American Idle: Larry Brown Sheds Rust to Come Back For More College

Southern Methodist, after failing to return to the NCAA playoffs under North Carolina alumnus Matt Doherty, doubled down on the Tar Heel connection by hiring dinosaur Larry Brown as the Mustangs lay the groundwork for joining the Big East Conference.

Guiding the Dallas-based school to the Final Four is a Brown out. But Brown, who has been away from the college game for almost a quarter century, will warrant national coach of the year acclaim if he immediately guides Southern Methodist to the 20-win plateau like he did with UCLA and Kansas in each of his seven seasons with them in the 1980s.

First things first! Southern Methodist better hope Brown doesn't come full circle, have a change of heart and renege on his deal like he did with Davidson in the late 1960s. Brown's final season with Kansas in 1988 when he directed the Danny Manning-led Jayhawks to an NCAA title also marked the last year the Mustangs won an NCAA playoff game (83-75 over Digger Phelps-coached Notre Dame at Chapel Hill).

Former Kansas assistant Tim Jankovich subsequently left Illinois State to become the Mustangs' coach-in-waiting under Brown. Oddly, Jankovich joins Brown on the following list of active head coaches who served in non-college head coaching capacities at least nine seasons before returning to a Division I program as bench boss: