Former Gamecocks defensive back hired to coach baseball at South Pointe High School

Former University of South Carolina and NFL defensive back Sheldon Brown is the next head coach for South Pointe High’s baseball program.

The Fort Lawn, S.C., native has spent the previous eight seasons as the coach of Clover Middle School’s baseball program.

“It’s a new adventure, new journey,” Brown said. “If anyone knows me, I was always the underdog. From the time I grew up in Fort Lawn, South Carolina, attending Class A Lewisville High School. I was supposed to be a fifth-round draft pick in the NFL, worked my tail off, and I ended up being a second-round draft pick. ... I’m just a hard worker, a grinder, and I like to believe that no one else will outwork me.”

Brown, who was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in 2002 and also played for the Cleveland Browns, has also always had a love for baseball.

He started playing baseball as a 9-year-old with the Lancaster Dixie Baseball youth program, traveling 10 miles in the back of his coach’s pickup truck to attend games. Brown even played baseball in college, hitting .288 with a .464 on-base percentage as a junior in his lone season with South Carolina.

Brown believes that being a multi-sport athlete carries several benefits. There were elements of baseball that helped him with football, and vice versa.

“I just think football gives you a mentality and a mind-set of determination when the going gets tough, and it’s really hard,” Brown said. “You will fight your way through it, and you’ll persevere and keep moving forward. We all know that baseball is a game of failure. You’re going to fail a lot, but not many people can bounce back from failure. That’s the one thing I know about football players. You fail a lot throughout the course of the game, but you keep getting up and you keep giving it another shot.”

Along with coaching at Clover, the 45-year-old Brown also runs and coaches his own travel youth baseball team called T24 Baseball.

Among the players he has coached is his son Dion, who is entering his freshman season with Clemson’s baseball program.

His knowledge of the game is what drew South Pointe to hire Brown as the Stallions prepare to compete in a new region next season.

“He’s been coaching a long time, but he’s also been a professional athlete, so he knows what it takes to get to the next level,” South Pointe athletic director Carlos Richardson said. “And that’s what we want our kids to do ... compete at South Pointe, go on to the next level and be great in life. We just feel like we’ll get good fast with his ability to shape and mold our kids as well as bringing in community partnerships to help our student-athletes improve on and off the field.”

Brown said he already has help in place to make his first experience as a high school head coach an easy one.

Former area coaches Billy Keels and Tripper Crisson will serve as administrative assistants for Brown, while Garret Zohner, Noah Lindsay and Jack Peeler will serve as assistant coaches.