Larry Brown lauds SMU possibilities
SMU welcomed new men's basketball Coach Larry Brown during a special event Monday.
DALLAS -- Larry Brown was introduced Monday as the next basketball coach at SMU, taking his first college coaching job in nearly a quarter century.
With trustees and more than 100 fans cheering and clapping, Brown said he was looking forward to coaching "quality basketball with quality student-athletes."
"I never realized at 71, this opportunity would present itself," Brown said.
The Hall of Famer is the only coach to win both an NCAA championship and an NBA title. Brown hasn't coached since leaving the Charlotte Bobcats in December 2010 and he hasn't coached at the college level since leaving Kansas after winning the NCAA tournament in 1988, the last year SMU won a tournament game.
Brown is taking over a program that has revamped its facilities and has lots of top high school talent nearby, but has struggled to win. SMU, which hasn't advanced to the NCAA tourney since 1993, is also moving from Conference USA to the much tougher Big East in 2013.
Brown said he thought SMU has the resources to compete with the powerful programs in the Big East.
"Walking around this campus, if we can get a kid to visit here, I can't imagine him going anywhere else," Brown said.
Brown's first coaching job was at Davidson in 1972, though he didn't coach a game there before going to the ABA and then the NBA. He coached at UCLA (1979-81) and Kansas (1983-88) and was the coach of the 2004 U.S. Olympic team that had a disappointing bronze-medal finish.
Read the April 19 announcement of Brown's selection.
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