Ricky Brown is heading back home.
A Cincinnati, Ohio, native who starred in college at Boston College and also previously coached at his alma mater, Brown will leave his current post at Ohio State and has accepted a position as special teams quality control coach on Luke Fickell’s Cincinnati Bearcats staff.
For the past two years, Brown had served as the Buckeyes’ special teams quality control coach for OSU head man Ryan Day.
But the undersized Brown, who was a standout-player at Cincinnati-area prep powerhouse Elder where he also excelled in track, developed into an immediate impact player for the Eagles in college, playing four years at Boston College.
He then spent parts of seven years in the NFL with the Oakland Raiders, New England Patriots and Baltimore Ravens before ultimately injuries helped necessitate a transition into coaching.
A linebacker and special teams player in college and the pros, Brown gravitated toward that element in coaching. He began his career at USC, spending two years as a defensive quality control coach for the Trojans, before returning to his alma mater in 2016 as the Eagles’ director of football initiatives.
A year later, Brown transitioned to an on-field assistant coach, filling the role of Boston College’s special teams coordinator for three seasons and then joining the Buckeyes’ staff for the 2020-21 campaigns.
After a season of unprecedented success, the Bearcats have retooled a great portion of their assistant coaching staff, including having to replace former special teams coordinator Brian Mason after Mason was hired away by Marcus Freeman and Notre Dame.