Larry Brown - Men's Basketball Coach - Texas Tech Red Raiders

Larry Brown

Title:
Special Assistant to Coach Beard
Email:
larry.brown@ttu.edu

Larry Brown heads into his second season as a special assistant to Coach Beard on the Texas Tech basketball staff. His primary role will be to assist the coaching staff with opponent scouting and game planning. He also oversees the Chris Beard Basketball Camps which run over the summer at the United Supermarkets Arena.

Brown possesses over four decades of coaching experience where he has amassed over 700 victories and a .669 winning percentage. He served seven seasons as a collegiate head coach in the State of Texas at Howard College (1986-87), Sam Houston State (1989-91), South Plains College (1993-95) and Ranger College (2011-13).

Brown added six seasons as an assistant coach at the Division I level between South Alabama (1987-89), Clemson (1991-93), Baylor (1995-96) and Little Rock (1999-2000). South Alabama earned a bid to the 1989 NCAA Tournament, while Clemson participated in the 1993 NIT.

Brown’s 1989 South Alabama team was a No. 11 seed in the southeast region and upset Alabama during the opening round before dropping a close game to Michigan, the eventual national champion. Jeff Hodge and Junie Lewis were NBA Draft Second Round selections.

The 1993 Clemson team featured two NBA players in lottery pick Sharone Wright, the No. 6 overall pick in the 1994 NBA Draft by the Philadelphia 76ers. Chris Whitney played 11 NBA seasons primary with the Washington Wizards organization.

Brown coached Brain Skinner, the 22nd overall pick by the Los Angeles Clippers in the 1998 NBA Draft, during his time at Baylor. Skinner played 13 NBA seasons mostly with the Clippers.

Most recently at Ranger College, the program won the conference championship during Brown’s first season for the first time in 43 years in 2011-12. The Rangers made it back-to-back titles in 2012-13 and won 20 of their 24 conference games en route to a 40-18 overall record under Brown, the two-time conference coach of the year. He also was the 1994 Texas Junior College Coach of the Year at South Plains College where his team registered 41 wins over two seasons.

Brown held the title of head coach and technical director for the Bahamas National Team from 2009-12. His team captured the silver medal at the 2011 Caribbean Games which was the nation’s first medal in over 10 years and secured a fifth-place finish at the 2012 Centro Basket Games, the nation’s highest finish at the event.

Brown’s international experience also include stints with at the 1986 U.S. Olympic Festival as an assistant coach, a 1999 Venezuela Professional League championship as head coach of Caracas and a 2007 developmental head coach with USA Basketball.

Brown climbed the Texas high school coaching ranks during the 1970s. He piled up 319 victories and averaged over 23 wins per season during a 14-year span at Danbury (1972-75), Hearne (1975-78), Van (1978-79) and Bryan (1979-86). His Danbury squad made the state semifinals during Brown’s first season of coaching.

Brown dialed up consecutive Class 5A state championships at Bryan during the 1983 and 1984 seasons. Only three schools have claimed back-to-back titles at the Class 5A level. The three-time Texas Class 5A Coach of the Year also racked up 14 straight playoff appearances and reeled off a state-record 15 playoff wins in a row from 1983-85.

Brown returned to high school where his teams notched 187 wins at Westfield High School in Texas (2000-07) and added 33 victories at Osceola High School in Florida (2007-09). His Westfield squads won four area championships highlighted by his 2005-06 squad which had eight players receive Division I scholarships and was ranked as high as No. 2 team in the nation before finishing with a 36-1 record.

Brown was inducted into the Texas High School Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010. He has served as the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches President (1979-81), the Florida Association of Basketball Coaches President (2008-09) and the FABC Executive Director (2010-11) over his career.

Brown has three children: Brooke, Lacey and Matthew. He also has six grandchildren.