Jonathan Brown reflects on the journey that brought him from England to Williamsburg, KY

“If you stay the course and keep working hard, you’ve done everything that you need to do. Now it’s just about performing when the lights are on you, and when you do perform, the opportunities will keep coming.” This was just one piece of advice that University of the Cumberlands graduate student Jonathan Brown had to offer young athletes recently.

A native of London, England, Brown knows all about the sacrifices that are necessary to be successful in athletics. Thanks to his determination and unwavering belief in his own abilities, he has managed to live out his dream of traveling across the United States while competing in college basketball for the past five years.

“I started playing basketball when I was 14,” Brown said. “I played in high school, and started to get good around the age of 18, so I thought that going to America might be a possibility.”

Brown ended up going to a Division II school in California for one year before transferring to a junior college in North Dakota. His next stop was at Central Methodist University, an NAIA school in Missouri.

“That’s where I really started to ramp myself up in the college ranks,” Brown explained. “I was a third-team All-American that year, I was first team All-Conference, and we ended up making it to the NAIA National Tournament.”

Brown’s success allowed him to move up to the Division I University of Montana, but as he found out, competing at that level did not afford as many opportunities for him.

“It was a tough experience going from being a top player on the team to not really playing at all,” Brown said. “At that point I only had one more year left, and I didn’t want to bank on just maybe getting to play.”

Once Brown entered the transfer portal again, he received a call from University of the Cumberlands assistant Kyle Bush, who had actually had the chance to see Brown play back home in England several years prior.

“He said, ‘Why don’t you come down here and let’s do something special together,’” Brown said.

And that is exactly what they did.

This past season, Brown and the Patriots finished with a 28-5 overall record, winning their first 13 games and playing their way into the NAIA National Championship Tournament. They got the opportunity to host a pair of NAIA Opening Round games in Williamsburg, which they won to advance to the round of 16 in Kansas City, MO.

“It was a long preseason, but everyone came together and worked hard to come through that,” Brown said when asked to reflect on the season. “We all bought in, and I think that the biggest thing is how we all bonded off of the court.”

As for on the court, Brown said, “We had a bunch of guys who, on any given night, could just go off. We were so diverse that it made us hard to guard against.”

Brown managed to pile up a long list of accolades during his final season as a collegiate basketball player, including becoming the first player in the UC men’s basketball program history to be named as College Sports Communicators Academic All-America Team Member of the Year.

“They take your academics, your athletic ability, and who you are as a person, and they put all of that together,” Brown said when asked about criteria for the award.

On what makes someone a good teammate, Brown said, “In the past, I had always been one of the better players on my team. When I went to Montana and I didn’t play much, it kind of put everything into perspective. I realized that the person who is scoring all of the points can’t be that person without you as a teammate. He isn’t going to be able to be himself without you. You’re the one who puts him through practice every day, and makes him work hard.”

Brown also stressed the importance of academic performance, saying, “If you’re getting good grades, that helps your coach to not worry about having a bad team GPA.”

After earning an undergraduate degree in accounting at Central Methodist and completing his Masters in Business Administration at UC, Brown has his sights set on continuing his basketball career, hopefully finding success as a member of a pro team in Europe or Australia.

“I just signed with a pro agency a few weeks ago, so my agent and I are working together to weigh my options and the best opportunities,” Brown said.

As for his experiences with playing basketball in America, Brown said, “I think I have been to something like 44-plus states just from traveling while playing games. Basketball has been such a vessel that has allowed me to see everything. I have been from the west coast all the way over to the east coast. I have even been to Hawaii to play games. There is a big culture difference, even just from state-to-state, but it has been enjoyable every step of the way.”

On moving from England, where basketball takes a back seat to soccer, to eventually landing in Kentucky, where hoops is more like a way of life, Brown said, “It’s crazy, because back home most people can’t even name a basketball player, except maybe Michael Jordan, but if you ask them to name a soccer player they’ll tell name everyone on the team, plus the manager. Here, people can tell you every player on every college team. They can tell you every pro player, every high school player… especially at [the University of] Kentucky. It is like life-or-death. It’s almost like a religion or something. I never thought that basketball could be this big at the collegiate level. Those guys are basically pros, though. They are superstars at just 18-years-old. It’s crazy.”

As a side note, Brown is friends with newly minted Kentucky Wildcat Amari Williams, who is also originally from England. The two actually competed against each other in high school, and have continued to follow each other’s progress during their time in the states.

“Once you realize that basketball teaches you so much about life outside of college, I think that a lot of guys will embrace the hardships,” Brown said of life in the sport. “Doing this is difficult, but it’s harder out in the real world. You’ll be able to take it on easier, though, because a lot of people in this world haven’t been on a team or played sports. When hardships happen they start breaking down, but it’s regular for you.”

“All it takes is one summer, one decision, or one coach who believes in you to really change your whole career in whatever sport you play,” Brown added. “You should never let somebody else dictate your own level of confidence or belief in yourself. I had plenty of people tell me that I’d never go to America and play basketball, but I never let that belief waver. I think that belief and confidence in yourself is the biggest thing in basketball. There are ups and and downs, but you as a person shouldn’t let the highs get too high or the lows get too low. If you stay solid when things are good or bad, then you’re going to have an overall good situation.”