Brown, who was appointed on Thursday as head coach of the franchise for the 2017 season, said yesterday once it was made clear he could still keep doing what he was doing as an assistant if he was the head coach he came round to the new role.
"I was not apprehensive of it [head coach] but I was really enjoying the assistant coaching role. I'm not afraid of being the head coach,'' Brown said.
"I know it is going to be a really good challenge but I was really enjoying the assistant role and the attacking side of the game. Now, as the head coach, I need to find a way where I can still do that and still add my flavour to the team.''
Brown said Highlanders chief executive Roger Clark made a persuasive argument on why he should step up.
"He called me into his office and I knew I was in trouble when I saw Tony Gilbert sitting there. He is a hard man to say no to. But it really came down to, Roger, the board and the owners not quite finding the right fit. Our goal as an organisation is if we could not find the right guy then we would stick with what we had.
"Tony and Roger [made] a great argument about me being the right guy and I'm 100% behind that, because we need to go forward as a rugby team and continue what we have developed over the last two to three years. If we can't do that it would be frustrating and we'd go backwards.''
Brown said his aim had been to be the best assistant coach in the world but he fully understood for the team to go forward he needed to be the head coach.
He would continue to coach the attack side of the game next season.
Brown said he had played with new assistant coach Mark Hammett and knew him as a person but did not know a lot about his coaching.
"But all the reports I trust and those that know coaches say he is a quality forward coach."
Brown stressed he was just part of a quality coaching team and he was only one member.
After next year, Brown would move to Japan and join Joseph, coaching the attack side of the national side.
The lure of coaching a national side about to host a World Cup in 2019 was too strong to turn down, he said.
His family of wife Alex and daughters Amelie (9) and Matilda (3) would remain in New Zealand when he coaches Japan.
Brown is an innovative coach and will not want to change that now he has taken on the top job with the Highlanders.
A mark of his thoughts was the over-the-shoulder kick with the back to the opposition by Highlanders first five-eighth Lima Sopoaga last month.
"It is mainly just based around challenging the players and get them playing to their strengths. One of Lima's strengths is he wants to be awesome at everything, so as a coach I want to give him opportunities as a player and be challenged with something that excites him.
"I was a little bit apprehensive leading into the game. It was my idea [the backwards kick] but we trained it all week ... to Lima's credit he put a lot of work into that - he probably practised it 50 to 60 times during the week. He wanted to nail it and that is his competitive nature.''
Tony Brown
At a glance
• Aged 41
• Married to Alex with two daughters
• Played 17 tests for All Blacks 1999-2001
• Played in Japan for Sanyo and Panasonic
• Coached Panasonic
• Otago head coach 2012-14
• Highlanders assistant coach 2014-16
