Brett Brown’s next act: Why not college ball? | Mike Jensen

So what will Brett Brown do next? Will he get a great second NBA act like Andy Reid has had in the NFL? (Or even a lesser second act. Reid sets a pretty high bar.) Will that Maine accent show up on television, where Brown would enliven any panel or gamecast?

He should coach college ball.

That’s probably not Brown’s first thought, and might never be a thought. Brown is 59 years old. Something entirely different might not appeal to him.

But it would be a fit.

A Brown strength was apparent at most Sixers postgame pressers. He can communicate the game of basketball in an interesting way. I’m not saying some Power 5 school should hire him because he would win press conferences. I’m saying those communication skills transfer to an important part of the college game: recruiting.

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Brown could get in a home, tell about his experiences and his plans and how his team would play the game, how he would get players to achieve their personal dreams, and recruits would certainly listen to the end of the pitch.

“We haven’t wobbled on what the mission is this year,’' Brown said some years ago, talking after a win about the Sixers defense.

That’s what I’m talking about. Wobble is a great word. Brown picks great words. Great words don’t win games. But they keep the conversation moving.

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Scoff all you want at this — coaching the early Process Sixers prepared Brown to handle obstacles. Having young stars offered all sorts of lessons. A Ph.D. in NBA analytics transfers to the college game.

Another thing Brown has going for him: Australia. As head coach of the Australian Olympic team, he knows who is ready for the pro game and who might want to follow a different path. Could be worthwhile. He’s a known quantity there.

If he put together a staff with a couple of experienced college recruiters plus a couple of NBA staffers, he’d be in business. (I’m thinking assistant coach John Bryant, former St. Joseph’s Hawk, who would impress any recruit he talked with.)

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If Brown can get another NBA head job, then no, this won’t happen. The Sixers owe him enough money that he doesn’t have to do anything his heart isn’t fully behind.

Maybe, however, he’d find it refreshing to have more control of his fate, without owners to answer to, with players who wouldn’t take his thoughts as mere suggestions, who would truly trust his process.

Maybe this would be the kicker to the whole deal. Brown has a son who can shoot the lights out, now at Lower Merion High. Coaching his own kid in college could be a career highlight. Brown has been spotted at Narberth Playground and all sorts of area gyms seeing his son play. But in his own gym, that would be something else.

That’s enough free career counseling for one day. We’ll leave with this thought: For his Sixers efforts, Brown deserves some psychic reward beyond the monetary. A college campus just might do the trick.