At SMU, Brown Makes Splashy Return to College Coaching
Feature stories on SMU Men's Basketball Coach Larry Brown.
From The New York Times:
By ZACH SCHONBRUN
Tim Jankovich had a good feeling when he flew to Dallas in early April to discuss the men’s basketball coaching vacancy at Southern Methodist. It dissipated when he found out that the Hall of Famer Larry Brown was interviewing for the job on the same day.
But later that night, Brown called Jankovich to offer him a job on his staff.
Jankovich was entering his fifth year as the coach at Illinois State. Few coaches willingly take steps back. After mulling over the decision for more than a week, however, Jankovich took the plunge.
“I always looked up to him,” Jankovich said. “The combination of getting the chance to work for him and all the things that S.M.U. offered me made it a situation too good to pass up.”
Brown’s splashy return to collegiate coaching after a 24-year absence — he last coached at Kansas in 1988 — includes something different from his various stops in the N.B.A., including the Knicks, the Philadelphia 76ers and the Detroit Pistons. Brown earned a reputation for changing jobs frequently. So with Jankovich, S.M.U. installed an immediate succession plan.
