Inside the Protest: A Conversation with Coach Preston Brown

by | Oct 17, 2016 | Uncategorized |

A few weeks back, my law students and I had the tremendous opportunity to sit down with Preston Brown, head football coach at Woodrow Wilson High School in Camden, New Jersey. Brown, a Camden native and former Division-I football player for Tulane University, has made it his mission to be a role model for the young men on his football team, working tirelessly every day to keep them off the streets and give them the opportunity to attend college.


Growing up in the projects, Brown’s path to college football was anything but easy. He had to overcome a string of obstacles in his home life, which could’ve derailed even the most motivated of students. Despite the challenges he faced, Brown persisted both on the football field and in the classroom and earned second in his class and 40 scholarship offers.

“I’m forever indebted to my school and my community,” Brown says of his journey out of Camden.


Brown spent most of his post-graduate career in the corporate world with a few football stints here and there, but felt as though he wasn’t making a real difference. He left his office job to join the staff at Woodrow Wilson, hoping to serve as a mentor to young football players, especially those struggling academically.

Brown is now in the midst of his second season as the Tigers’ head football coach, and his efforts have already resulted in tremendous improvements for Woodrow Wilson’s football program. Last school year, the 60-plus students on the team had accumulated 200 suspension days. So far this season? Zero. Of all of the students on the school’s honor roll, 50 percent of them are players on Brown’s team, four of whom have perfect 4.0 GPAs. All six seniors on last year’s team are now attending college on full-ride scholarships, and Brown intends to have the same success rate for this year’s 17 seniors.

Despite their 3-2 record, the Tigers have found themselves in the center of the media spotlight this season. The attention has little to do with the on-field play and just about everything to do with pre-game rituals. Brown’s football team has taken a page out of Colin Kaepernick’s book and elected to kneel during the National Anthem. Brown, who has always felt an animosity towards the Anthem, approached his players at the beginning of the season telling them of his plans to kneel and giving them the option to join him. All but two have.

After receiving national coverage, Brown had hundreds of friend requests and messages on Facebook and found his inbox flooded with emails from people around the world – some positive, others negative. Regardless of the tone, Brown makes an effort to respond to each and every one hoping to ignite a conversation about change.

Brown plans to kneel for the remainder of the season and possibly even longer, saying that there needs to be tangible transformation in the community before the protest ends and he once again rises to his feet. In the meantime, Brown continues to focus on the success of his players, both on and off the field, while continuing to speak out about social injustice.

“I’m trying to present change another way,” he said. “I’ve been preparing my whole life for this moment.”


Check out our full conversation below and make sure to follow Brown on Twitter for updates on the Tigers’ football season and their continued protest.