Larry Brown to Take The Reins At SMU

Larry Brown has agreed to become the head men’s basketball coach at SMU, sources told ESPN Tuesday.

The hire ends months of speculation following the firing of Matt Doherty. As open coaching positions nationwide began filling up, SMU’s remained open, but not for lack of trying. The Mustangs shot for the stars — Marquette’s Buzz Williams, Harvard’s Tommy Amaker — and landed a fading one.

The 71-year-old’s penchant for bouncing from job to job apparently wasn’t an issue for SMU brass, nor was the fact that Brown hasn’t coached a college team since 1988. That team — Kansas University — was later banned from the 1988-89 NCAA tournament due to recruiting violations under Brown.

Whether 22 years in the NBA — with seven different teams — will be a benefit to Brown is what those on the Hilltop will have this season to determine.

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4 thoughts on “Larry Brown to Take The Reins At SMU

  • April 18, 2012 at 8:59 am
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    Mothers, lock up your daughters.

    Reply
  • April 18, 2012 at 9:24 am
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    This is a desperate move. Brown is old, hasn’t coached in the NCAA in a quarter century, and he’s got a terrible history of leaving after only a couple years. Unless this head coach in waiting thing works out, SMU will be looking for a new coach in 2 years.

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  • April 18, 2012 at 3:46 pm
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    Desperate indeed. Have you looked at the SMU Hoops program in the mast dozen years or so? Longer than that really. It IS a program that is desperate. It’s no wonder so many other coaches turned it down.

    Everything everyone is saying about Larry Brown is true, but most leave out the fact that in the vast majority of cases, he has left AFTER he has taken a lousy team and made them competitive (or in many cases elite). It also sounds like the staff he is assembling is superb.

    All that said, I agree that this is a hire that could end up being a waste of two or three years, but then so have the past several “safe” hires for the basketball coach. Let’s face it, this is a program that very few would be able to turn around. So maybe Brown will and maybe he won’t. I can’t fault Orsini with hiring the biggest name he can find to take the job and seeing if it can pay off.

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  • April 18, 2012 at 7:54 pm
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    Can a 71-yr old recruit a kid from Cedar Hill??

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