Duane Brooks - Football Coach - Dartmouth College Athletics

Photo by: Mike Janes

Duane Brooks

Title:
Assistant Coach - Defensive LIne
Alma Mater:
Maine ’87
Email:
duane.e.brooks@dartmouth.edu
Phone (603):
603-646-9093
At Dartmouth:
10th Year (2014-)

Recruiting Area: Arizona, Northern California, Hawaii, Idaho, Oregon, Utah, Washington

Brooks joined the Big Green staff in the summer of 2014 as the defensive line coach. He came to Hanover following a distinguished career spanning more than two decades at the collegiate level and has now completed 22 seasons in the Ivy League.

That experience served him well in his first year at Dartmouth as two of his three starting linemen were named to the All-Ivy First Team in Evan Chrustic and A.J. Zuttah, while the third (Cody Fulleton) made the second team. Both Zuttah and Fulleton returned in 2015 to garner first-team honors, while Sawyer Whalen earned honorable mention. Nick Tomkins made the second team in 2016 and ’17 with two seniors earning honorable mention in both years as well.

Brooks’ 2018 line might be the best of them all with Rocco Di Leo named to numerous All-America honors, Jackson Perry joining Di Leo on the All-Ivy First Team, David Chalmers making the second team and Niko Lalos earning honorable mention. The formidable front helped Dartmouth rank second in the nation in both rushing defense and scoring defense, fourth in total defense and 12th in turnovers forced.

His 2019 unit that helped secure the conference crown, featuring Lalos, Perry and Chalmers, was second nationally in scoring defense for the second straight year, plus led the league and ranked in the top 15 in total, rushing and passing efficiency defense. Both Lalos and Perry were recognized as All-Ivy First Team performers with Chalmers making the second team. Lalos then went on to play in the Hula Bowl and was named his team’s MVP before making a splash on the NFL scene in the second half of the 2020 campaign.

Shane Cokes was named to the All-ivy Second Team in both 2021 and 2022 before taking a graduate year at the University of Colorado, and Seth Walter joined him on the second team in ’21, giving Brooks at least one of his players earning All-Ivy honors in each of his first eight seasons.

Prior to his arrival in Hanover, Brooks served on the Husson College staff for two years overseeing the defensive line after a 15-year stint with the Yale Bulldogs in the same role. He coached no fewer than 22 linemen that earned All-Ivy honors while in New Haven.

During the 1996 campaign, he spent the season under legendary coach Al Bagnoli at Penn as the director of football operations. Brooks began his career as a defensive line mentor in 1992 at Colby College, followed by single seasons at Maine (video coordinator), Johnson C. Smith (defensive line and special teams) and Allegheny College (defensive end).

In addition to his football duties at Colby, Brooks also coached women’s squash and men’s basketball, the latter for the school’s long-time coach Dick Whitmore, the father of current Dartmouth Associate Athletics Director Richard Whitmore.

Brooks, a four-year member of the football squad at the University of Maine where he earned his degree in 1987, played his final two seasons for the Black Bears under Buddy Teevens, who enjoyed a successful stint with the Black Bears in his first head coaching position.