Naismith Memorial Hall of Famer Larry Brown spoke with the athletic director at East Hampton High in New York on Tuesday morning and will soon meet with him in person to discuss the possibility of coaching the school's varsity basketball team, Newsday reported Tuesday afternoon.
Brown, who turned 76 years old last week, previously mentioned this as a possibility in a recent interview with the Kansas City Star. He told the paper he "can't retire" even though he resigned as SMU's coach in early July, at the age of 75, after he and the school couldn't reach an agreement on a contract extension.
"There's a high school in East Hampton (N.Y.), where I'm currently staying. I'm going to speak to the AD there," Brown said last week. "If I do that, I can't do it halfway. They told me I can still speak and go to colleges, but I don't want to cheat the kids. So if I'm going to do it, I'll do it 100 percent. I've got so much I've been taught from players [I've worked with] and coaches I played for. I just want to share it somehow."
This story would be bananas if it were about anybody but Brown.
But it makes perfect sense for Brown.
He's one of the most accomplished basketball coaches in history -- the only man to ever with both an NCAA championship (at Kansas in 1988) and an NBA championship (with the Pistons in 2004). But he's also undeniably fickle and known for leaving jobs abruptly with little rhyme or reason. Problem is, his friends will tell you, Brown remains essentially addicted to coaching and completely bored away from the sport. He has few hobbies. He prefers being in a gym to being at home. So the idea of him accepting a high school job just so he'll have an opportunity to teach basketball to basketball players shouldn't be too surprising, if only because a high school job is probably the only coaching job he can get in this country right now.
At his age, and with his old-school philosophy, the NBA seems out of the question. And the fact that SMU was placed on probation on his watch, and hit with a postseason ban, makes another Division I opportunity unlikely. Thus, here we are. A Hall of Famer a decade past the full benefit age for retirement really might end up coaching a high school team. And, all jokes aside, he'll probably be great at it.
