What can Brown do for LIU-Brooklyn?

Legendary Coach and Borough Native in the Mix for Vacancy

March 23, 2017 By John Torenli, Sports Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Legendary men’s basketball coach and Brooklyn native Larry Brown is reportedly itching to get back into the gym. Could LIU Brooklyn be his next stop? AP Photo by John Minchillo

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The one thing you should know about Brooklyn native Larry Brown before reading this is that he is always a candidate for a head coaching vacancy.

Even if — and sometimes especially when — he already has a job.

So it came as no surprise Wednesday morning when Brown’s name came up in a FanRag Sports report that he and LIU Brooklyn were about to engage in discussions regarding the Blackbirds’ head-coaching vacancy.

Just a couple of days after the firing of Jack Perri, who guided LIU to an NCAA Tournament appearance in 2013 and a 20-win campaign just this past season, Brown is reportedly itching to get back into the gym.

And the Blackbirds, oftentimes an afterthought on the city’s collegiate basketball scene, would doubtlessly like nothing better than to go prime time with the only coach in the history of Mr. Naismith’s great game to win both an NBA and NCAA title.

That being said, LIU is not officially commenting on the report, nor is there any indication that they have or will eventually meet with or even contact Brown.

Brown, who starred at Long Beach High School and the University of North Carolina as a player before putting in a few years of pro ball in the now-defunct ABA, has lived the most nomadic of coaching existences since joining Dean Smith’s staff as an assistant at Carolina back in 1965.

He has made 13 head coaching stops at the collegiate and pro level since, infuriating general managers and athletic directors alike, entertaining and, at times, inciting the media, all while building championship level teams.

Brown’s acumen as a teacher of basketball is unquestioned. His inability to stay in one place for more than a few seasons is also unquestionable.

Brown led UCLA to the 1980 NCAA Tournament final, captured his national championship at Kansas (1988), guided an Allen Iverson-led Philadelphia 76ers team to the 2001 NBA Finals and became the first coach ever to beat Phil Jackson in a championship series with the Pistons in 2004.

The 76-year-old has also coached both the Knicks and the then-New Jersey Nets, and is coming off a four-year stint at Southern Methodist University, where he rebuilt a previously dormant program before resigning following reports of academic fraud and unreported team violations that he was accused of being aware of.

In other words, Larry’s a candidate again.

And LIU Brooklyn is reportedly interested, but not officially.

Stay tuned.