Another Upset: Brown Is Staying at Kansas : Jayhawks Are Also Surprised by Turnabout

The tug o’ war started Tuesday in the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. Division I Basketball Championship Coach Sweepstakes.

Kansas won again. Larry Brown is staying.

UCLA pulled at his mind. Kansas pulled at his feelings.

“He gave me no indication why he decided to stay,” Athletic Director Bob Frederick said. “I’m speculating, oh, it was a matter of following his heart.”

Kansas had been tugging at it all week, including a 30,000-strong welcome-home rally in the football stadium the day after the Jayhawks won the national championship over Oklahoma in Kansas City, Mo.

Friday, the outpouring of affection continued in a scene that at first seemed funereal.

About 300 persons gathered at Allen Fieldhouse on the campus in the afternoon to hear Frederick supposedly bid goodby to Brown at a news conference, based on a CBS News’ report that he had accepted UCLA’s offer.

Instead, Brown showed up himself. As he took a seat before a table covered by microphones, a hush spread throughout the arena, followed by a lusty roar when Brown slowly said:

” . . . I visited UCLA last night, and after thinking about it, I’ve decided to stay at the University of Kansas.”

Brown stated several apparent factors favoring Kansas earlier in the week, according to close friends who sat with him Tuesday night--the day UCLA officials called for permission to talk to him and later said by telephone the job could be his.

“I belong here,” he said that night to three of his assistant coaches.

He seemed excited about prospects who might be swayed by the latest addition to Kansas’ rich tradition, including Rick Calloway, a transfer from Indiana University. Calloway, a standout on the Hoosiers’ 1986-87 national championship team, called shortly after Brown’s announcement Friday and declared his intention to play his senior season at Kansas after sitting out next season.

Brown talked openly about a comfort zone at Kansas: His four-year contract ($79,000 annual salary and about to rise) that automatically renews each year, his autonomy in running the basketball program, his close friendship with Frederick, the kingship of basketball at a school where football takes a back seat (1-9-1 last year). Brown told his coaching staff in assessing the situation this week, “We know that here we will get whatever we ask for.”

Strong loyalty to his assistants also counted heavily with Brown. He asked Ed Manning, Alvin Gentry and R.C. Buford how they felt about staying or going to UCLA.

But Brown also became very excited about possibilities that grew into probabilities at UCLA, knowing that his staff could join him as part of the package deal. He had expressed to his closest friends misgivings about whether Kansas could attract the country’s finest talent year in and year out.

And as much as he enjoys the adulation of Lawrence, it is small, Midwest USA. He is citified. Further, he frequently makes references to loneliness during the final stages of divorce, returning each night to his large home, only to his two dogs.

Thus, Thursday he flew to Los Angeles in a private jet sent by UCLA.

Upon returning Friday, however, as UCLA was hustling to put together a biographical packet for its scheduled announcement of Brown as its coach today, Brown made a surprise turnabout.

“I feel a commitment to our kids,” Brown said, referring to his Kansas team. “I apologize for all this happening at a time everybody ought to be celebrating the accomplishments of our team. I’m going to go visit with our team and leave it at that. Like Dorothy said, ‘There’s no place like home.’ ”

And he left it at that, accepting no questions, offering no insights.

Frederick said Brown asked to meet with him at Brown’s home. “I waited 30 minutes while he was on the phone with somebody, and then he told me he was staying,” Frederick said. “Contract was not an issue. We’ll do something about that later.”

Brown departed after his stunning announcement to join his staff and spend the rest of the night into the early morning hours on recruiting calls and strategies.

As a business partner drove him home, the streets resounded with horns honking. People waved and gave him high signs at stoplights.

Rosetta Herman, in the sports information office, said hundreds of calls kept the lines tied up all afternoon. “One man said he was going to light a candle,” she said.