Former Gamecocks linebacker taking over as head coach at SC high school, report says

A South Carolina high school located outside of Charleston has turned to a former Gamecock to lead its football program.

Eric Brown, a USC letterman who played linebacker under coach Sparky Woods in the early 1990s, has been hired as the head coach at St. John’s High School , according to a Monday report from Scott Eisberg of TV station WCIV.

Eisberg also reported that Brown is bringing in former South Carolina running back Cory Boyd to St. John’s to be his offensive coordinator.

Brown, who has been coaching at various levels over the past 20 years, comes to St. John’s after spending 2023 as Winston Salem State’s associate head coach, linebackers coach and special teams coordinator.

The majority of Brown’s coaching experience comes from assistant coaching roles throughout North Carolina high schools, as well stints at VMI, Livingston College, Methodist University and other small colleges.

Boyd, meanwhile, has experience coaching high school football in South Carolina, having spent time as an assistant at Blythewood High. A New Jersey native, Boyd played for the Gamecocks under both Lou Holtz and Steve Spurrier and has the 12th-most career rushing yards in South Carolina history (2,267 yards).

After being drafted in the seventh round of the 2008 NFL Draft, he spent a year in the league before playing two seasons in the Canadian Football League.

Last year, St. John’s went 2-9 and lost 57-0 in the first round of the SCHSL Class A playoffs. In four seasons leading the Islanders, former head coach Mike Howard accumulated a 9-28 record before the school parted ways with him last November.

It should be known that the St. John’s athletic director is another former Gamecock , Hank Campbell, who was in the same South Carolina linebacker room with Brown for a few seasons.

Campbell finished his Gamecock career as a team captain in 1995 and, after years of coaching, became the St. John’s AD in 2021.