Recruiting Territories:
New Jersey (Bergen, Warren, Sussex, Morris, Hunterdon, Union, Hudson, Essex, Passaic, Monmouth, Ocean County), Florida (West Coast – Tampa to Naples), Florida Private Schools
Tony Brinson returned to Grymes Hill in 2021 as Assistant Head Coach and Recruiting Coordinator after spending the 2019 season as the defensive coordinator at Morehead State.
Brinson has served more than 25 seasons as a collegiate football coach, including nine here at Wagner.
During his eight seasons on staff at Wagner, the veteran North Jersey native has worn many hats, having served as the Seahawks' defensive coordinator while also heading up the special teams, defensive line and linebackers.
Brinson was a member of the coaching staffs that led Wagner to the 2012 and 2014 (regular season) Northeast Conference (NEC) Championship. During his Seahawk tenure, Brinson has developed two team MVPs, five Defensive MVP's, and nine All-NEC players.
Most recently, Brinson helped develop linebacker Cam Gill who emerged as the NEC’s all-time sack leader and recently won Super Bowl LV with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Under Brinson, Gill was one of three All-NEC performers, along with linebacker Santoni Graham and defensive lineman Chris Williams, on a 2018 defensive unit that led the NCAA in sacks and ranked in the top 25 nationally in takeaways.
A 2018 AP third-Team All-American and a candidate for the Buck Buchanan Award, Gill earned three NEC Defensive Player of the Week Awards in 2018, while Williams signed a future/reserves contract with the Indianapolis Colts following the 2020 NFL season.
At Morehead State in 2019, Brinson helped the Eagles to their best record since 2015, including a 5-5 mark against FCS opponents, while his defense ranked 25th in the country in fumbles recovered.
In 2017, Brinson's defense ranked No. 1 in the NEC in both sacks and TFLs, while ranking No. 2 in rushing defense, which came on the heels of a 2016 season that saw the Seahawks rank in the top-25 nationally in sacks, TFLs, rushing defense, and scoring defense, while ranking 26th in total defense.
One of Brinson's former pupils is veteran NFL linebacker Julian Stanford, a 2011 First-Team All-NEC performer and NFL veteran. A current member of the member of the Carolina Panthers, Stanford previously played for the New York Jets, Jacksonville Jaguars, Detroit Lions, and Buffalo Bills.
Two of Stanford's teammates, also coached by Brinson, inked NFL free agent deals following the 2011 season in safety Jeremiah Brown and DE Quintin Anderson and were in training camps with the Jaguars and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, respectively. In 2017, linebacker Najee Harris was a free agent signee with the Oakland Raiders.
Brinson has also helped develop several players who have gone on to compete in the CFL. C.O. Prime, a 2013 free agent signee of the NFL Indianapolis Colts, went on to enjoy a four-year career in his native Canada as a member of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. In 2018, Mathieu Loiselle signed a free agent CFL contract.
Brinson’s more than two-decade career has taken him up and down the eastern seaboard where he has developed a host of deep and lasting recruiting relationships and contacts.
In 2014, the Seahawk defensive unit, spearheaded by its fine linebacker play, led the NEC in a host of categories while also ranking in the NCAA Top 10 in three major categories – Rushing Defense, No. 2 (83.1), Total Defense, No. 6 (281.3) and Scoring Defense, No. 10 (18.0).
Thanks in large part to the relentless brand of defense displayed by the Green & White defense, the 2014 Seahawks went 7-4 overall and 5-1 in league, sharing the NEC title with Sacred Heart. This marked Wagner's second NEC title in the last three years as the Seahawks won the 2012 championship en route to an appearance in the Division I NCAA Playoffs.
Brinson helped develop senior Max Wassel into a First-Team All-NEC performer whose 81 tackles, a 7.5 average per game, ranked No. 6 in the NEC. In addition, his 21 tackles for loss (for minus 61 yards) ranked No. 2 in the NEC while his 52 solo tackles ranked No. 3 in the league.
In 2013, Brinson helped develop outside linebacker Trevor Loveland, who was the only student-athlete to hail from a NEC program among the 43 members of the Athletics Directors Association (FCS ADA) Academic All-Star Team.
In Wagner's historic run to the 2012 NEC title and FCS Playoffs, aforementioned senior linebacker C.O. Prime recorded a team-best 98 tackles and earned second-team All-NEC honors. Also In 2012, Wagner’s starting outside linebacker tandem of seniors Theodore Clohessy and Mike Milone turned in stellar campaigns despite not possession the physical stature of most top FCS linebackers.
Much of the groundwork that led to the 2012 NEC title was laid in 2011 under Brinson’s direction as defensive coordinator. That season, Wagner ranked No. 1 in the NEC in three different categories: rushing defense (141.1 yards per game), red zone defense (71.8%) and takeaways (29).
Brinson arrived on Grymes Hill in 2011 after serving three years as an assistant at Columbia University. Brinson joined the Columbia staff in April 2008 and was the Lions’ tight end coach throughout his tenure there.
While at Columbia, Brinson helped mold tight end Andrew Kennedy into becoming a First-Team All-Ivy league, First-Team Walter Camp All-American and a CollegePerformance.com Tight End of the Year as a senior in 2010. Team-wise, Brinson helped produce an offense that ranked No. 2 in rushing in the Ivy League in 2009 and No. 1 in passing efficiency en route to a fourth place finish in the Ivy, Columbia’s best since 1996 honor.
From 2004 to 2007, Brinson served as an assistant coach at his alma mater, the University of Rhode Island, where he coached the defensive line for three years and the secondary for one year. During his four-year tenure at URI, three of his players earned Colonial Athletic Association or Atlantic 10 All-Conference honors. Four of Brinson’s players established themselves in the all-time record book for most sacks in a single game, most forced fumbles in a season/career, and most pass breakups in a season.
Brinson helped develop cornerbacks Raji El-Amin and Kiameer Johnson, who both received All-Conference honors. El-Amin would go on to play for the River City Rage and the Eerie River Rats of the IFL while Johnson had a free agent tryout with the NFL’s Cleveland Browns.
Prior to his stint at Rhode Island, Brinson spent four seasons as an assistant at Bryant (2000-2003) where he served as wide receiver coach his first year. The next three seasons, he wore many hats, serving as Bryant’s Recruiting Coordinator/Secondary Coach, Co-Defensive Coordinator and Special Teams Coordinator.
While at Bryant, the Bulldogs ranked No. 7 nationally and No. 3 in the conference for pass defense efficiency.
During his tenure as Co-Defensive Coordinator, Bryant’s defense held 11 of 22 opponents to 18 points or less per game.
Brinson helped produce two all-conference players in the secondary while at Bryant, Che Perez and Jesse Lewis. Both of these players still hold school records for single-season interceptions and tackles, respectively, and both went on to play professionally in the Arena Football League.
Prior to his arrival at Bryant, Brinson spent four seasons (1996-99) at Kean University where served as wide receivers coach, then linebackers and finally, secondary coach.
In his career, Brinson has been nominated to serve as defensive coordinator and secondary coach at two All-Star Bowl games, the Holiday Bowl (1996) and the East-West Bowl (1997).
Following his 1995 graduation from the University of Rhode Island, Brinson began his coaching career as a student assistant/running backs coach with the Rams.
