SMU basketball coach Larry Brown resigned today, ending his four-year run a four-year run with the program. During his brief tenure, the Mustangs made the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1993. They were also banned from last year’s NCAA’s due to infractions and academic improprieties incurred under Brown’s watch.
Brown, who had one year left on his current contract, reportedly resigned because he wanted a long-term deal.
According to SMU athletic director Rick Hart, Brown was offered a contract that ran through 2020, but the 75-year-old wasn’t satisfied with its terms.
“Coach Brown was able to accomplish so much in his four years on the Hilltop, including leading us to our first conference title since 1993,” Hart said in a statement. “He has left his mark on SMU basketball, and we are thankful for what he’s done.”
The Mustangs won the first 18 games last year and went 25-5 overall and 13-5 in the American Athletic Conference. In addition to his numerous NBA coaching stints, his other college jobs where at Kansas, where he won a national title and UCLA, which he led to the Final Four, an appearance that was later vacated by the NCAA after two UCLA players were found to be ineligible.
He led the Jayhawks to the 1988 NCAA title, but the program was banned from postseason play the following season and placed on probation for three years because of recruiting violations.
Brown is the only coach in basketball history to win both an NCAA national championship and an NBA title, which he won with the Detroit Pistons in 2004.
