Lions linebacker coach Travis Brown was born into a football family. Growing up witnessing all the players being taught by his father’s football wisdom, it was an obvious career path to follow.
Brown was fortunate enough to get a taste of the CFL at an early age. His father Dan Brown was a long-time collegiate coach primarily at Fresno State, plus a few more stints in the USFL and even one season with the now-defunct CFL team, the Birmingham Barracudas.
After Brown’s playing career at Fresno State and two seasons with the Ottawa REDBLACKS under Rick Campbell, Brown stayed in the CFL to continue his quest to develop more linebackers in the game.
“Growing up around him, being around football at a young age, and really the main reason was when my dad passed away, there were around 1,000 players that were at his funeral. They told stories about what a good guy and what he meant to those players,” Brown recalled.
“That was my junior year of high school. That was when I knew I wanted to stay involved with the game after playing football. If I have half the amount of people at my funeral as he did, I feel like I did a good job,” Brown added.
After the 2015 season, Brown began his coaching career at his alma mater at Fresno State as a defensive quality control coach and an assistant linebacker’s coach. He then spent two more seasons with the Edmonton Elks as a linebacker coach, where he worked with players like J.C. Sherritt, Larry Dean and Jovan Santos-Knox.
“It’s really cool how football can tie you in with some really good players. I actually got J.C. right at the end of his career before he retired,” Brown recalled.
Brown joined the Lions in 2020 and took the field with the Lions in 2021. He received another opportunity to coach another talented group of linebackers with Bo Lokombo, Jordan Williams and Ben Hladik who worked his way to a starting role in 2022. Building onto the 2023 season, Brown is confident that some of the younger players will see a bigger role.
“We got a great group this year. I’ve had the privilege to coach some really good linebackers. Coming into 2021, we were all young. Bo was our only true vet. Messam was our depth guy. I’m excited to see what Ben could do with a full year basically starting. He developed a ton throughout the year, those experiences will carry over to this year,” Brown said.
“Josh Woods has been a surprise and has been great for us as a package guy. He’s really competing to try to win a spot. Bo is just a savvy vet that brings us a different type of presence when he’s on the field. He can make plays a lot of people in the league can’t,” he added.
During Brown’s time from a player to transitioning to a coach, two coaches impacted him specifically at Fresno State were Pat Hill, who coached Brown and the Bulldogs for 15 seasons and former Lions coach and former Lions coach Jeff Tedford who is the current head coach for the Fresno Bulldogs.
Pat Hill and Brown’s father worked in the same war room at Fresno State. Brown said Hill was always like an uncle to him. Hill also recruited Brown to play for the Bulldogs.
Jeff Tedford was one of the first coaches Brown worked with after his playing career. When Brown joined the Fresno State football coaching staff in 2015, Tedford was the person that helped Brown start his coaching career.
That is why Brown is always willing to help other coaches who are driven to gain more knowledge of the game.
No matter if it’s scheme-based questions or technical questions relating to the game, the BC Lions coaching staff will be answering those questions to help other youth coaches succeed during this weekend’s Coaches Playbook.
The club has teamed up with the UBC Thunderbirds and BC High School Football to host the annual coaching clinic that is only available to youth and amateur football coaches across British Columbia.
“I think it’s awesome that we do it. I’ve always enjoyed hearing people speak at clinics to begin with. There’s so much more I could learn from the questions being asked as well. It’s not only about the speaker, but it’s awesome to hear from other people who are a part of this,” Brown said.
Along with head coach Rick Campbell, Brown and the rest of the coaching staff will be providing tips and new techniques to help many football coaches across the province to succeed at their level of play.
“Last year, we did a pretty good job. Being able to be a support system. It’s not just for the coaching clinic but they can come to open practice if they have the thirst to know more. Come listen to the terminology, and the verbiage. We’d love to see more coaches bringing a few of their players to practices so they can learn from the pros,” Brown added.
His two older brothers are both still involved with the game as well. Brown’s older brother Eric is currently coaching at Clovis West High School in Fresno, California. After several seasons of coaching at Indiana State, Idaho and UNLV, Eric accepted the head coach role at their alma mater. He also brought their oldest brother Larry back to football, where Larry is in charge of the junior high level and potentially moving up to the system.
“I was able to come help Eric while he got his staff rolling. He’s still very much into the football world. It’s awesome because he brought our oldest brother back into the game as well,” Brown said.
“For me, it’s just the love for the game. The relationships you get to build with players, the ability to be able to mentor along that path for players is pretty special to me.”