Nashua North football assistant Ray Brown, a former player at Vanderbilt, workes seven years in security at Rockingham County Jail. (Telegraph photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA – Life lessons.

That’s what Nashua High School North assistant football coach Ray Brown is all about.

And he’s experienced a lot of them, especially during a seven-year stint as a corporal supervisor of guards at Rockingham County Jail in Brentwood.

“It’s a different world, it really is,” Brown said. “It’s a world within itself.”

Brown is new to the North staff, as he worked with current Titan assistant Kyle Tave at Pennichuck Junior High. He played his college football at Vanderbilt with former NFL QB Jay Cutler, and coached at Albright College.

“I think for me, discipline was important,” Brown said. “I think it helped me avoid a lot of troubles in life. That discipline came with sports. Passing it on to the next generation is important.

“Help some of these young men make good choices, helping them to believe in themselves, helping them to understand hard work does pay off.”

“We’ve got a great group of kids here, a great staff, great blessings.”

At Vanderbilt, Brown, a 6-3, 295 defensive tackle for the Commodores, redshirted his freshman year but still managed to win Scout Team Player of the Week a couple of times. He played every game in 2004 but was still hampered by a painful pinched nerve in his neck. He was hurt again in 2005, limited to six games but got consecutive starts at defensive tackle vs. LSU, Georgia, South Carolina and Florida.

He did play, however, when Jay Cutler was the Vandy QB. “He was a helluva quarterback, a good team player,” Brown said. “Something about having your quarterback mouthing off when you’re down 14, gives you a little bit of edge.”

When did Brown get the coaching bug?

“The bug’s always been there,” he said. “Number of years in high school, I knew what I wanted to do. I think recently coming back as not on my radar.

“I think this group of kids is what got the itch back for me.”

That’s because he worked with some of them in basketball at Pennichuck. He was exploring an opening on South’s football staff, but then had a chance to go to North and grabbed it.

But the stories he can tell and those he won’t are worth a sit down.

Law enforcement was always in the back of the Jackson, N.J.native’s mind as his father was a N.J. State trooper.

“Having the opportunity to experience it, you learn the holes of the system, and the good and bad of the system,” Brown said. “Catching kids is where I consider my best benefit. Help society, help those kids before they make those choices and end up (in a place like Rockingham).”

Brown saw a lot. He saw a mix of young and old. He handled a lot of the intakes and paperwork. “You see a lot of young men who are stuck in the system one way or another, fall into it, and are stuck in it long term,” Brown said. “You see them as they come in as young men – and continue to come in.That’s the issue. Try to help them before (it’s too late).”

Brown kept a level head during those seven years.

“You understand the importance of the laws and the rules in place,” he said, “and you understand the security aspects that go into running a jail. It’s a lot.

“All the people that do it, I respect them 100 percent. They put their lives at risk. They walk in there, they do their job to the best of their abilty. I have nothing but the utmost respect for all of law enforcement.”

One would have thought that it would have been a jumping off point to a career as perhaps a state trooper, following in his father’s footsteps. But no.

“I think I always kind of knew I was not a state trooper (in the making),” Brown said with a chuckle. “I joke with my Dad, ‘I’m not a cop but I’m not a thug either.’ Corrections was kind of that middle ground where you can still help people. You can still make a difference in there, working those jobs. I think I can make a bigger impact out here helping kids before they make those choices.”

That was the thing. Brown felt he could be more far reaching outside of those walls to keep people from going inside.

Brown, a counselor at Pennichuck, does a lot of substance education, “trying to help young men and women understand some of the struggles around substances and how to make positive choices for themselves.”

Brown was lucky in his mind that he never went through that, thanks to his father’s influence. His father pointed in the direction of sports, and Brown followed that trail the whole way.

“He was my first coach,” Brown said. “And he instilled the love of hard work; do your best, put your best foot forward and good things happen.”

Brown was a multi-sport athlete. Besides football he was a 180-foot discus thrower, and a 58-foot shot putter. It helped with football, moving those Olympic lifts, etc.

Brown will coach the freshmen, and loves it.

“Great community here,” he said. “The coaching staff has been absolutely amazing.”

So how did Brown end up in Nashua? He bought his first home here years ago and his wife of 11 years is from Pelham. He coached for a spring at Saint Anselm, thn went on to coach on the football staff at Albright College. Then the job at Pennichuck opened up and Brown felt “it was the best way to get my hooks into young men looking to find themselves.”

Tave mentioned to Brown their might be a chance at North and Brown yelled out “Football?”

“It got me going, I got goosebumps right away,” Brown said. “He introduced me to Chad (North head coach Zibolis) and Chad had a spot open up and I got lucky.”

“He’s been outstanding,” Zibolis said. “He knows his stuff. He’s great with the kids. He works with every single kid, no matter what ability level. He works on the small things, not just the larger part of it. The intricate things of blocking and tackling. You just watching him coach, an unbelievable addition to our staff.”

Zibolis said the life lessons Brown imparts are “unbelievable.”

“It’s great to see him out on the field,” Zibolis said. “You can see the excitement of coaching for him. It seems he just loves it, which is awesome. He’s got that fire in his stomach right now.”

The Titan players will clearly benefit from Brown’s tutelage. What does Brown tell youths is the first thing they need to to do to stay on the straight and narrow?

“Good question,” Brown said. “I think believe in yourself is the first step in understanding that everything’s not always going to be perfect but how you respond to things is half the battle.

“Life’s not going to be perfect. Good things are going to happen, bad things are going to happen. But how you respond to it is what makes you the person, what makes you who you are.

“That’s kind of my message. Do the best you can, put your best foot forward, and good things will happen.”

Brown is in a perfect setting – in sports.

“That connection with sports, there’s so many kids you can reach,” Brown said. “You learn life lessons on the sports field you can’t learn anywhere else. My biggest impact is in a locker room, helping kids in the next generation.”

With their life lessons.