Former Kansas men’s basketball coach Larry Brown, who directed the Jayhawks to an NCAA title in 1988, may soon be back in college coaching — this time as an analyst at the University of Washington.
The 82-year-old Brown — he last worked at Memphis for coach Penny Hardaway as an analyst, stepping down in December of 2022 for health reasons — according to published reports, could be close to taking a job working for seventh-year Huskies coach Mike Hopkins at UW.
Jeff Goodman of Stadium reported Monday that “all signs point to Hall of Fame coach Larry Brown joining Mike Hopkins’ staff at Washington, source told @stadium.”
When contacted by The Kansas City Star about that report on Monday night, Brown stated via text message: “Not close to being official.”
Realdawghuskies.com reported that Brown would fill the role of “analyst,” which does not require recruiting on the road.
Brown joined Hardaway’s staff in Memphis in July 2021 as a full-time assistant coach and was named a special assistant to Hardaway before the 2022-23 campaign.
Brown is the only coach to win championships in both the NCAA (with KU in 1988) and NBA (Detroit Pistons, 2004). Brown was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame in 2002. He was inducted in the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006.
Brown ranks eighth in NBA history with 1,098 regular-season coaching victories. His teams advanced to the playoffs in 18 of his 26 seasons.
He lost 904 games while leading nine NBA teams. He’s been head coach of the ABA’s Carolina Cougars and Denver Nuggets (also Nuggets when they joined NBA), plus the NBA’s Charlotte Bobcats, Detroit Pistons, Indiana Pacers, Los Angeles Clippers, New Jersey Nets, New York Knicks, Philadelphia 76ers and San Antonio Spurs. He is the only coach in NBA history to lead seven teams to the playoffs.
He’s been NBA coach of the year four times.
His Sixers reached the NBA Finals in 2001. His Pistons won it all in 2004. The NBA named him one of its top 15 coaches in history in 2022.
Brown guided Kansas to two Final Fours and one national title, plus UCLA to one Final Four, during 11 seasons as a college head coach. His last college head coaching job was at SMU from 2012-16. He was 262-100 as a college head coach.
Washington went 16-16 last season in Hopkins’ sixth season as Huskies coach. Washington has not qualified for the NCAA Tournament since 2019.
According to Chandler Vessels of On3.com, “Hopkins added a couple of key pieces to the roster this offseason in Kentucky transfer point guard Sahvir Wheeler and four-star freshman shooting guard Wesley Blake. Now with Brown soon to be added to the staff, he’ll hope the new faces can lead to better results.”
Noted Reice Shipley of thecomeback.com: “What makes this a fit for Larry Brown is likely the connection both he and Mike Hopkins have to former Syracuse Orange head coach Jim Boeheim. Brown notably coached alongside Boeheim for the United States Olympic team, and Hopkins was a long-time assistant under Boeheim at Syracuse from 1995-2017. This move likely won’t make Washington a contender overnight, but Brown’s experience coaching at the highest level certainly could be very valuable under Hopkins.”
