The UConn football program officially announced named Matt Brock its new defensive coordinator on Tuesday.
Brock joins the Huskies after four years at Mississippi State, the last of which he served as the Bulldogs’ defensive coordinator.
“Matt is an excellent football coach and one of the best young defensive coordinators in our profession,” third-year head coach Jim Mora said, per a team release. “Matt comes to us with a great track record having made a tremendous impact on the Mississippi State defense the past four years in one of the toughest college football conferences in the country. We are excited to have him joining our program and I’m looking forward to working with him.”
Welcome to Husky Nation, Defensive Coordinator @Coach_MBrock#CTFootball pic.twitter.com/WNJ6tODaZP
— UConn Football (@UConnFootball) February 13, 2024
UConn opted to leave its defensive coordinator position open following the departure of Lou Spanos, who headed the Huskies’ defense from 2019-21 before taking a leave of absence prior to the 2022 season and eventually leaving the staff altogether. Mora doubled as defensive coordinator his first two seasons in Storrs, with much of the responsibilities handled by committee.
Brock began his coaching career at Baker University as a graduate student after he played four years at linebacker, and then joined Texas Tech as a defensive quality control coach in 2013 before being promoted to inside linebackers coach for the 2014 and 2015 seasons.
He then took a job coaching special teams and linebackers at Bowling Green for 2016 and 2017, when he was nominated among the top assistant coaches in the country for the Broyles Award. His special teams units ranked among the nation’s top 20 in net punting average (fourth), kickoff return defense (third) and punt return defense (20th), according to his Mississippi State profile.
Spending the next two years as Washington State’s special teams and outside linebackers coach, Brock joined Mississippi State in the same role in 2020. He served as the Bulldogs’ defensive play caller in their 19-10 win over Illinois in the ReliaQuest Bowl and was promoted to defensive coordinator days later.
His hiring at UConn comes after Mississippi State finished 5-7 overall and 1-7 in the SEC in 2023. The Bulldogs’ defense allowed 350.6 total yards (No. 40 of 130 FBS programs) and 26.6 points per game (No. 66) last season. UConn’s defense, against much worse competition, ranked No. 95 in total yards allowed (406.5) and No. 96 in points allowed (29.8). The Bulldogs’ defense featured the two top tacklers in the SEC in linebackers Nathaniel Watson (137 tackles) and Jett Johnson (130).
“I am grateful to be joining the UConn football family and want to thank Coach Mora for this opportunity,” Brock said in a team release. “I am really excited to get to work with the rest of our coaching staff and am looking forward to working with our student-athletes as we strive to keep improving our football team every day.”
Brock is the fourth hire by UConn football this offseason, joining new strength and conditioning director Tyson Brown, director of player personnel Jeremiah Bogan and general manager Eddie Hernon.