Jensen: Tough to argue with Larry Brown's success

Let's be cynical. Southern Methodist University did the right thing when it hired Larry Brown. The man did everything you'd expect him to do, and the school profited and gained publicity and won a lot more basketball games because of it. Former presidents of the United States suddenly sat in the front row because of it.

The school also went on probation and missed this year's NCAA tournament because of it. There was academic scandal attached to it. There was lack of supervision of the recruiting process tied to it. There were lies to the NCAA, admitted by Brown, who was suspended for the first nine games of last season, because of it.

There were no surprises to any of it, including how it ended. SMU signed up for it all when they hired a man who is as good as any coach at any level at teaching any game. If SMU eventually had issues with Larry Brown, that's SMU's issue. They got exactly what they paid for.

Brown leaving? Sounds like business, too.

Let's stop and acknowledge that the timing of this news is just atrocious for a school in Dallas, Texas. The news didn't break Friday morning because of a press conference. A deeply-sourced reporter at CBS Sports did his job and reported the news, and there were no denials. If either Brown or SMU wanted that news out today, that's truly awful. But we don't know that. If they wanted to wait but couldn't deny the truth, that's the way these things work, unfortunately.

If the reports are correct that the parting is because the former Sixers coach wanted a longer-term extension than SMU was willing to give him, let's be cynical about that, too. SMU was willing to live with scandal and probation, but a long-term deal for a 75-year-old man, not so fast.

Brown knows how hard recruiting is when opposing coaches can tell prospects that old guy over there isn't even going to be there to coach you.

The school did an interesting thing back in 2012 when, as part of hiring Brown, honchos insisted on adding a "coach in waiting."

"I laughed when they said coach-in-waiting," Brown told me in his office before the 2013-14 season, his second at SMU. "If you look at my career, everybody who has coached with me has been in-waiting. That's what a head coach's job is, to develop the people that are with you."

His original thoughts for that job were Bruiser Flint, then at Drexel, or Jerome Allen, then at Penn. The timing wasn't right for them, so he hired Tim Jankovich, then at Illinois State. Jankovich now becomes the head coach, effectively immediately.

Everyone laughed about that coach-in-waiting stuff because of Brown's track record of quick departures. In fact, four years at SMU had to be longer than anyone expected.

If this is it for Brown - and it has to be, right? - let's look at the big picture. This man had a breathtaking career. Is there a Sixers fan who believes the Sixers would have gone to the 2001 NBA finals if Brown hadn't been the coach?

Is there a coach alive who would volunteer to go mano-a-mano with Brown for high stakes?

When they put Brown in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, they put next to his name how he won more than 1,000 games in the ABA and NBA. Let that sink in. They noted how he is the only man in NBA history to coach six different teams to the playoffs.

NBA title? Check. (2004, Detroit)

NCAA title? Check. (1988, Kansas)

U.S. Olympic head coach? Check. (Bronze medal, 2004. Wince)

Yes, the college game was always an interesting fit for Brown. UCLA and Kansas also felt the NCAA's wrath in his wake.

Just make no mistake, the man wasn't cynical about his work in a gym. I sat in his SMU practice gym in November of 2013 and watched him in action. It was all action.

Next time, two dribbles, not three. . . . He's throwing [a pass] with one hand! How's he going to pull it back? . . . It's not a trot right there [past a screen], it's an all-out sprint.

Yes, SMU got that, too. Was it worth it? Let's be cynical. Let's assume SMU believes it was.

mjensen@phillynews.com

@jensenoffcampus