How did SMU land Larry Brown?

by **tristatecoog** » Mon Feb 10, 2014 1:19 pm

How did SMU land Larry Brown, a HOF coach with success in college and the pros? There wasn't a ton of cash thrown at him. $800K/yr? So it wouldn't be about money or legacy.

Positives:
* Asst coach salaries. SMU paid for a highly thought of associate HC who makes about $700K/yr?? He got Malagi from UH for 2x his salary (~ $200K).
* Facility improvements. Recent practice facility. Moody upgrade was in the works.
* Top notch competition. Inclusion in Big East.
* June Jones had some impact? Gerald Turner impact? Previous AD?
* Comment about 16 yo daughter graduating from SMU indicates he likes the academics and atmosphere.

Other:
* He's 70 years old with some light infractions that followed him in the past??
* He's not from Texas and hasn't been a college coach since 1988 (KU).

Larry's an amazing hire and other schools want to replicate the success. It all seems to boil down to convincing a guy with tremendous past success and a continuing drive to win to come to your school.

by **ponydawg** » Mon Feb 10, 2014 1:21 pm

I thought he was making closer to 2 mill a year......

And he lives to coach.

by **blackoutpony** » Mon Feb 10, 2014 1:24 pm

He called us. He basically begged us for the job.

He wanted to make this the crowning jewel on a coaching career that didn't need it and will most likely never be equaled.

If he could take SMU, a dog sh@t program that was a dumpster fire and make them like a Georgetown, as he's always said he wanted to, then it would be his greatest challenge and accomplishment to date. Larry's a competitor and wanted the challenge, but the man loves basketball. It's in his blood and at the college level, he can better shape and mold players "the right way" which is exactly what he's doing here.

by **Pony ^** » Mon Feb 10, 2014 1:24 pm

Turner wanted Larry, our former AD did not. He was fired shortly after the hire

by **Dooby** » Mon Feb 10, 2014 1:41 pm

Not quite accurate

by **leopold** » Mon Feb 10, 2014 1:59 pm

Don't ever be afraid to buy the best, you'll always be happy with it.

by **Alaric** » Mon Feb 10, 2014 2:02 pm

Seriously think he was intrigued by us since we were so bad for so long. Very few chances to take a program from the ashes

by **LHS81** » Mon Feb 10, 2014 2:05 pm

Haven't figured out why Houston message boards think SMU got Larry Brown for under $1 million. . . Best of my recollection Larry's getting $1.8 to 2 million.

by **Treadway21** » Mon Feb 10, 2014 2:08 pm

I really think it helped that he played at Moody during his ABA days. He was exposed to the city, the campus, and the gym, so he knew there was potential.

He also has mentioned Doc Hayes many times when he talks about SMU so I assume he also knew about us when we were good in the 50's. We have just enough basketball history to be noticed.

by **smusic 00** » Mon Feb 10, 2014 2:13 pm

We didn't convince him to come, he convinced us. He wasn't our AD's first (or second) choice. We could have had him around the price you suggest, but as we got used by our 'preferred' candidates his price went up to somewhere in the 1.5-1.8 mil as others have said. It wasn't a widely praised hire and seemed to most to be a bit gimmicky. The silver lining at the time was Jankovich, our coach in waiting.

by **Digetydog** » Mon Feb 10, 2014 2:24 pm

blackoutpony wrote:He called us. He basically begged us for the job.

He wanted to make this the crowning jewel on a coaching career that didn't need it and will most likely never be equaled.

If he could take SMU, a dog sh@t program that was a dumpster fire and make them like a Georgetown, as he's always said he wanted to, then it would be his greatest challenge and accomplishment to date. Larry's a competitor and wanted the challenge, but the man loves basketball. It's in his blood and at the college level, he can better shape and mold players "the right way" which is exactly what he's doing here.

If he takes us to the final four, he needs to be inducted into the Basketball HOF AGAIN!!

by **LA_Mustang** » Mon Feb 10, 2014 2:28 pm

I think he has a really good shot at national coach of the year.

by **tristatecoog** » Mon Feb 10, 2014 2:31 pm

Cool info. So he's in the $1.5-2.0MM range himself. All-in, SMU may be paying around $3MM for coaches. Maybe not the top three in the AAC but solidly upper-tier and highly committed. UH is probably around $800K to $1MM total. I've seen that Dickey makes $400K.

by **Nacho** » Mon Feb 10, 2014 2:31 pm

we may have to give him a raise pending his performance review.

by **03Mustang** » Mon Feb 10, 2014 2:32 pm

I heard Turner hired him to build the program up to where we're legit and then kill men's basketball...You know, because he hates athletics so much.

Word is that Orsini tried to stop this evil plan and that got him fired...at least that's what Mexmustang told me. :lol:

How did SMU land Larry Brown?

How did SMU land Larry Brown?

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