‘Last Chance U’ staying at Independence and could get more fun

Want more of Jason Brown’s Pirates? He did chill out a bit toward the end of Season 3, so this time around might be more enjoyable.

Last Chance U has been renewed for a fourth season, Netflix announced on Aug. 8, less than a month after the release of its third season. The show’s staying exactly where it is now: at Independence Community College in Kansas:

The first two seasons were set at East Mississippi Community College, a powerhouse. Independence was in the midst of building itself up when Netflix arrived there before the 2017 season, to shoot the season that came out in July 2018.

While there was a mix of opinions regarding the show’s new season, and specifically brash Indy head coach Jason Brown, the folks at Netflix believed it was received well enough to give it another season. Brown touched on his relationship with his players in an interview with SB Nation’s Bill Connelly:

BC: Right — part of the trailer was you saying something like, “Hate me now, but love me when you get a scholarship.”

JB: Hate me now, love me later.

It’s true, though, man. I gotta teach these kids a lot more than just football. The real world’s gonna hit ‘em in the mouth in 18 months when they leave my place. And if they’re late, they’re gonna end up at McDonald’s and being late there and getting fired.

My job is to get ‘em to the next level. I’ve sent 190 guys to Division I in 17 years, and I’ve never had a kid get kicked out of a four-year. Not one. That’s what I’m most prideful about.

Hopefully I’m harder on them here than they will be at their four-year, and when they get there, they’ve already gone through football jail, so to speak.

That’s what I call this place. I call JUCO “football jail,” and you’ve gotta get out of it.

For those who may have stopped watching halfway through season three, Brown mellowed out a good bit in the back half of the season. You learn a lot more about his past, which allows the viewer to connect with him at a deeper level.

Brown is still the head coach at Indy heading into the 2018 season, as is English teacher LaTonya Pinkard. Most of the year’s star players signed at Division I or II schools.

Under Brown, Netflix’s access to the program and its players “just never changed,” Last Chance U director Greg Whiteley told SB Nation in July 2018. “There was never a time in which I asked if we could film and he said no.”

More from the director on Brown:

“And for me personally, it was unprecedented. I think I’ve enjoyed pretty remarkable access, whether it was Mitt Romney running for president or other films that I’ve made. But Coach Brown is a whole other level. He was completely an open book. And I think he is someone that you could — especially at first glance, because we used a lot of moments early on with Coach Brown to grab the viewer’s’ attention — you can make the mistake of concluding that he’s performing for the camera. But as the series goes on and as you would see and, especially in my experience as the filmmaker, he was not performing; that’s who he is.”