Brown was fired after that horrific start in Charlotte and has been resting his mind and body in retirement ever since. But it looks like the 71-year-old will be once more roaming the sidelines. This time in the college ranks.
After less than two seasons away from the game, Brown is set to return to the hardwood as the head coach at Southern Methodist University after days of negotiations, according to ESPN.
Still the only coach to ever win both an NCAA national title and NBA championship, Brown will be taking over an SMU program that finished a dreadful 13-19 in 2011 and hasn't made an NCAA tournament appearance since 1993.
Brown will lead the Mustangs into a new era in the school's sports history, as SMU is set to join the Big East conference in the 2013-14 season.
The only remaining issues that need to be ironed out appear to be the rest of Brown's coaching staff. Brown has reportedly asked Illinois State head coach Tim Jankovich to fill the coach-in-waiting role, and the Redbirds coach is supposedly leaning towards taking the job.
Brown has also offered positions to Illinois assistant Jerrance Howard, regarded as one of the nation's top recruiters, and Kentucky assistant Rod Strickland, a former NBA player that spent the last year in an administrative role on John Calipari's staff.
During his 38-year coaching career, Brown has coached 13 different teams, including three prior stints in the college ranks. Brown won the NCAA national title in 1988 with Kansas, but left after the season for a return to the pros.
He finally won a ring in the NBA with the Detroit Pistons in 2004. But Brown only lasted one more season in the Motor City, leading the Pistons back to the Finals, before jumping ship once more for the chance to coach the New York Knicks.
Brown is 1098-904 in his career on the NBA sidelines and 177-61 in college stints at both UCLA and Kansas. Brown actually started his coaching career at Davidson in 1972, where he lasted just one month and never coached a game before jumping ship for a chance to coach in the ABA – a great precursor to his career.
