Crooksville High School After military service, Newbrough reconnected with Knight as a teacher and football coach at
Crooksville High School from 1962 to 1963, where they won back-to-back Muskingum Valley League championships and a state championship in the latter year.
Waterloo Lutheran/Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks Assistant Coach After a stint in sales at
Colgate Palmolive, Earl joined Knight in
Canada to join
Waterloo Lutheran University in 1968.
Fairmont State alumni graduate,
Fred Nichols, was also a factor in the decision.
Head coach 1984–1986 In Spring 1984, Knight announced their resignation from the head coaching position to become director of player personnel for the
Toronto Argonauts of the
Canadian Football League, making Newbrough the new person in charge of the football program. As head coach, Newbrough led the Golden Hawks to winning seasons in all but one year during his tenure. In 1984, Laurier finished their season with a 2-win campaign, missing the playoffs. The following year, the Golden Hawks concluded with a 6–1 record, finishing second in the
Ontario University Athletics Association (OUAA). They beat the
York Yeomen in the semifinals, 27–10, before bowing to the
Western Mustangs in the conference championship, 19–16. 1986 concluded with Newbrough and the Hawks at a 4–3 record, good enough for third in the conference. They qualified for the playoffs, losing to
Guelph Gryphons in the OUAA Semifinals, 36–15.
First Yates Championship (1987) After an early exit in the playoffs, the Golden Hawks started the 1987 season with a 23–9 home opener loss to Western. For the rest of the season, Wilfrid Laurier won their next 6 games, outscoring their opponents by an average of 40.8 points per game, as they finished 6–1. In the OUAA Semifinals, The Golden Hawks defeated the
Windsor Lancers, 32-13, setting themselves with Guelph, who upset No. 1 Western with a losing record, in the OUAA Finals. In his first playoff game, the Golden Hawks fell to the
UBC Thunderbirds, 33–31 in the CIAU Semifinals. The following season, Wilfrid Laurier finished 6-1 and advanced through the OUAA playoffs, only to lose to Western in the OUAA Yates Cup Finals. 1989 was the second-worst season displayed in Newbrough's head coaching career at the university as the Golden Hawks finished with a losing record, unable to qualify in the playoffs. 1990 was not great either for Wilfrid Laurier as after winning the first two games of the season, they stumbled through the standings, finishing their season at 4–3 overall. In the OUAA Semifinals, Western ended their season with a 23–18 loss to the
Western Mustangs in the OUAA Semifinals.
National Championship (1991) Laurier players and coaches entered the 1991 off-season hoping to improve upon their disappointing season the year before, and were voted the No. 7 team in the country in the annual CIAU preseason poll. Wilfrid Laurier had greatly surpassed its expectation as the No. 7 ranked team in the country, winning their first four games of the season, starting with defeating Guelph at
Seagram Stadium. The following three weeks saw explosion of as Laurier routed the
McMaster,
Windsor, which was the 40th win in Newbrough's tenure at WLU, and the
Toronto. In Week 5, Wilfrid Laurier lost to
Larry Haylor's Western Mustangs at J. W. Little Memorial Stadium. After a dominant victory over the
York Yeomen, the Golden Hawks were blown out by their rivals,
Waterloo to conclude the regular season. The OUAA playoffs saw the Golden Hawks on a streak, blowing out Waterloo, upsetting No. 1 ranked Western in the Yates Cup, and
Queen's in the CIAU Semifinals, finding themselves in the 27th Vanier Cup for the fourth time in the team's history. After the win against the Mustangs, the polls awarded Wilfrid Laurier No. 1 in the CIAU rankings heading into the championship game. A few days before the national championship game, Newbrough, was named
CIAU Coach of the Year, the second coach in team history to be honoured up to that point, after Knight. In the Vanier Cup, the Golden Hawks defeated the
Mount Allison Mounties by a score of 25–18. With the win, Wilfrid Laurier clinched the national
championship, the team's first in its history.
Final Years Richbrough entered the 1992 season with hopes of following up the team's victory in the Vanier Cup with another national championship. The Laurier's regular-season performance improved slightly from 1991, as they won an extra regular-season game against York. After a 6-win campaign, the Golden Hawks finished second in the OUAA, behind the Toronto, ranked at No. 3 in the country. However, Laurier's dream to repeat falls short as they were upset in the OUAA Semifinals by Western at Seagram Stadium. In 1993, the Golden Hawks conclude their season with a 5-win campaign in 7 games, earning themselves a spot in the OUAA playoffs, only to lose in the semifinals to the Varsity Blues, despite leading the game by 10 points. After 9 seasons of coaching, and 26 seasons in the university's program, Newbrough resigned as head coach in November 1993, remaining as the university athletic director until July 1997, the CIAU Board of Directors and as executive vice-president of the OUAA. He finished his career with 55 wins and 30 losses as head coach of the Golden Hawks. == Personal life ==