71-Year Old Larry Brown Is SMU’s Next Basketball Coach

Larry Brown is back. SMU’s search for a coach has ended with the 71-year old traveling man, who has been a head coach for thirteen different teams–three in college, one in the ABA, and nine in the NBA. Larry Brown last coached for the Charlotte Bobcats in 2010, and last coached in college in the national championship game in Kansas City in 1988.

The only details remaining are his staff, as Brown is trying to get Tim Jankovich, currently the head coach at Illinois State, to join him and be the “coach in waiting”. (Those things always work, right?) SMU struck out on earlier attempts, most recently in efforts to lure Rick Majerus. Brown is a definite PR play, but how much does he have left returning to college after more than twenty years away? He isn’t exactly known for sticking around, though maybe he is ready to settle down and coach players who could be his grandkids.

[photo via US Presswire]

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23 Responses to “71-Year Old Larry Brown Is SMU’s Next Basketball Coach”

mrejr8234 comes for the sports posts but stays to kill the local inhabitants Says:
April 17th, 2012 at 6:21 PM

Help this Marine out

Some Random Old Dude Says:
April 17th, 2012 at 6:21 PM

Good for him. He’ll bring attention to the program. As long as his assistants recruit decent talent, he’ll coach ‘em up.

Maybe this is the last roundup. Hope he goes out with some level of success.

Nathan Wind Says:
April 17th, 2012 at 6:21 PM

I can’t blame SMU for this hire, even if it blows up in their country club faces. I’m not sure they’ve been relevant since Jon Koncak left campus, and they were barely relevant then. It’s a big step up from CUSA to the Big East that’s coming up.

Niger, Please. Says:
April 17th, 2012 at 6:25 PM

2 years, tops.

ms621 Says:
April 17th, 2012 at 6:25 PM

This is a retarded hire. I’ve officially lost faith in Steve Orsini.

KC Resident Says:
April 17th, 2012 at 6:38 PM

Brown will be a coach in name only. “Coach-in-waiting” rarely (if ever?) works out. Looking long-term… I’m not sure The Big East is going to be much different than the MVC in five to ten years. It is all about football. Jank had four 20 win seasons in the last five years. I don’t get this move from his point of view.

I agree with MS.

ms621 Says:
April 17th, 2012 at 6:43 PM

We had a chance at Johnny Jones. He wanted the job. We blew him off. Did we really think Buzz Williams or Rick Majerus was interested? I sure as hell didn’t.

KC Resident Says:
April 17th, 2012 at 6:44 PM

MS – Have you heard any contract numbers for Brown and Jank?

mrejr8234 comes for the sports posts but stays to kill the local inhabitants Says:
April 17th, 2012 at 6:48 PM

Cubs/Marlins livechat

ms621 Says:
April 17th, 2012 at 6:56 PM

MS – Have you heard any contract numbers for Brown and Jank?

Haven’t seen anything about years, though I’d be shocked if the contract is longer than 3-4. But $1.75 million per year was bandied about on ponyfans.com. Considering the assistants being brought in, I’d imagine Brown accepted a lower salary to accommodate their salaries.

We were offering Buzz Williams close to $3 million per season and I’ve heard rumors we were prepared to go up to $3.5 million. So I’m thinking Orsini told Brown that to take the job he’d have to accept a smaller number to have experienced recruiters on the bench beside him.

Even then, I still don’t get this hire. At all.

ms621 Says:
April 17th, 2012 at 6:57 PM

I’m not sure they’ve been relevant since Jon Koncak left campus

We haven’t been. Last NCAA tourney appearance was 1993. I think our last NIT appearance was 2000.

grungedave Says:
April 17th, 2012 at 7:01 PM

I understand the hire, I really do.

I just fully expect to be going through the Head Coach hiring process again within 1-2 years. Larry Brown never sticks around very long and he always burns his bridges on his way out of town.

Then again, not much could have been worse than the Matt Doherty era.

/alum’d

ms621 Says:
April 17th, 2012 at 7:03 PM

I understand the hire, I really do.

Must be a generational thing, because I don’t. Johnny Jones. Tony Benford. Both with huge amounts of Texas recruiting ties, and we didn’t give them the time of day.

grungedave Says:
April 17th, 2012 at 7:04 PM

I’m not sure they’ve been relevant since Jon Koncak left campus

If only Jerryl Sasser had any basketball IQ.
Alas, he did not. Not at all.

grungedave Says:
April 17th, 2012 at 7:06 PM

Must be a generational thing, because I don’t.

Moving to the Big East. Program thinks it needs a “name” coach.

I’m not saying I agree necessarily. I’m just saying I understand why they did what they did. Personally, I think Larry Brown is a dick who is prone to tantrums (remember the 2004 Olympics?) and who will be unable to teach 18 year old kids how to play the right way.

But I do understand the move.
It’s just that desperation is a stinky cologne.

ms621 Says:
April 17th, 2012 at 7:14 PM

It’s just that desperation is a stinky cologne.

It really is. I wonder if Orsini realizes the type of reputation he’s getting as an AD: try to land a huge name every time regardless of what it means for the program to drag out a search for over a month. And of the two big name coaches he’s now hired, June Jones and Larry Brown, both were basically served up to him on a platter. Jones by Eric Dickerson and the rich alumni paying his salary and Larry Brown by himself.

Orsini has done great things for us and he is a huge improvement over Copeland (though it’s bad form to speak ill of the dead I know), but this go big or go home attitude seems more fit to a program with a reputation. It’s admirable but it leaves us looking silly when two other coaches use us as leverage for better contracts and more program control.

KC Resident Says:
April 17th, 2012 at 7:28 PM

We were offering Buzz Williams close to $3 million per season and I’ve heard rumors we were prepared to go up to $3.5 million.

Damn. They were going out-TCU TCU.

ms621 Says:
April 17th, 2012 at 7:29 PM

Damn. They were going out-TCU TCU.

Pshaw. SMU invented over paying. See Stanley, David.

/not literally though
//cuz he’s dead

KC Resident Says:
April 17th, 2012 at 7:34 PM

Pshaw. SMU invented over paying. See Stanley, David.

Well, if the 3 – 3.5 m number is in the ballpark, they way outdid TCU. Or tried too.

ms621 Says:
April 17th, 2012 at 7:41 PM

TCU ended up with LSU’s coach. LSU stole Johnny Jones from UNT. So now the fightin’ spencer096ers need a new basketball coach.

Hey, Matt Doherty is available! You won’t even have to pay much in the way of moving costs.

ms621 Says:
April 17th, 2012 at 7:43 PM

And KC, it didn’t matter. Buzz was never going to leave Marquette. Word on the street is that he didn’t get along as well with the new administration, so this was a straight up power play by him to improve his standing there.

roger from oz Says:
April 17th, 2012 at 10:21 PM