Report: Hall of Fame coach Larry Brown likely to join Washington staff

Washington coach Mike Hopkins is set to add a legendary name to his coaching staff ahead of the 2023-24 season. According to Stadium‘s Jeff Goodman, “all signs point to” the Huskies bringing on Hall of Fame coach Larry Brown.

Brown began this past season as a special advisor to Memphis coach Penn Hardaway. However, he stepped down from the role in December due to health concerns. Now it appears the 82-year-old is ready to get back to work.

Brown would bring an impressive resume with him to Seattle, as he is the only coach to win a championship in both the NBA and college. He led Kansas to an NCAA title in 1988 before returning to the NBA the following season as the head coach of the San Antonio Spurs.

Brown spent 27 seasons as a head coach in the NBA, winning his only championship in 2004 with the Detroit Pistons. In that time he served as the coach for nine different franchises and amassed 1,098 victories, the eighth-most in league history. The NBA named him one of its top 15 coaches in history in 2022.

Washington is set to enter its seventh season under Mike Hopkins, having made just one NCAA Tournament in that span. The Huskies have finished with a winning record just once in the past four seasons and went an middling 16-16 in 2022-23.

Hopkins added a couple of key pieces to the roster this offseason in Kentucky transfer point guard Sahvir Wheeler and four-star freshman shooting guard Wesley Blake. Now with Brown soon to be added to the staff, he’ll hope the new faces can lead to better results.

More on the career of Larry Brown

Brown was a former North Carolina point guard form 1960-63 and was also a member of the 1964 USA Summer Olympics team that won a gold medal. He later got his start coaching as an assistant for the Tar Heels from 1965-67.

After that, Brown made the leap to the pros to become head coach of the ABA’s Carolina Cougars. He later took over as coach of the Denver Nuggets, leading them to an ABA Finals appearance in 1976 before the franchise moved to the NBA the following season.

Throughout his career, he has been named NBA Coach of the Year four times, made three trips to the NBA Finals and three appearances in the Final Four, all of which came at Kansas.

Brown was also the head coach at SMU from 2012-16, leading the Mustangs to an AAC Conference Tournament title and NCAA Tournament appearance in 2015. Given his more than 50 years of experience and success, he should have plenty of wisdom to pass on at Washington.