Gary Brown, who rushed for 4,300 yards while playing on three NFL teams in the 1990s before going on to coach running backs in the pro and college ranks, has died. He was 52.
Wisconsin's athletic department and the Dallas Cowboys announced that Brown died Sunday. No cause of death was disclosed. Brown had battled cancer on multiple occasions.
He spent the 2020 season away from football, with his wife disclosing on social media at the time that a tumor had been found around the bile duct and head of Brown's pancreas. Brown had dealt with colon and liver cancer about a decade earlier. When Brown worked as the Cowboys' running backs coach on Jason Garrett's staff, DeMarco Murray and Ezekiel Elliott each won NFL rushing titles and Darren McFadden had a 1,000-yard season. The Cowboys averaged at least 4 1/2 yards per carry in each of Brown's seven seasons.
After taking the 2020 season off for health reasons, Brown coached Wisconsin's running backs last season. Brown played a big role in the emergence of Braelon Allen, who ran for 1,268 yards and eight touchdowns his freshman season after most schools had recruited him to play safety or linebacker.