Philadelphia ? Larry Brown is conflicted. When you’ve been a coach since a peach basket was hoisted on a pole, you touch a lot of folks, but probably no one has touched as many as the 67-year-old Brown, the quintessential basketball nomad and former 76ers coach who lives with his family on the Main Line.
In the span of 30-plus years, Brown has coached 12 teams, from the old ABA to college behemoths to the NBA, and his coaching tree is an old oak, with roots at North Carolina and branches stretching across the basketball landscape.
He is deeply connected to all four remaining participants in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. As a coach, Brown won a national championship with Kansas in 1988 and led UCLA to the Final Four in 1980.
He played for North Carolina under legendary Dean Smith and considers Memphis coach John Calipari to be his “son.” Brown loves them all, maybe like no one else. For whom will he root? “I think I’ve got a spot on each corner,” he said.
Yes, Brown will be at the Alamodome in San Antonio this weekend when, for the first time in tournament history, the four No. 1 seeds will play each other. On Saturday night it will be UCLA against Memphis, followed by Kansas vs. North Carolina, and Brown accepted dual invitations from Kansas coach Bill Self and Memphis’ Calipari to attend the event. A seat at center court, with a foot in each camp for the two games, would be Brown’s ideal location.
“When one team wins, then three teams that mean a lot to me will be pretty upset,” Brown said Wednesday before beginning his trek to San Antonio.
As a scrawny young man out of Brooklyn in the 1960s, Brown was a guard for Dean Smith at North Carolina. Fatherless since he was 6 years old, Brown looked up to Smith, relied on Smith, loved Smith.
While he was crushed when, as the 76ers coach, the Tar Heels passed over him for Roy Williams when they had a coaching vacancy earlier this decade, Brown says he harbors no lingering ill will. Another national championship for Carolina would be fine with him.
From 1979 to 1981, Brown coached at UCLA, then the titan of all college programs. In his first season, he took the Bruins back to the national title game, losing to Louisville.
While Brown stayed in Westwood for only two seasons, he says current coach Ben Howland is a friend of his. Howland has led the Bruins to three consecutive Final Fours but is still looking for his first national championship.
Brown led the Kansas Jayhawks to the national title in 1988. It was in Lawrence that he mentored two young coaches, Self and Calipari.
When Brown arrived at Kansas in 1983, he retained Calipari, a volunteer assistant under former coach Ted Owens. Brown also gave Self his first job, also at Kansas.
“I’m really a proud parent, to be honest with you,” Brown said.
