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A&T head coach Vincent Brown didn’t attempt to mask his frustration in the aftermath of the Aggies’ 59-17 beatdown by Hampton last weekend.
It was one of the most embarrassing Homecoming losses in school history and dropped Brown’s career record to just 2-16 since arriving in Greensboro in 2023.
“That was an abject failure in every form and fashion,” said Brown, whose team is now 1-6 overall this season and 0-3 in the Coastal Athletic Association. “We looked like a poorly coached team, and I own that. I am utterly sick. The way we started (with such promise), it’s so disappointing.”
However, if anyone thought he was ready to throw in the towel after just a year and half into his mission of reshaping the A&T football program, think again.
When asked on Monday how he would respond to fans and alumni who might be questioning if he was still the right man for the job, Brown was emphatic.
“Absolutely,” he declared.
Perhaps more importantly, his boss, A&T Director of Athletics Earl Hilton, was in attendance during Brown’s weekly press conference and cosigned that sentiment from the back of the room, letting it be known Brown still had his full support.
Realistically, the two might now be tied at the hip, as the continued struggles of the school’s No. 1 revenue sport could serve as be an indictment of Hilton’s ability to lead the department moving forward.
Coming off a bye week and having extra time to prepare, A&T was hoping to finally get a signature win to ignite the fanbase. And early on it looked like that might happen as the Aggies capitalized on a pair of Pirate miscues to quickly jump out to a 14-0 lead.
But what appeared to have the makings of a Homecoming dream scenario quickly morphed back into the reoccurring nightmare of negative big plays as Hampton responded with 31 unanswered points, sending most of the sold-out crowd back to the tailgate tents early.
The main culprit behind the Aggies’ second quarter collapse was once again a porous defense that got dominated on the line of scrimmage and suffered a number of blown assignments in the secondary.
Hampton rushed for 231 yards in the contest, marking the second straight week and third time the season an A&T opponent has gained over 200 yards on the ground.
“Defensively, we gave up four explosive runs of 20 yards plus,” said Brown. “Some of that missed gap fits and some of that was just missed tackles in the at the second and third level.”
A&T now ranks next to last in the CAA in run defense, giving up 198.3 yards on the ground, and is currently dead last in the conference in both scoring defense (42.3 points per game) and total defense (458.4 yards per game).
That kind of statistical futility mirrors the offensive struggles A&T experienced last year, which led to be abrupt firing of former coordinator Chris Young right after the season.
When asked this week if he is considering making any staff changes before the end of this season, Brown said he was not.
“No, I believe in our staff,“ Brown said. “We’ve got great leaders. Our coaches care about the development of our players. Our coaches have had (previous) success coaching; they didn’t just all of the sudden (forget) how to coach. But as I shared with our staff yesterday: this is a result-oriented business. It’s our job to produce results and sometimes those results aren’t immediate.”
This Saturday, the Aggies travel down to Buies Creek to face Campbell at 1 p.m. on what will be the Fighting Camels’ Homecoming.
After a 35-28 loss on Saturday to William & Mary, Campbell is now 2-5 overall and tied with A&T for last place in the CAA at 0-3.
The Fighting Camels are the only CAA team with a lower ranked run defense than the Aggies, allowing 227.1 yards on the ground and giving up 15 rushing touchdowns this season.
This might be the Aggies’ best remaining chance for a win with upcoming games against William & Mary, Villanova, Towson and Elon completing the final month of the season.
Brown said he was still confident success is coming soon.
“You want to win every game,” Brown said. “Our goal was to be in position to compete for a CAA title. That probably is not a realistic goal now, but we still have five conference games left. So, win the next game and then worry about the next game after that.”
