Q&A with Larry Brown

LAS VEGAS -- The Detroit Pistons thing went bad in the end and the New York Knicks thing went bad the entire time among other coaching stops. So Larry Brown joins the Charlotte Bobcats for his latest attempt to rehabilitate a 32-50 team and his reputation.

The game always has rejuvenated Brown, 67, who won an NBA title in Detroit and an NCAA championship at Kansas. He hasn't always been like this, though, with a spark that means more after being fired by the Pistons amid the obligatory Brownian drama and then fired by the Knicks in a bitter divorce 11 months later following one dismal 23-59 season

Running out of places he hadn't already worked, Brown took a front-office spot with the Philadelphia 76ers in his adopted hometown and waited two years for the next chance. He nearly took the Stanford job.

Finally, Michael Jordan hired him in Charlotte.

-- Question: Does it feel different this time?

-- Brown: That's an interesting question. I think I realized how much I missed it. Not that it was a big surprise. I realized how fortunate I was to have a job like this.

I didn't miss the games when I was working with Philly. When I was coaching toward the end of my career, the games were sometimes painful because you're worried that maybe your team's not prepared. You have some anxiety in that regard. But I missed the practices and smelling the gym and being around the players and the coaches. That was quite obvious.

-- Q: Take me through your emotions from the end of New York until you came to Charlotte. Being away from the game that long was very, very unusual for you. Did your energy have to be channeled elsewhere?

-- A: I was disappointed obviously in the job I did in New York and the way that played out. But I tried to get over that. I got to hang with my family. I got to realize what a tough job wives have, with the calendar for your kids. And I got to do things with my children I had never experienced before.

I was actually at parent-teacher conferences, at sporting events. My daughter ice skates, my son participates in a lot of things. I could help my wife drive the kids and their friends places. It was great. I got to smell them every night. Put them to bed.

-- Q: Is there any anger over how things ended in New York? Did you have to get past any difficult emotions?

-- A: In Detroit, even though I got fired, I look at getting fired as maybe a health situation, really. I don't think Mr. (Bill) Davidson (the owner) felt he could count on me being healthy enough to coach because I had missed 18 games. New York, my anger was that I did a bad job. I was the coach. It's not about all the other stuff that went on. I was the coach.

When I went to New York, I thought that if I did a good job, I could help our sport a little bit. Because of the attention of the NBA and New York and that franchise, I thought, "If you played the right way and did a good job, you could help our game." I think the NBA needed a really great team in New York. I'm disappointed that didn't happen. But when it was over, I figured the best thing for me was to get on with my life and hopefully figure out what I could do.

Mr. (Ed) Snider (the 76ers' owner) and Billy (King, the 76ers' general manager at the time) gave me a great opportunity. It wasn't the same as coaching, but it allowed me to be involved where my family wanted to live. That was a wonderful thing for me. I was going to Stanford. We would have had a hard time moving the family again.

-- Q: How close did that come to happening?

-- A: I told (athletic director Bob Bowlsby) I was coming. ... Then my wife and I talked about it, and we just didn't think we could do that. Then Michael (Jordan) called me. Michael had called me before about the job, a couple times. Just hearing from him and realizing how much I missed it and how badly I wanted to try and get back, that was kind of a no-brainer.

-- Q: Are you surprised how difficult it was for you to find a new place after New York?

-- A: No. This league, now they're all looking for these young guys. I'm thrilled because I've wanted guys who have paid their dues to get jobs. I had opportunities. I heard from a lot of people.

I kind of got a sense a lot of people would be nervous about me because a lot of young general managers or guys that aren't secure in their jobs, unless you're secure with yourself, you'd be a little nervous about me. And that's OK. I knew when the team was right I was going to have chances. I always figured my body of work was good enough...

-- Q: Why do you think young general managers should be leery of you?

-- A: I don't think leery. I don't think that's the word. But you don't want the 1,000-pound gorilla coming in there, in their minds. They want to have a relationship and identify and grow with their guy, which is the way it should be.

I look around now and I think the older coaches are so important in this league because we've got all young kids. We have to teach these kids. I laugh. When they hire a young coach, they say, "Well, we've got to get veteran guys to sit next to him.

'... But I do love the fact that we've got new young guys coming in here. Mo (Cheeks) worked his way up. Byron (Scott) worked his way up. Rick Carlisle worked his way up. There's so many of those great stories that I hope we recognize that.'

-- Q: Why did you think Stanford was a good fit for you?

-- A: When I was a young coach with coach (Dean) Smith ... I was offered the Connecticut job when I was 26. I wasn't ready for it. But I always told him that Northwestern, Vanderbilt or Stanford were schools I would love to coach because you're going to have a small pool of kids but they're going to be unbelievable student-athletes. I always figured that would be a fun environment to coach in ...

-- Q: It came down to not wanting to uproot your kids?

-- A: It was totally that.

-- Q: You had agreed to terms?

-- A: I was coming.

Q: Do you feel like for the first time in a long, long time that you have something to prove to people?

A: I've felt that every day of my life.

Q: Even with the great success you've had?

A: Every practice I feel that way. You have a responsibility to teach these kids and make them better. I'm coming off a 23-59 record, even though if you look at my history, the only team I ever inherited that had a winning record was Detroit. Joe (Dumars, the president of basketball operations) gave me a great team. All the other ones, you were there to rebuild and make them better. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, it was a one-year thing in New York. Again, they judge you on your body of work. They decided to go in another direction. Now the pressure on me is to try and make this team better, but I think I felt that way everywhere I've ever gone.

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)