Another Upset: Brown Is Staying at Kansas : UCLA at a Loss as Coach Has Last-Minute Change of Heart

Exultation gave way to shock and disbelief when the stunning news reached UCLA’s athletic offices Friday afternoon that Larry Brown, the basketball coach who was supposed to be returning in glory to save the Bruin program after a brief trip back to Kansas to make his resignation speech, had, in fact, changed his mind at the last second and would not be coming back, after all.

No one was more surprised than UCLA Athletic Director Peter Dalis, who then issued this statement: “UCLA officials met Thursday evening and Friday morning in Los Angeles with Larry Brown regarding the UCLA basketball head coaching position. When Coach Brown left Los Angeles this morning we had every reason to believe that he had accepted UCLA’s offer. We have since learned from the media that Coach Brown has decided to remain at Kansas, but we have not heard this directly from Coach Brown.”

It was a day for terse statements. At his press conference in Kansas, Brown sat down before the gathered media and, in two sentences, said that he had been to UCLA to discuss the job but that after thinking about it, he had decided to stay at Kansas.

Although a cheer went up from the people who had gathered for the announcement by the coach who just last Monday night had won the national championship, Brown looked anything but pleased. He didn’t smile. He didn’t acknowledge the cheer. Looking tired and haggard, he slumped in his chair and put a hand over his mouth.

Brown then walked back to his office without any further explanation.

Certainly, no one at UCLA could explain it. He had been offered a deal that, by all accounts, reflected UCLA’s eagerness to win him away from Kansas. It was a total package, sources close to UCLA said, that Brown liked.

UCLA athletic department officials said Friday evening that they had met all of Brown’s conditions for himself and his assistant coaches. He had accepted the offer.

At no point did it seem that Brown was conducting a bidding war between UCLA and Kansas.

In fact, both sides had become convinced that money was secondary to the fact that Brown wanted to return to UCLA.

Even while his Jayhawk team had the national championship game yet to play, Brown was going back to an old theme--that he had made a mistake by leaving UCLA in the first place, that he loved UCLA. Everyone who had talked with Brown in the last week had come away thinking that he would end up back at UCLA, where he had coached in 1980 and ’81.

Despite the ruffled feathers over the fact that he had turned his back on UCLA once, Chancellor Charles Young, Vice Chancellor Edwin Svenson and Dalis had agreed to take him back, had offered him the job. Brown was happy for the second chance. Everything had been worked out.

Kansas officials were so sure that Brown was making the move that they leaked the story to the Associated Press earlier in the day, saying: “He’s gone.”

Meanwhile, the sports information director at Kansas was sending biographical material to the sports information director at UCLA for today’s press conference.

So, if the breakdown wasn’t in the deal on the UCLA end and the breakthrough wasn’t in the making on the Kansas end, what in the world happened between the time he left those happy UCLA officials, flew by private jet back to Kansas, made a brief stop at his home and then announced that he was not making the move?

What, indeed. Or who?

Something or someone had a very big impact on Brown during those few hours. Sources in Kansas report that Kansas Athletic Director Bob Frederick went to Brown’s home to talk with him, but that Brown also made several phone calls.

Brown was giving no indication of what swayed him. In another statement released through his sports information office, Brown said: “I’m committed to these kids and I’m staying. Like Dorothy said, ‘There’s no place like home.’ I don’t want to do anything to take anything away from this championship.”

Which does not begin to explain why he had been interested in leaving just hours earlier.

Mike Maddox, a freshman on the Jayhawk team, asked what Brown had said in the team meeting, said: “He just apologized to us for the way all this came out.” In a televised interview later Friday evening, Brown said: “To be honest with you, I wanted to be the coach at UCLA, but circumstances changed that.”

Brown said that UCLA’s offer was better than he had ever expected and that he still has not sat down with Frederick to talk about a new Kansas contract.

Which left the question of those unnamed “circumstances.”

The only new development Friday afternoon was the announcement by Indiana University’s star forward, Rick Calloway, that he was transferring to Kansas.

But surely Brown knew of that possibility before he ever talked with UCLA, and the transfer of one player would not have that much influence on a coach’s career move.

When Brown was in Los Angeles, he gave every indication that he was taking the UCLA job, to the point of asking people in the basketball office to call a meeting of the UCLA players for 11 a.m. today, an hour before the planned press conference.

The big buildup for the big letdown did UCLA no good in its search for a basketball coach to replace Walt Hazzard, who was fired last week. The Bruin job is starting to look like one nobody wants.

It was the second big disappointment for Bruin fans, who were built up, too, on the hope that North Carolina State Coach Jim Valvano was interested in the job last week. But both sides cooled on that idea.

Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski also was contacted and turned the job down, but that was done quickly and quietly.

The excitement over Brown had time to build, and it seemed warranted. He had told so many people that he wanted the job.

UCLA football Coach Terry Donahue was saying Thursday afternoon: “You’ll love working with Larry Brown.”

Bruin guard Pooh Richardson was saying he was pleased with the choice of Brown. Richardson had left Friday afternoon to play basketball, thinking that Brown was his new coach. When he returned at about 5:30 Friday evening and started through his phone messages, he went through the same shock everyone else had experienced earlier.

“I can’t even believe this!” Richardson said. “What happened?” After hearing the story, or what was known of it, Richardson said, “I can’t tell you what I’m thinking now, because I don’t know what to think. This is crazy, going day to day not knowing what’s going to happen. We thought Brown was coming in, and that was good.”

The players had let Dalis know that they liked Brown.

But then, so did Dalis.

Brown left everyone on campus shaking their heads in disbelief.

Even so, Dalis was in his office all afternoon, getting on with the business of finding a new basketball coach.

Jim Harrick of Pepperdine, a former UCLA assistant coach, and Paul Westhead of Loyola Marymount are still being mentioned. But Dalis preferred to make no comment, saying only that there were several candidates under consideration.

Footnote: The last time a coach looked so undecided and so miserable in making the announcement that he would stay at his university was four years ago, when Larry Farmer announced that he would be staying at UCLA. He resigned three days later.

If Brown changes his mind again, would UCLA give him a third chance?

From all indications Friday, no way.