Image Concerns Brown : Clippers: Former coach says team shouldn’t have been so surprised when he resigned.

Larry Brown said Wednesday that no one factor convinced him to quit as coach of the Clippers a week ago today, but added that management should not have been so shocked at the decision because his agent had been in contact with owner Donald T. Sterling and Vice President Andy Roeser regarding several future possibilities.

“The only thing that concerns me is the perception of why I did not tell them myself (about resigning),” Brown said.”Joe (Glass) had been talking to Donald and Andy daily since I don’t know when. I feel bad about that perception. And I feel bad (Clipper) people were surprised I was going on vacation.”

Some Clipper staff members, supposedly involved with the most integral decisions of the team, learned of Brown’s plans to leave town from a reporter. When Glass called to say Brown would be resigning, they were equally shocked.

Brown is scheduled to conclude his Hawaiian vacation tonight before returning to Los Angeles. He said he has not had contact with the Indiana Pacers regarding their vacant coaching position and that he left knowing very little about his future after 1 1/2 seasons and two playoff appearances with the Clippers.

“I just didn’t know in my own heart if this was what I wanted to do,” Brown said, avoiding specifics of why he quit. “It’s as simple as that. Now I need some time to sit down and decide what direction I want to go from here. I don’t know what I’ll do. Maybe I will coach again or maybe I will do something like TV.”

Brown stopped short of saying the well-publicized distractions of last season prompted him to leave. But he made several references to Danny Manning’s brief request to be traded because of friction with Brown and the looming free agency of several key players.

In the end, he said, his resignation was in everyone’s best interest.

“They gave me a chance,” Brown said. “I’ve had a lot of real good things happen to me with the Clippers. The first year with them was real special and I guess I hoped last year would be.

“Last year was hard, and it shouldn’t have been. Maybe I’m just more sensitive than other people.”

Brown still has not spoken with any of the people who hired him, but said he has sent letters to many people and will talk in person with Sterling and General Manager Elgin Baylor, among others, after returning.

Brown walked away from a guaranteed $750,000 for each of the next two seasons, and he held an option for a third year at the same amount. He left with a 64-53 regular-season record, making him the winningest coach in Los Angeles Clipper history. And, under Brown, the franchise made its first two playoff appearances since the Buffalo Brave days.

No. 18 on the NBA’s all-time coaching list, with another 229 victories coming in the ABA, Brown was one of only five active coaches with 400 wins on the day he quit. Ironically, the Clippers have spoken with one of the others, Lenny Wilkens, about succeeding Brown.

Those numbers will always be a testimony to his success, a companion to his reputation as one of the game’s best teachers when people speak in tribute. But, at the same time, he apparently will forever be dogged by the reputation as a vagabond or wanderer who will never be happy in any job.

He said he knows he will now face that negative image again.

“That’s always been with me, even though I was at Kansas for five years and was with the Spurs for a long time (3 1/2 years) before they fired me,” Brown said, quickly noting how many other coaches have come and gone during his 15 months with the Clippers. “That is something I can’t control.”

They know that in Los Angeles better than anywhere. He left UCLA twice, one time about 12 hours after accepting the job. Nothing against the town, though--Brown said he may continue to live in Manhattan Beach if he isn’t working during the 1993-94 season.

That is part of the future he must now contemplate, all while others still have so many questions about the past.