Brown Leaves Kansas for San Antonio

Larry Brown, the coach who seemingly could not make up his mind a few months ago, did just that Monday, resigning at the University of Kansas to become coach of the National Basketball Assn.’s San Antonio Spurs.

Brown, who led Kansas to the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. title, then spurned an offer to return to UCLA, where he had coached the 1979-80 and 1980-81 seasons, said the Spurs’ offer was “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

Taking over a professional team for the fourth time, Brown reportedly signed a 5-year contract worth $3.5 million, making him one of the NBA’s highest-paid coaches.

“Kansas has been a very special place for me,” Brown said in a statement. “And it was a very difficult decision to leave. I can’t believe that any college coach in the country has a better situation than I did at KU, and I’m grateful to (Athletic Director) Bob Frederick and the chancellor for that.

“The offer at San Antonio was simply a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, which I couldn’t turn down. After I made the decision not to go to UCLA and stay at Kansas, I had no intentions to consider any other jobs, but the San Antonio situation presented itself and I didn’t think it would be fair to my family not to consider it.”

Brown, 47, has had an on-again, off-again relationship with several teams, most recently UCLA. In April, Brown indicated to UCLA officials he would accept an offer to coach the Bruins. There was crowing in Westwood and thoughts of building a basketball dynasty once again. Brown had said on several occasions that leaving UCLA was the biggest mistake he had ever made.

Days after winning the national title, Brown reached an agreement with UCLA officials and left Westwood to return to Kansas, where he intended to hand in a letter of resignation and speak personally to his players. Then, in a stunning turnaround, Brown issued a terse statement, saying that he would stay at Kansas.

The ever-ambivalent Brown told Tony Kornheiser of the Washington Post Monday: “I’m sure if UCLA would have been as patient as San Antonio, I’d be there.”

This was an apparent reference to UCLA’s timing in recruiting Brown, who was being considered during the week of the Final Four.

The shock felt by UCLA officials after Brown’s reversal was the same emotion that officials in various teams and schools have come to know over the years. Brown has a history of abrupt departures in a coaching career that includes stints at Carolina and Denver of the American Basketball Assn., Denver and New Jersey of the NBA, as well as at UCLA and Kansas.

“I’m not surprised,” UCLA Athletic Director Pete Dalis said Monday night. “We knew he was a peripatetic coach.” It was a term Dalis defined as “seemingly present everywhere.”

“I had been hearing rumors for quite a while, but I didn’t know which ones to believe,” he said. “I did believe it when I heard that he would not be back at Kansas.”

Monday’s move ended several days of speculation. Brown had earlier denied published reports that he would leave Kansas for San Antonio, but the deal appeared to be sealed late last week.

Brown brought with him his Kansas assistant coaches, Ed Manning and Alvin Gentry, and said he hopes former assistant Lee Rose would be hired.

Second-year coach Bob Weiss, who had a 59-105 record with a number of young players and several aging veterans, was fired June 7 by new Spur owner B.J. (Red) McCombs.

Said McCombs, who recently paid $47 million to gain majority interest of the team: “I believe I have selected the very best basketball coach in the world. Larry has always been in the hero category to me, for what he has done not only on the court but with the lives he has influenced.”

Said Kansas’ Frederick: “I think money was a significant factor, yes. I think our basketball coach is compensated as well as any other (college) basketball coach in the United States, but it’s hard sometimes for an educational institution to compete with a private concern like an NBA franchise.”

Frederick said he hoped to have a coach at Kansas before July 10, when the NCAA allows coaches to begin evaluating players.