Cornell University Athletics

Chris Brown enters his second season as an assistant coach with the Cornell men's hockey team after joining the program in June 2025.

Overseeing the Big Red's defensive corps and penalty kill, Brown guided Cornell to the nation's third-best scoring defense in his first season, allowing 2.05 goals per game (69 goals against in 34 games) — the second time in three years the Big Red ranked among the nation's stingiest defenses.

Brown joined the Big Red following a four-year tenure as associate head coach at Alaska Fairbanks under Erik Largen, where the Nanooks posted a 65-56-13 (.534) record. Serving as the primary development coach for defensemen, Brown helped Alaska rank fourth nationally in team defense (2.20 goals allowed per game). The Nanooks recorded eight wins over ranked opponents during his tenure, highlighted by victories against No. 6 Minnesota (2021-22), top-ranked Denver (2022-23), No. 9 Michigan Tech (2023-24) and No. 3 Minnesota (2024-25). Alaska also posted a 22-10-2 mark in 2022-23, finishing one spot outside the NCAA Tournament field.
 
Prior to Fairbanks, Brown spent 16 years at Division III Augsburg in Minneapolis — one season as an assistant (2005-06) before being promoted to head coach. Across his 15-year tenure, Brown compiled a 192-153-30 (.552) record and earned three MIAC Coach of the Year awards (2007, 2016, 2019). He led the Auggies to four consecutive MIAC championships and NCAA Division III Tournament appearances from 2016 to 2019, including three straight trips to the NCAA quarterfinals (2016-18). Brown developed 12 All-Americans and 40 All-MIAC selections during his tenure, and Augsburg led the MIAC in academic all-conference honorees for 12 consecutive seasons, producing 129 Academic All-MIAC selections from 2010-21.
 
Before Augsburg, Brown served as head coach at Marian College (2000-04) and Hamline University (2004-05). At Marian, he posted a 65-36-7 (.634) overall record and a 51-8-3 (.847) mark in Midwest Collegiate Hockey Association (MCHA) play, winning back-to-back MCHA Tournament championships in his first two seasons and earning MCHA Coach of the Year honors twice (2001, 2003). He also served as Marian's head men's golf coach, earning Coach of the Year recognition in 2003.
 
Brown's coaching career began at Augsburg, where he served as an assistant coach and sports information director in 1996-97, before spending three seasons as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Alaska Anchorage (1997-2000).
 
A four-year player at Wisconsin-River Falls from 1990-94, Brown captained the Falcons to the national championship in 1993-94, totaling 100 points (43-57—100) in 115 career games. He earned Northern Collegiate Hockey Association (NCHA) All-Academic honors in 1993 and 1994 and received the Wisconsin-River Falls John Oostendorp Memorial Award — given to the player with the team's highest cumulative GPA — twice (1991, 1993).
 
Brown earned a bachelor's degree in print journalism with a minor in economics from Wisconsin-River Falls in 1994 and a master's degree in organizational leadership and quality from Marian in 2003.
 
Originally from Minneapolis, Brown and his wife, Stacey, have a daughter, Corrine, and a son, Conner, who is a junior on Long Island's men's hockey team after playing his first two collegiate seasons at Ferris State.