Nate Brown - Track & Field Coach - Ball State University Athletics

Nate Brown

Title:
Assistant Coach (Throws)
Email:
nabrown3@bsu.edu

An instructor and advisor in the Ball State University School of Kinesiology since August of 2015, Nate Brown enters his fourth season as the throws coach for the Cardinals in 2020-21.

“Nate’s expertise in the areas of strength and conditioning and exercise science will have a huge positive impact on our throws area,” head coach Brian Etelman said upon Brown joining the staff. “I am really excited to have someone so close to the program that appreciates what we do step in and help guide us. The throws group is on the brink of being a big difference maker for our team and I believe Nate will play a large role in making that happen.”

In just three seasons working with the program’s throwers, Brown’s impact can already be seen in the Cardinals record book.

In his first season, Brown mentored Kelsey Walters to a new program standard in the outdoor shot put at 14.77m (48’-5.5”). Walters would go on to place seventh in the event at the 2018 Mid-American Conference Outdoor Championships.

In Brown’s second season, Walters added what was at the time the second-best individual performance in program history in the indoor shot put (14.37m / 47’-1.75”), which also earned her an eighth-place spot at the 2019 MAC Indoor Championships.

Walters picked up her second program record in Brown’s third season, breaking the mark twice in the indoor shot put and capping her career with a school-record effort of 15.33m (50’-3.5”) to earn second team All-MAC and a second-place finish in the event at the 2020 MAC Indoor Championships.

Unfortunately, Walters would not get a chance to go after the outdoor record again in 2020, as the season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Walters is not the only student-athlete to shine under Brown’s guidance, however, as the 2018 season saw Jada Caldwell turn in the fifth-best individual effort in program history in the outdoor shot put at 13.55m (44’-5.5”).

In 2019, Abby Denham placed seventh at the MAC Outdoor Championships in the javelin with the second-best individual mark on Ball State’s all-time list at 42.38m (“139’-0”).

Brown also helped Princess Carter collect the program’s third-best individual mark in the outdoor discus (47.18m / 154’-9”) in his second season and the fifth-best effort in the indoor weight throw (17.83m / 58’-6”) in his third season.

The 2020 campaign also saw Megan Graves complete her transition from high jumper to thrower, as she placed ninth in the weight throw at the MAC Indoor Championships. She also secured her spot as one of the program’s elite throwers by recording the fourth-best individual mark in program history in the indoor weight throw with a distance of 17.86m (58’-7.25”).

Overall, Brown’s throwers have qualified for the MAC Championships a total of 20 times, and combined to earn 13 points for the Cardinals over the past three seasons.

A collegiate thrower himself at Indiana State University (2001-05), Brown served as the volunteer assistant throws coach at Hamilton Heights High School for the past two seasons.

Brown has spent the better part of the last decade working to develop athletes in various event groups and sports at the high school, collegiate and post-collegiate levels.

Prior to working at Ball State, Brown was an instructor in the Department of Kinesiology, Recreation, and Sport at his alma mater Indiana State.

He has also worked as a fitness director, personal trainer and spent two years as the assistant boys track & field coach at Fishers High School (2009-11).