Exactly 30 days before the opening of the 2023 season, CMU’s newest head football coach, Dave Brown, said that how quickly his team can compete in the Heart will be determined by how fast his players can get on the same page with a virtually all-new coaching staff.

Brown’s remarks came on Thursday during the annual Heart of America Athletic Conference media football day.

Coach Brown faces the task of fielding a team that can finish above .500. The Eagles posted winning records three of the last four years.

“To do that, we’re going to need mentally tough players who go out there and battle and control the things that they can control,” Brown said. 

Central opens the season at home against rival Graceland at 6 p.m. on Saturday, September 2. It will be Brown’s first game as a head coach.

“My vision of getting out there this year is that first game right out of the gate, our guys aren’t backing down from any challenges, they’re stepping up every single play,” said Brown. “As cliche as it sounds, you start doing those little things—I’ve seen it happen over the years in places I’ve been where we built things up—the success starts coming. It’s a balance of having urgency and patience at the same time.”

Coach Brown was announced as Central’s new head coach in March. He takes over a program that a year ago began with the violent death of one of its players at the hands of another, and ended with a 1-10 overall record.

It’s clear so far that Coach Brown brings with him a new culture to Davis Field.

Before accepting his first head coaching job, Brown spent five years as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at NCAA Division II Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph, Missouri.

With his pedigree of turning out high-calibre offenses, the expectations for Brown and the Eagles are high. But teams must first crawl before they can walk. And rebuilding a program that endured such tragedy on and off the field a year ago will mark those first steps.

“Judging by the way our summer workout group grew every week, I think we’re getting there,” Coach Brown said.

The Eagles will boast 41 new players so far this season.

“We’re in such a transition,” he said. “The reality is we inherited a program and situation where a lot of guys didn’t come back who played and contributed last fall. In some ways, I think that’s a good thing. We’re going to have new players all over the field.” 

While it’s too early for Coach Brown to have settled on his starting personnel, he said that his team currently has eight quarterbacks battling for a spot in the varsity lineup that will rely on a multiple-pistol offense. The best three will suit up on September 2.

One of those hopefuls is freshman Ben Wells, who for three and a half years was the starter for the Fayette Falcons. Wells signed with the Eagles in late April. He is one of several Fayette natives to swap out his Falcon jersey for the Green and White.

“Quite a few of those guys participated in our summer workouts,” Brown said about his local talent. “Ben Wells has hardly missed a workout. He’s in here doing everything we ask him to do every day. I’m excited to see what they can do.”

Brown said he has a strong corps of receivers but needs to develop his quarterbacks and grow his running backs. Time will tell what the offense will look like and how it will perform this fall.

“Philosophically, I want as many guys to touch the ball as possible,” Brown said. “If we can get 10 or 12 different players touching it at least once, their defense has to stay off balance. It’s going to be an exciting brand of football.”

Brown said he is excited about how his team is going to match up against other Heart teams athletically.

“I know enough about this league to know what I’m walking into.”