He played at the quarterback position for the University of Michigan from 1966 to 1968, the final three years of Bump Elliott's tenure as the school's head football coach.

In his first start at quarterback, Brown broke two Big Ten Conference single-game records with 338 yards of total offense and 61 plays.

He attended Lincoln Park High School, where he was an all-state football player and also served as co-captain of the basketball and baseball teams.

[1] In 1964, the Detroit Free Press chose Brown to be honored as part of their All-Suburban football team.

Although the Wolverines lost the game 34–0, Brown's performance was good enough to win him the starting assignment the following week.

[3] In the closing minutes of the first half, Brown led the Wolverines on an 80-yard drive, capped by a six-yard touchdown pass to Jim Berline.

[8] As a senior, Brown was the starting quarterback in 9 of 10 games for the 1968 team that finished 8–2 in Bump Elliott's last year as head coach.

You were charmed Saturday when you brought your Wolverines from behind in the fourth quarter to hand Michigan State its first loss, 28–14.

[Ron] Johnson's a great back and he runs real well, but Brown was the big man today.

In the third quarter, he threw a 69-yard touchdown pass to William Harris for Michigan's longest scoring play of the 1968 season.

He spent the 1970 season as a graduate assistant and then coached the freshman football team at Dartmouth College in 1971.

[21] After the 1979 season, Don Nehlen left Schembechler's staff at Michigan to become the head football coach at West Virginia.

[20] Brown remained at West Virginia for eight years and was the Mountaineers defensive coordinator when future Michigan head football coach Rich Rodriguez played there from 1981 to 1984.

[24][25] In 1995, Brown was hired as the head football coach at East Detroit High School in Eastpointe, Michigan.

He also worked at the University of Detroit Jesuit High School and Academy as a building substitute where he commonly claims "this is not my first rodeo" to students trying to trick him.