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Former Kansas University basketball coach Larry Brown, left, poses with Danny Manning, center, with whom Brown won the 1988 NCAA championship, and current KU head coach Bill Self, a graduate assistant on Brown's 1986 Final Four team.
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Larry Brown coaching stops
1972-74: Carolina Cougars (ABA)
1974-79: Denver Nuggets (ABA until 1976, then NBA)
1979-81: UCLA (NCAA)
1981-83: New Jersey Nets (NBA)
1983-88: Kansas University (NCAA)
1988-92: San Antonio Spurs (NBA)
1992-93: Los Angeles Clippers (NBA)
1993-97: Indiana Pacers (NBA)
1997-2003: Philadelphia 76ers (NBA)
2003-05: Detroit Pistons (NBA)
2005-06: New York Knicks (NBA)
Twenty years have passed since Larry Brown and Danny Manning embraced at center court at Kemper Arena - coach and MVP, celebrating Kansas University's 1988 national championship victory over Oklahoma.
Two full decades, gone in a blink of an eye.
"Gosh, it went so fast," Brown said Thursday afternoon in Allen Fieldhouse.
"You look in the mirror, and you are reminded you are older. Personally I feel the same as when I was coaching here. Danny and I were talking about that : it doesn't seem that long ago."
Now 67, Brown is back in town for this weekend's 20-year national title reunion as well as a celebration of 110 years of KU basketball.
The soft-spoken Hall of Famer, who has worked as head coach for two ABA, eight NBA and two college teams, said his five years in Lawrence (1983-88) were impossible to top.
"I've been blessed with all the places I've been and all the opportunities I've had," Brown said. "Being here and the two years I was assistant and freshman coach at North Carolina (under Dean Smith in mid 1960s) are by far the happiest I've been."
Brown, who led KU to two Final Fours in five years, sometimes wonders what it would have been like to have stayed at KU after the '88 title season, instead of leaving for the NBA's San Antonio Spurs and on to the Los Angeles Clippers, Indiana Pacers, Philadelphia 76ers, Detroit Pistons and New York Knicks.
"You look back : if I had to do it all over again, I'd loved to stay here," said Brown, executive vice president of the 76ers. "Knowing coach Smith and what he's meant to me and that program : coach Smith would call me on the phone (as an ex-player) and would ask me about my mom, wife, kids. It wasn't just me, it was everybody who played for him.
"Even though I speak to Milt (Newton), Ced (Hunter), 'Turg' (Mark Turgeon), Tad Boyle, I think it would have been neat if I sat in that office (making the calls). I hear from Jeff Guiot, but I might be in Philadelphia or might be in Detroit.
"It would have been phenomenal. But I also look at it, KU got to experience Roy (Williams) and got a taste of Bill (Self) hopefully for a long time."
Brown, who observed KU's practice Thursday afternoon after touring the Booth Family Hall of Athletics, said he definitely missed the thrill of coaching in KU's tradition-rich fieldhouse.
"I tell everybody there's not a place around - I know Chapel Hill, Pauley Pavilion, Cameron, you name it. They are pretty special, but there's nothing like this," Brown said.
"All the guys who scout, I always tell them, 'You'll never have an experience like Allen Fieldhouse.' This is how a college fieldhouse is supposed to be."
Brown, who said he has watched most of KU's games on TV this season, liked what he saw up close and personal on Thursday.
"I admire the hell out of Bill Self," Brown said of his graduate assistant on KU's 1986 Final Four team. "To follow Roy and what he did, his charisma and everything. Everywhere I go, people talk about him (Self) in such a positive light. I think he can coach. I like his team and the way they play, and it's good to see Danny (assistant Manning) sitting over there."
Brown said watching Self's practices and those of his former pupils such as Texas A&M's Mark Turgeon make him realize how much he misses coaching.
He hopes to coach again.
"I want to badly," Brown said. "I still have a passion to do it. I think I still have something to offer. I applied for Princeton (last offseason) and got interviewed. Chancellor Budig (Gene, former KU leader who lives in New Jersey) got me involved, and Lew (Perkins, KU AD) tried to help me. I want to get back."
College or pro?
"Whatever," Brown said. "When I say that, I worry it might be taken I want somebody's job. That's not it. Inevitably, if somebody has an opening, I hope I'd be considered. I don't want it to end the way my last year went."
Brown, whose last coaching stint, with the Knicks, ended with his termination, says he could coach for years to come.
"Everywhere I go, people ask me how I am physically. Maybe people thought I had broken down," he said. "I feel great."
He was in his element Thursday, at practice in KU's charming gym.
"I'm not sure I miss the games. The games made me feel a bit nervous. I always wondered if you prepared your team for all the things they might encounter. I really loved practice, smelling the gym and being around the kids. I really miss that. I desperately miss the teaching," he said.
He also forging relationships with players.
"I listen to what college coaches say to their players and always laugh. Some of the things they say : if you said that to an NBA guy, he'd quit or call your agent or ask for you to be fired," Brown said. "They don't mean it in a bad way. It's just the way it is.
"A college kid looks at the coach and says, 'He really cares and wants me to be better.' I'm not knocking the pros. I love the time I had, but it's nothing like the relationships you build, the effect you can have on kids in a positive way if you do it the right way."
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Kansas regroups, preps for Missouri November 21, 2008
KU basketball faces challenge on Monday November 21, 2008
Jayhawks look for help from hometown KC crowd November 20, 2008
Comments
KEITHMILES05 (anonymous) says...
It does make a person wonder what COULD have been had Coach Brown stayed at KU. Quality coach.
February 15, 2008 at 4:28 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
carterpatterson (anonymous) says...
If I was the AD at Indiana, I'd be looking for Coach Brown's phone number right now.
February 15, 2008 at 7:09 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
SFBayhawk (anonymous) says...
Re: "What Keegan Says" (print edition)
Someone should tell Keegan that Coach Knight doesn't WANT to coach anymore, as he is tired. Even a clever writer and basketball analyst like him could figure THAT out.
February 15, 2008 at 7:17 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
HawkFanEddie (anonymous) says...
3 pimps
February 15, 2008 at 7:48 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
CaramelMacchMan (anonymous) says...
I disagree Carterpatterson
Indiana would want a long term coach. They should shot for young Coach.. (Example Mark Few would be perfect fit... man i just gave away a good coach to Big 10)
Coach Brown has max 3 to 4 yrs left in college. He wouldn't want to start recruiting and stuff. According to his age, i think Coach Brown is a perfect fit for NBA.
February 15, 2008 at 8:18 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
SIRIUSHawk (anonymous) says...
Not to be a downer here, but if I am not mistaken, I do remember KU being the only school at the time (1988) to be barred from defending its national championship the next year due to NCAA infractions during Larry Brown's coaching tenure (June 1986-April 1987). Brown then left after the 88' season to coach for the Spurs.
Though I do not completely agree with the punishment NCAA brought down on us, it could have been a lot worse, i.e. 1983 KU football team infractions.
Any NCAA school that has major violations within its athletic department in a five-year period can be forced to drop a sport for a year or longer. This is what Indiana could be looking at if these so called "major violations" surface. So if Indiana has a feeling the past can revisit itself, I am not sure Brown's stock would fare well in Indiana.
Larry Brown was a great coach, sounds like a good person, but I still did not like the transition that Roy Williams went through when he came to Kansas. We were on probation for three years, although the duration of the sanctions were just one year. We ended up losing a couple of scholarships the next couple of years because of Brown's improper recruiting inducements. In all honesty, we came out looking pretty good.
It was great winning the championship, but it came at the price of Roy cleaning up his mess. Although Roy didn't get us a championship, I remember some really exciting and enjoyable games/seasons.
Coach Self is a class act and we can all be thankful to have him on our sideline here at Kansas. He runs a clean program. Sorry for the history lesson.
Rock Chalk
February 15, 2008 at 8:28 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
lance1jhawk (anonymous) says...
Larry Brown... Super Secret Assistant Head Coach for Bill Self. I'm sure we could find room somewhere on the bench for him. ;)
February 15, 2008 at 8:32 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Jacobpaul81 (anonymous) says...
Wouldn't that be nice. Bring coach brown back as an assistant to Bill. I doubt Bill would do it. His other mentor, Eddie Sutton would have, so you never know. Could you imagine the recruiting KU could do with Self, Brown and Manning on the bench?
SIRIUS, yea, Brown made recruiting mistakes at KU. But to be honest, Roy Williams made just as many mistakes, allowing alumni to give gifts to players, and Self has faced similar issues. I think the more important point to adress, is that alot of people have made the mistake of saying Brown left the cupboard bare which isn't true at all. If we had been given the chance, KU was a national title contender in 88-89.
So yea, he made mistakes. I wish he hadn't. Of course, I also wish he hadn't left. I have always prefered Brown to Williams. Two completly different coaches, with two completely different styles. C'est La Vie
February 15, 2008 at 9:08 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
KGphoto (anonymous) says...
Maybe he could coach Oklahoma.
February 15, 2008 at 9:10 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
jayhwk5288 (anonymous) says...
Jeff Guiot is the coach at my school..Southwest Baptist University. Kind of cool seeing his name mentioned by Larry Brown. Unfortunately I was only 3 when they won the title...hopefully we will see one this year
February 15, 2008 at 9:18 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Phog4ever (anonymous) says...
I thought Larry's only "crime" was paying a plane ticket for a recruit (Askew) to go to his grandmother's funeral?
February 15, 2008 at 9:41 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
bmcmich1 (anonymous) says...
That's pretty much it, Phog. LB is a great coach and a great man--I can't tell you how proud I am knowing Larry Brown coached for the Kansas Jayhawks.
February 15, 2008 at 10:13 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
WisconsinJayhawk (anonymous) says...
If Coach Brown had stayed at KU....
in a few years Dean Smith would have stolen HIM back to North Carolina.
Ah, what could have been...
February 15, 2008 at 10:53 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
KU (anonymous) says...
Some people just aren't destined to stay in one place for very long. Coach Brown is a prime example. But I'm sure thankful for his run at KU. And what a magical run in 88! Could things have worked out that spring any more perfectly and poeticly if the Hand of Providence had directed it?
February 15, 2008 at 11:36 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
KUbsee69 (anonymous) says...
Phog - Yes, but as I remember it, it was a "loan" to a player to buy a plane ticket to visit a very sick relative. The violation was also self-reported by KU, not via an NCAA investigation.
KU was essentially punished for a humanitarian act by an overbearing, unyielding NCAA. So has it been with others.
I, for one believe the NCAA needs to lighten up a little in instances such as this.
February 15, 2008 at 2:19 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
jayhawkdude46542 (anonymous) says...
I agree that Coach Brown ought not be in college again, as it's hard enough to change coaches and there's never a good time to do it at the college level.
If the Xs and Os are what Brown misses, an assistant's job might well be in order. I'd doubt the finances are a real consideration, and frankly, we haven't had many big men that have been great (a few were good, but none great) between times Manning was on campus.
And yeah, college basketball, and football for that matter, need their own governing bodies, but that's fodder for another post.
February 15, 2008 at 3:40 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
mike_blur (Mike Blur) says...
You're right KUbsee. The NCAA did come to their senses a bit, and nowadays, there is actually a fund set up by the NCAA for emergency travel by student-athletes. (That's why you never hear of the same-type infraction these days.)
So, in short, KU was penalized and denied participation in the 1989 NCAA tournament for doing something that is NOW legal AND funded by the NCAA!
February 15, 2008 at 4:23 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Jhaux (anonymous) says...
UMKC could use a guy that knows how to coach.
February 15, 2008 at 6:43 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
lance1jhawk (anonymous) says...
UMKC could use some guys that know how to play basketball.
February 15, 2008 at 8:48 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
OmahaKUAlum (anonymous) says...
Brown might have been a good coach, but I don't have a lot of respect for men who cheat on their wives. He used to have a "girlfriend" who was an alum of my sorority at KU....apparently he used to come over drunk and yell up at her window.
February 16, 2008 at 1:43 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Patrickulating (anonymous) says...
OmahaKUAlum, very classy anonymous shot at Coach Brown.
February 16, 2008 at 12:44 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
wats211 (anonymous) says...
BRING COACH BACK...I DONT CARE..I LIKE BILL SELF..BUT COACH BROWN IS THE MAN..IF HE WANTS TO COACH AGAIN...I WANT HIM COACHING HERE.....I THINK WE OWE HIM THAT MUCH...THE REASON THE FIELD HOUSE IS FULL..AND THE PROGRAM IS WHERE IT IS..IS BECAUSE OF COACH BROWN AND THE TRADITION HE RESTORED HERE...I LOVE THIS MAN....
February 17, 2008 at 11:57 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )