Men's Basketball

Larry Brown

Philadelphia 76ers head coach

Age: 63

Hired by 76ers May 5, 1997

University of North Carolina, '63

Larry Brown's Odds
COACHING EXPERIENCE
1997-2003 — Philadelphia 76ers, Head Coach
2000 — United States Olympic basketball team, Assistant Coach
1993-97 — Indiana Pacers, Head Coach
1991-93 — LA Clippers, Head Coach
1988-92 — San Antonio Spurs, Head Coach
1983-88 — University of Kansas, Head Coach
1981-83 — N.J. Nets, Head Coach
1979-81 — UCLA, Head Coach
1974-79 — Denver Nuggets, Head Coach
1972-74 — Caroline Cougars, Head Coach
1965-67 — University of North Carolina, Assistant Coach

COACHING HONORS
2002 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall
2001 NBA Coach of the Year
1976 ABA Coach of the Year
1975 ABA Coach of the Year
1973 ABA Coach of the Year

EDUCATION
University of North Carolina, B.A. 1963

PLAYING EXPERIENCE
ABA Oakland, 1967-72
University of North Carolina, 1960-63
Unites States Olympic team (gold medalist), 1964

PERSONAL
Born Sept. 14, 1940 in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Wife: Shelly
Children: L.J. (8) and Madison (5), and three grown daughters, Kristen, Alli and Melissa.

COACHING HISTORY

1972-74 — Carolina Cougars

• Was selected as the ABA Coach of the Year three times (1973, 1975 and 1976). Took his teams to the Playoffs all four seasons,including two ABA Division Finals and one ABA Finals

1974-79 — Denver Nuggets

• He took the Nuggets to the postseason twice (1977, 1978).
1979-81 — UCLA

• Was head coach of the UCLA Bruins from 1979-80 to 1980-81, and directed the Bruins to a two-year mark of 42-17 (.712 winning percentage), which included an appearance in the 1980 NCAA Tournament championship game and an NCAA Tournament appearance the following year.

1981-83 — N.J. Nets

• He took the Nets to the postseason once (1983).

1983-88 — University of Kansas

• Head coach at Kansas from 1983-84 to 1987-88, he rolled up a mark of 135-44 (.754 winning percentage), made five NCAA Tournaments, and captured the 1988 NCAA championship and made another Final Four appearance in 1986.

1988-92 — San Antonio Spurs

• He took the Spurs to the postseason twice (1990 and 1991).

1991-93 — LA Clippers

• He took the Clippers to the postseason twice (1992 and 1993).

1993-97 — Indiana Pacers

• Ranks as the Pacers' all-time winningest NBA coach, he took the team to the playoffs three times, including the Eastern Conference Finals twice (1993-94, 1994-95).
2000 — United States Olympic basketball team

• He is the only U.S. male to both play (1964) and coach in the Olympics (2000 as an assistant coach). He assisted Rudy Tomjanovich and the 2000 U.S. Olympic Team to an 8-0 record and the gold medal in Sydney, Australia.

1997-2003 — Philadelphia 76ers

• Has led the Sixers to the NBA Playoffs the past four years. Led Philadelphia to the Atlantic Division crown for the first time since 1989-90 and to the top spot in the Eastern Conference. Brown's 76ers made a trip to the 2001 NBA Finals, the first such accomplishments in his then 18 years as an NBA coach. He was the Eastern Conference head coach in the 2001 All-Star Game and guided the East All-Stars to a come-from-behind win.

BIOGRAPHY:

Although Brown was a Kansas head man for the shortest span of all the coaches, his teams made the NCAA tournament in each of his five years. That includes two Final Four appearances, and the National Championship in 1988. Brown also reached the NCAA Championship game as head coach of UCLA in 1980, but lost to Louisville.

His .754 winning percentage at Kansas is second only to that of Roy Williams. After just five seasons as a Jayhawk, Brown left for the ranks of professional basketball.

• Head coach at Kansas from 1983-84 to 1987-88, he rolled up a mark of 135-44 (.754 winning percentage), made five NCAA Tournaments, and captured the 1988 NCAA championship and made another Final Four appearance in 1986.
Brown, who has coached the ABA's Denver Nuggets and Carolina Cougars and the NBA's New Jersey Nets, San Antonio Spurs, Los Angeles Clippers, Indiana Pacers, is in his sixth year there with the Philadelphia 76ers. Before that, his five-year stint at KU was the longest of his coaching tenure.

"Those were five of the greatest years I've ever had," Brown told the Journal-World. "It was an unbelievable thrill being coach of Kansas, considering the tradition, who I followed, who is involved in Kansas basketball.

A 1963 graduate of North Carolina, Brown was an honorable mention All-America guard under former Kansas basketball player Dean Smith. Brown also won a gold medal playing on the 1964 United States Olympic team.


While Larry Brown has carved his own special niche in 76ers history in only five short seasons, it was his 30-year "body of work" as a college and professional head coach that earned him enshrinement into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame's Class of 2002. Brown's resume includes three ABA Coach of the Year awards, the 2001 NBA Coach of the Year honor, a trip to the 2001 NBA Finals and a 1988 NCAA championship.

Brown, who has posted a winning record in 26 of his 30 seasons as a professional head coach or collegiate head coach, has compiled a 1,237-819 (.602) career record. In his 19 seasons in the NBA, he has an 831-651 (.561) record. He enters the 2002-03 season needing just two victories to move past Cotton Fitzsimmons (832) into eighth place and 34 victories to pass Jack Ramsay (864) in seventh.

He brought a national title to Lawrence, but he also brought three years of probation. His penchant for jumping from job to job can't help his chances, either.
After being hired on May 5, 1997, as the 17th head coach in Philadelphia franchise history, Brown recorded his first victory as head coach of the Sixers on Nov. 12, 1997 in Houston. In his first year, he led the Sixers to a nine-win improvement, tying the seventh best single-season improvement in team history and led the franchise to its most victories in six years. In 1998-99, he guided the Sixers to their first winning season since 1990-91 as well as to the NBA Playoffs, becoming the first coach in NBA history to guide six different franchises to the playoffs. He followed that with a second-consecutive playoff appearance in 1999-2000. Brown, who also serves as the 76ers vice president of basketball operations, signed a multi-year contract with the Sixers on March 24, 2000.

2000-01 was a milestone season for Brown and the Sixers, as the team recorded its best year in nearly two decades. Brown led the 76ers to 56 wins, the most for the franchise since 1984-85 and helped tie him for his best NBA winning percentage (San Antonio, 1989-90, .683) as a coach. On April 6, he passed Gene Shue (784) for ninth place on the all-time NBA coaching victory chart. On the same night, the Sixers clinched the Atlantic Division crown for the first time since 1989-90. The next game on April 9, he led Philadelphia to the top spot in the Eastern Conference. Individually, the 2000-01 campaign was certainly one of Brown's best: he was named the NBA's Coach of the Year and made a trip to the NBA Finals, the first such accomplishments in his then 18 years as an NBA coach.


• * KU selects new coach (4-8-83)
• * Brown tells KU he's going pro (6-13-88)
• * Once upon a time, Larry disliked pros (6-13-88)
Additional honors for Brown in 2001 included being named the NBA's IBM Coach of the Month for November, his third such honor (February 1994 with Indiana and March 1992 with the LA Clippers). He was the Eastern Conference head coach in the 2001 All-Star Game and guided the East All-Stars to a come-from-behind win, while Allen Iverson was named the game's MVP award. Brown was also selected as a finalist for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Hustle and defense are trademarks of a Larry Brown-coached team. Traditionally, his teams are unselfish and come to compete every night. In the NBA, he has finished first in his division six times (1976-77 and 1977-78 with Denver; 1989-90 and 1990-91 with San Antonio; 1994-95 with Indiana; and 2000-01 with Philadelphia).

Prior to joining the Sixers, the 61-year-old Brown spent four seasons as head coach of the Indiana Pacers, (1993 to 1997) compiling a record of 190-138 (.579). The Pacers' all-time winningest NBA coach, he took the team to the playoffs three times, including the Eastern Conference Finals twice. Before joining Indiana, Brown was the head coach of the Los Angeles Clippers and San Antonio Spurs. He took the Spurs to the postseason twice (1990 and 1991) and the Clippers twice (1992 and 1993).

Brown spent four seasons in the ABA, earning Coach of the Year honors three times. After two seasons each with Carolina and Denver, Brown returned to the college ranks in 1979 as head coach at UCLA. The Bruins went to the national championship game in Brown's first year as coach. After a two-year stint as coach of the New Jersey Nets (1981-83), Brown would spend the next five years as head coach at the University of Kansas, where he won the national championship in 1988.

As a coach, Brown draws on his playing days where he was a member of the 1964 gold medal U.S. Olympic basketball team. In the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia, Brown added another honor to his resume as an assistant coach on the gold medal Team USA. He is the only U.S. male to both play and coach in the Olympics. The three-time ABA All-Star holds the ABA record with 23 assists in a game and was the Most Valuable Player of the ABA All-Star Game in 1968.

—Courtesy of NBA.com and USA Basketball.com
COLLEGIATE COACHING RECORD
UCLA
1979-80      22-10 (.688)
1980-81      20-7 (.741)

University of Kansas
1983-84      22-10 (.688)
1984-85      26-8 (.765)
1985-86      35-4 (.897)
1986-87      25-11 (.694)
1987-88      27-11 (.711)

 PROFESSIONAL COACHING RECORD

Carolina Cougars (ABA)
1972-73      57-27 (.679)
1973-74      47-37 (.560)

Denver Nuggets (ABA)
1974-75      65-19 (.774)
1975-76      60-24 (.714)
1976-77      50-32 (.610)
1977-78      48-34 (.585)
1978-79      28-25 (.528)

N.J. Nets
1981-82      44-38 (.537)
1982-83      47-29 (.618)

San Antonio Spurs
1988-89      21-61 (.256)
1989-90      56-26 (.683)
1990-91      55-27 (.671)
1991-92      21-17 (.553)

L.A. Clippers
1991-92      23-12 (.657)
1992-93      41-41 (.500)

Indiana Pacers
1993-94      47-35 (.573)
1994-95      52-30 (.634)
1995-96      52-30 (.634)
1996-97      39-43 (.476)

Philadelphia 76ers
1997-98      31-51 (.378)
1998-99      28-22 (.560)
1999-2000   49-33 (.598)
2000-01      56-26 (.683)
2001-02      43-39 (.524)