04/18/24
April 20, 2012
Larry Brown officially hired as SMU men's basketball coach.: One year before moving to the Big East, the Mustangs have hired the Hall-of-Famer for an undisclosed salary. This is Brown's first college coaching gig since he lead the 1988 Kansas Jayhawks to a national title.
posted by Ufez Jones to basketball at 02:12 PM - 7 comments
That's a weird hire. Brown's 71 and his rep is that he leaves quickly. Don't recruits want some assurances that their coach is going to be around for their entire college career?
posted by rcade at 05:22 PM on April 20, 2012
Don't recruits want some assurances that their coach is going to be around for their entire college career?
You're confusing me. Are you being sarcastic? I'm sure he'll be around for at least one year.
posted by LionIndex at 06:03 PM on April 20, 2012
Good to see SMU hired someone with a strong history of running a clean program at the college level.
Yeah, it'd be a shame if Brown somehow sullied the SMU Athletic Department's otherwise untarnished reputation.
Brown's 71 and his rep is that he leaves quickly.
Heh. From Brown's Wikipedia page:
Brown's first head coaching job was at Davidson College in North Carolina. Unfortunately for Wildcat fans, it would only last during the summer offseason and he never coached a game. That one-month experience would be a harbinger to Brown's nomadic coaching career.
posted by Ufez Jones at 06:39 PM on April 20, 2012
You're confusing me. Are you being sarcastic? I'm sure he'll be around for at least one year.
You have SMU confused with a school that could get a one-and-done athlete. The Mustangs have had one player drafted by the NBA in the last 25 years.
posted by rcade at 09:38 PM on April 20, 2012
The Mustangs like their vagabonds. Matt Doherty had jumped ship after one year on not one but two programs before going to SMU.
There must have been something so troubling about having to cut Doherty loose that they decided to get a guy who was sure to leave before they could give him the hook.
posted by beaverboard at 09:49 PM on April 20, 2012
Well, as an admitted KU homer, I'm happy for Brown. He has been spending a lot of time around Self & KU lately, and it seems like he genuinely misses the game and isn't getting into it for bad reasons. I'm not sure if I can defend his "nomadic" nature, but to me this hire is a bit like Majerus coaching @ St. Louis; he will be able to get better recruits relative to SMU's usual standards (not "great" ones, because it is SMU after all) because he can legitimately point to having the highest levels of success in American basketball. For kids who won't get signed to play for Calipari or Self maybe the next best thing is to play for the guy who helped groom them both?
Of course Brown could be way past his prime and be a failure, but I think it is worth the risk.
On Edit: It seems possible that part of the reason for Brown's roaming ways is related to a comment he's made publicly, that KU is the best job out there and he has regretted leaving. So, when you know that the best job has already come and gone for good, maybe one gets restless. I don't know of course, just a theory. On the other hand, maybe he is just biding his time until Self retires.
posted by brainofdtrain at 10:27 PM on April 20, 2012
Good to see SMU hired someone with a strong history of running a clean program at the college level.