The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Mortensen Names Hindley Brigham as Assistant Coach
1/14/2026 9:45:00 AM | Football
BIRMINGHAM – UAB Head Football Coach Alex Mortensen has named Hindley Brigham as an assistant coach for the Blazers. Brigham spent nine seasons as the Blazers' running backs coach before spending the 2025 season at ULM.
In his one season with the Warhawks, Brigham helped orchestrate a formidable ground attack. Zach Palmer-Smith and Braylon McReynolds both tallied over 650 rushing yards during the 2025 season.
Brigham played an instrumental role in helping craft one of the nation's best rushing attacks in his tenure in Birmingham. Since the 2017 season, Brigham coached Spencer Brown (2017-20), DeWayne McBride (2020-22) and Jermaine Brown Jr. (2019-23) to record setting careers.
These three players are the only three in school history to rush for over 3,000 career yards as Brown ranks first (4,011) followed by McBride (3,542) and Brown Jr. (3,078). All three shattered the record books along the way.
Brigham guided Jermaine Brown Jr. to the school record in career all-purpose yards (5,026). In addition to the school record in all-purpose yards, Brown Jr. finished his career ranked first in career receptions by a running back (95), second in receiving yards by a running back (789), third in career rushing yards (3,078), fourth in career rushing touchdowns (30) and fourth in career 100-yard rushing games (11).
As a senior in 2023, Brown Jr. had 803 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns, to go along with 41 catches for 416 yards and 15 kickoff returns for 331 yards. He had a total of 1,550 all-purpose yards and his average of 129.2 all-purpose YPG led the AAC.
In 2022, McBride had the most decorated single season in program history as he set school records for rushing yards (1,713), rushing yards per game (155.7), rushing touchdowns (19), yards per carry (7.35), 100-yard games (10), 200-yard games (3) and total points (114). Additionally, he set the single game school rushing records with 272 yards in the season finale against Louisiana Tech.
The Blazers posted one of the nation's top rushing attacks in 2022, finishing eighth nationally with 235.6 rushing yards per game and setting school records with 3,063 total rushing yards. Under Brigham's guidance, DeWayne McBride delivered an elite season, while Jermaine Brown Jr. added a career-best 948 yards and eight touchdowns. Brown Jr. recorded five 100-yard games, forming one of the most dangerous backfield duos in the country.
Previously, Spencer Brown (2017–2020) established himself as UAB's most accomplished rusher, finishing his career with 4,011 yards and holding school records for rushing touchdowns (41), total touchdowns (42), and 100-yard games (19). He earned FWAA Freshman All-American and Conference USA Freshman of the Year honors in 2017 after rushing for 1,329 yards and 10 touchdowns. In 2018, Brigham helped Brown produce 1,227 yards and then-school records of 16 rushing touchdowns, 17 total touchdowns, and 102 points, marks that stood until 2022.
Brown also made Conference USA history by becoming the first player named Championship Game MVP twice, leading the Blazers to titles in 2018 and 2020 with rushing performances of 156 and 149 yards. The Blazers' rushing success continued after his graduation, as McBride rushed for 1,371 yards and 13 touchdowns in 2021, ranking third in single-season rushing yards and tied for second in rushing touchdowns, while averaging an impressive 6.72 yards per carry which ranked fifth best nationally.
Brigham was named UAB's running backs coach in May of 2017 after spending the previous year as the Blazers' offensive analyst.
A standout running back for local Mountain Brook High School, Brigham began his collegiate playing career at Baylor and was a Second Team Academic All-Big 12 performer following his sophomore season. After two years with the Bears, Brigham transferred to Furman where he etched his name into the record book from 2002-03.
He led the Paladins in rushing in both 2002 and 2003, highlighted by a 1,042-yard, five-touchdown season in 2003, when he was also named a team captain and earned Second Team All-Southern Conference honors. That year, Brigham received the John Bagwell Offensive Back Award, and he finished his career with nine 100-yard rushing games and 2,034 rushing yards, ranking 11th all-time at Furman. He capped his college career with a 145-yard, one-touchdown performance in a 63–21 win over Chattanooga.
In 2007, Brigham coached running backs at Birmingham Southern under head coach Joey Jones, where he led a unit that amassed 1,833 rushing yards and 16 touchdowns during the Panthers return to the gridiron following a 68-year hiatus.
He graduated from Furman in 2003 with a degree in political science and earned his second degree in English from the University of Montevallo in 2015.
Brigham and wife Erin have two children, daughter Dot and son Tuff.
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