Happy 85th Birthday, Larry Brown

Cover photo: Larry Brown in 2016 after his SMU Mustangs defeated the Cincinnati Bearcats.

An NBA coaching legend celebrates a birthday on September 14 as Hall of Fame head coach Larry Brown turns 85. 

Born in New York, N.Y., Brown attended Long Beach High School in Lido Beach before playing three years at the University of North Carolina. Brown averaged 16.5 points as a junior and 14.2 points in his senior season of 1962-63 with the Tar Heels. 

Brown was drafted 55th overall by the Baltimore Bullets in the 1963 NBA Draft, and enjoyed a five-year ABA career (three all-star appearances) before his successful coaching career. Brown averaged 13.4 points and 6.5 assists in 1967-68 (New Orleans Buccaneers), 12.0 points and 7.1 assists in 1968-69 (Oakland Oaks), and 13.7 points and 7.1 assists in 1969-70 (Washington Capitols) and was an all-star in each of those seasons. His playing career concluded after the 1971-72 season, of which he played with the Denver Rockets. At 5 feet, 9 inches tall and 160 pounds, Brown averaged 11.2 points and 6.7 assists in 376 career ABA games. 

From 1965-67, Brown was an assistant at his alma mater UNC. From 1972-74, he was the head coach of the ABA’s Carolina Cougars, where his combined record was 104-64. The 1972-73 Cougars averaged 115.6 points per game, second in the ABA that season, and made the Eastern Division Finals, losing in seven games to the Kentucky Colonels. In 1974-75 and 1975-76, Brown led the Denver Rockets to 65-19 and 60-24 records. The ‘75 team boasted the league’s top offense (118.7) and lost to the Indiana Pacers in seven games in the Western Division Finals. The ‘76 team again led the ABA in points per game (121.9) and lost in the Finals four games to two to the New York Nets. 

From 1976-1979, Brown coached the Denver Nuggets, guiding them to a 50-32 mark in his first season and 48-34 in his second season. The ‘77 team finished second in the NBA in points at 112.6 per game and lost to the Portland Trail Blazers in six games in the Western Conference Semifinals. 

Brown coached the Nuggets to a 28-25 mark in 53 games in 1978-79. 

From 1979-81, Brown was the head coach at UCLA. His Bruins in ‘79-‘80 made the NCAA title game, where they lost to Louisville 59-54. 

Brown was then hired by the New Jersey Nets in 1981. In two years with the Nets, Brown coached the team to a 44-38 record and 47-29 record. 

From 1983-88, Brown coached the Kansas Jayhawks. The team made five NCAA Tournaments under Brown and won the 1988 National Championship by defeating the University of Oklahoma 83-79. Danny Manning was Brown’s star at the time, and Manning dominated the title game scoring 31 points with 18 rebounds and 5 steals. 

Brown was back in the NBA for the 1988-89 season, leading the San Antonio Spurs. In 1989-90, he turned the Spurs into a 56-win team after just 21 victories in his first season guiding the club. The ‘90 squad lost to the Portland Trail Blazers in seven games in the Western Conference Semifinals. The Spurs went 55-27 in 1990-91 and lost to the Golden State Warriors in five games in the first round. 

In 38 games in 1991-92 in San Antonio, Brown led the Spurs to a 21-17 mark. He then coached the Los Angeles Clippers that season, leading them to a 23-12 record. In the following season of 1992-93, he coached the Clippers to 41 wins. 

Brown took over the Indiana Pacers in 1993-94, where he coached for four seasons. The team won 47 games in 1993-94, and 52 in both 1994-95 and 1995-96. His tenure there included consecutive Conference Final appearances in ‘94 and ‘95. They lost each of those series’ in seven games. 

From 1997-2003, Brown was the head coach of the Philadelphia 76ers, leading the franchise to the NBA Finals in 2001. Brown had a sort of love-hate relationship with his superstar player Allen Iverson, but both had respect for the other. The team from 1999-2003 won 49, 56, 43, and 48 games. 

“Once I started to listen to Larry Brown and take constructive criticism, I learned how much of a great, great, great coach that he is. Once I started to listen to him the way I was supposed to and was coached by him, that’s when I became an MVP,” said Iverson at his 2016 Hall of Fame enshrinement speech, for which Brown was one of his presenters. 

For the 2003-04 and 2004-05 seasons, Brown was the head coach of the Detroit Pistons. In both seasons, he led the team to 54 wins, including a 2004 championship in which the Pistons defeated the Los Angeles Lakers in five games. Brown coached the New York Knicks in 2005-06 and the Charlotte Bobcats from 2008-11. In 2009-10, he guided the Bobcats to a 44-38 record, which was a nine-game improvement from the previous season. 

Over 30 seasons coaching in the ABA and NBA, Brown compiled a record of 1,327-1,011. His NBA record was 1,098-904. He coached 193 NBA playoff games, winning 100 of them. For his college career, Brown led his teams to three Final Fours, and the ‘88 title. He was named the Naismith College Coach of the Year in 1988. He was the 2001 NBA Coach of the Year, and finished in the top five in voting seven other times. 

From 2012-16, Brown was the head coach at Southern Methodist University. There, he led the Mustangs to a 94-39 record which included two playoff appearances. In 2018, he coached in the Italian Lega Basket Serie A, leading Auxilium Torino. In 2021, he was an assistant with the Memphis Tigers basketball program. Brown won an Olympic Gold Medal as a player on the 1964 team and in 2000 as an assistant coach. In 2004, he coached Team USA to a Bronze Medal. 

In 2002, Brown was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. He remains the only head coach to win both an NCAA Championship and NBA Championship. 

Happy 85th, Larry Brown.