Championship Subdivision to play nearly a full schedule — posting a 5-4 record — during the 2020 season that was ravaged by covid-19.
“I think the mental grind of last year has trickled over,” Brown said. “You’ve got a lot of the same team that you had last year. It’s good to get back to normal. But … covid hasn’t gone away. You’re still vigilant of it.
“I don’t think you’re back to a full status quo of where you were pre-covid yet.”
UCA is coming off a 3814 victory on Saturday over a Jacksonville State program that defeated Florida State in September and will join UCA in the ASUN in 2022.
The Bears started 1-3, losing to Arkansas State (40-21), Missouri State (43-34) and Sam Houston State (45-35) with only a victory over the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff (45-23) to show for their September work.
UCA has won three of its past four.
“I think the guys have navigated OK,” Brown said. “The ball hasn’t bounced our way in a couple of games this year.
“We’ve got a good team. I really believe we’re one of the top teams at the FCS level. … Just depending on the week, if the ball bounces our way, if we get a little luck, we could be a 7-1 or 6-2 team right now as opposed to a 4-4 team.
“It’s been an interesting year.”
Brown’s first two seasons at UCA were spent competing in the Southland Conference before facing a makeshift schedule of FBS, FCS and Division II foes in 2020 and now a season of unfamiliar opponents in what is being called the AQ7, a mixture of teams headed to the ASUN and the Western Athletic Conference.
“You’re playing new opponents, you’re going to new areas,” Brown said. “You kinda know what to expect in the Southland Conference. You knew who you were playing.
“It’s fun. It’s been a good challenge. I think are players are excited about it.”
UCA returns to Estes Stadium to play Texas Wesleyan, an NAIA team, at 4 p.m. Saturday and will have another home game Nov. 13 against former Southland Conference rival Sam Houston State.
The Bears close the season Nov. 20 at Tarleton State.
Brown said he is not only optimistic and excited about the remainder of this season, but the future in the ASUN, a future that could include a move to the Football Bowl Subdivision at some point.
“I don’t think there’s any doubt,” Brown said. “I think the ASUN and the way the commissioner thinks, big things are ahead in that conference. … Obviously, with the conference landscape we’re always open to a lot of things.”
Brown said he has no timetable for UCA moving into the FBS, but he credited UCA President Houston Davis and Athletic Director Brad Teague with being proactive and credited them with having the foresight to proceed with football in 2020 when many other schools at UCA’s level punted until spring.
“Obviously, as a coach, you want to roll,” Brown said. “You want to accelerate and make it happen fast.”
Brown said he thinks UCA can follow in the footsteps of other former FCS programs that have made the leap to the FBS.
He likened UCA to Coastal-Carolina, a Sun Belt team with a top-25 ranking that used to play in the ASUN.
“You look about 8-10 years ago, and Coastal Carolina was an FCS program, battling its way through,” Brown said. “They had a vision. They had a moment.”
Brown pointed out that both UCA and Coastal Carolina reside in similar-sized cities of the same name, Conway.
“But they were proactive,” Brown said. “They were pushing the envelope. They had an administration that bought in. An athletic program that bought in, a university that bought in.
“Now, they are a brand in college football. Everybody knows who the Chanticleers are. … I really believe that’s the University of Central Arkansas.”
Brown said Davis has described the athletic department as the university’s porch, and Brown said the football program is the mailbox.
“We’re right there in front,” he said. “The University of Central Arkansas football is in great hands and we’re going to keep pushing the envelope.”