Matter of Time: Isn't It Inevitable Brown Out Eventually Will Occur at SMU?

What can Brown do for SMU or what will Brown do to SMU? That remains the question! Hiring a coaching fossil such as Larry Brown generated more national publicity than Southern Methodist basketball enjoyed collectively since 1988, which was Brown's last year as a college coach before returning to SMU in 2012-13 and the Mustangs' last year to post an NCAA playoff victory.

Next Town Brown was probably comfortable with nomadic SMU because the Mustangs were joining their third different league since the SWC disbanded in 1996. If Brown can guide SMU to the NCAA playoffs in the next few years for the first time since 1993, it will be the equivalent of him directing UCLA to an NCAA runner-up finish in his debut season with the Bruins in 1980. If he can win an NCAA Tournament game with the Mustangs, it will be the equivalent of him capturing a national title in his swan song with Kansas in 1988.

SMU, a total of 55 games under .500 over the 24 seasons prior to Brown's arrival, is already vastly overpaying for an antique bench boss nearly a quarter century removed from the day-to-day college grind, a coach-in-waiting who has never had an NCAA playoff appearance in nine years and suspect recruiters hired from former powerhouses that have fallen on hard times. But is an even more critical cost in academic integrity looming? There was a shaky track record to worry about inasmuch as UCLA and Kansas each were on probation the season following Brown's departure.

After checking the national registry for truck drivers with standout sons/players (remember Danny Manning), Brown's first significant act with SMU was a down-and-dirty deed discarding several players at this late stage because they "weren't good enough to play for him." We're taking for granted that Brown's "good" refers to on-the-court performance rather than off-the-hardwood decorum. He apparently was more fond of trying to bring in a troubled transfer such as Josiah Turner from Arizona (before he abandoned ship for the pros during the summer) rather than retaining Jeremiah Samarrippas, who was SMU's captain as a sophomore. Perhaps Dean Smith should have treated a similar undersized guard the same shabby way when the Hall of Famer became North Carolina's head coach in 1961-62 after Brown averaged a modest 4.5 ppg as a sophomore the previous season.

Only a splendid tactician can be the lone individual ever to win NCAA and NBA titles. And Brown, who coached nearly half of the franchises in this year's NBA playoffs, turned things around quickly for the Mustangs primarily because the conference the school joined was a shell of its former self after Pittsburgh, Syracuse and West Virginia departed for other leagues. But isn't there something more important than selling your soul seeking nirvana?