Who is Tim Brewster? Four things to know about the Charlotte 49ers’ interim head coach
The Charlotte 49ers have a new head football coach for their final two games of the season.
Interim coach Tim Brewster, a longtime assistant at various levels, became the Niners’ associate head coach before this season under Biff Poggi, who was fired Monday by athletic director Mike Hill — before the conclusion of his second year at the helm.
Brewster, 64, has roamed several NFL and college sidelines since starting as a successful high school football head coach after a standout collegiate playing career. He was recently the associate head coach for Mack Brown, Dan Mullen and Deion Sanders before assuming that role on Poggi’s staff before this season.
Here are four things to know about Tim Brewster:
Brewster followed Coach Prime from Jackson State to Colorado
Charlotte’s interim head coach spent the previous two seasons under one of football’s most recognizable faces.
Brewster joined Sanders at Jackson State in 2022 and then followed the head coach to Colorado. He had been the associate head coach at Florida under Mullen for the previous two years, before which he was the recruiting coordinator in Chapel Hill under Brown for the 2019 season.
“I had two really wonderful years with (Sanders),” Brewster said in August at the American’s preseason media day in Texas. “The biggest thing about Coach Prime is that through his preparation, he has supreme confidence. Supreme confidence. It’s all about preparation, and making sure the players are doing their due diligence in the weight room, on the field, with their practice habits.”
Before his coaching career, Brewster was an All-Big Ten TE
The longtime tight ends coach also has an extensive career playing the position.
Brewster was a tight end growing up in Phillipsburg, New Jersey, and graduated from the University of Illinois in 1984. He was a two-time All-Big Ten selection — leading tight ends nationally in receiving yards — and captained an Illini team that played UCLA in the Rose Bowl.
He participated in NFL training camps with the New York Giants and Philadelphia Eagles before beginning his coaching career in 1986 as a graduate assistant at Purdue.
Brewster developed Antonio Gates and Kyle Pitts
Most of Brewster’s coaching career has specifically focused on tight ends, and he’s worked with some of the best.
He recently coached Kyle Pitts during his time with the Gators in 2020 and 2021. The All-American tight end won the John Mackey Award, going to the most outstanding tight end in the nation, and his fourth overall selection by the Atlanta Falcons makes him the highest-drafted tight end in NFL history.
Brewster also led the Chargers to sign Antonio Gates in 2003 while on the staff of the NFL franchise that formerly played in San Diego. He’s credited with helping the rapid rise of rise of Gates, who became a six-time All-Pro selection after playing basketball at Kent State University.
Brewster has coached on multiple NFL staffs
While mainly a college coach, Brewster spent five seasons in the NFL.
Brewster became the Chargers’ tight ends coach in 2002 following four years under Mack Brown at Texas (1998-2001). He’d spent the previous nine years at UNC (1989-1997) in his first full-time collegiate coaching job after making his mark at Lafayette Central Catholic High School in Indiana.
Following Gates’ rookie season in 2003, Brewster was elevated to San Diego’s associate head coach under Marty Schottenheimer.
Brewster joined the Denver Broncos after a season in that role and spent the 2005 and 2006 seasons as the tight ends coach for head coach Mike Shanahan.
That professional experience led to his first major head coaching job at Minnesota, where he guided the Golden Gophers to two bowl games from 2007-10. After 14 years, Brewster is a head coach once again.
This story was originally published November 19, 2024 at 6:00 AM.
