Early years
Brown was born March 5, 1970 in Columbus, Ohio, but he spent parts of his childhood overseas. He graduated from Würzburg American High School in Würzburg, Germany in 1988, where he excelled in basketball and football. After studying and playing basketball at Mesa Community College for two years, Brown went on to the University of San Diego, where he played two seasons for the Toreros and graduated in 1993 with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree. He began his career in 1992 as an intern with the Denver Nuggets, and eventually spent five seasons with the team as a scout and video coordinator.[3]NBA career
In 2000, Brown was hired by Gregg Popovich as an assistant coach with the San Antonio Spurs. While with the Spurs, Brown's teams won at least 58 games each season. He also was the head coach for the Spurs' summer league teams in Boston and Salt Lake City. After winning a championship with San Antonio in 2003, Brown was hired as assistant coach to Rick Carlisle with the Indiana Pacers. He helped lead Indiana to consecutive playoff appearances including a trip to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2004.Brown's record as an assistant coach is 341–201 (.629).[3]
On June 2, 2007, Brown's Cavaliers defeated the Detroit Pistons in the Eastern Conference Finals and advanced to the NBA Finals for the first time in the history of the franchise. However, they were swept in four games to his former team, San Antonio Spurs.
On February 1, 2008, Brown was named the Eastern Conference Coach of the Month for January 2008.[4]
In 2009, Brown was named coach of the Eastern Conference All-Star team,[5] making him the second coach in Cavaliers history to coach the All-Star team, joining Lenny Wilkens who coached the East team in 1989.
On April 20, 2009, Brown was named NBA Coach of the Year after guiding the Cavaliers to a franchise best 66–16 record.[5]
On May 13, 2010, Brown and the Cleveland Cavaliers were eliminated by the Boston Celtics in the Conference Semifinals of the 2010 NBA Playoffs. With this loss, the Cavaliers became the first team in NBA history to accomplish back-to-back 60+ win seasons and not advance to the NBA Finals.[6]
Brown was fired on May 24, 2010.[7][8] In December 2010, he began working with ESPN as a studio analyst.[9]
After leaving Cleveland Cavaliers, Brown was the assistant coach on his son's middle school team. He was the coach for the Westlake Lee Burneson Middle School team in Ohio. He turned down an offer to serve as an assistant at St. Mary’s College in California. “I’m a glorified equipment guy who gets to chest bump and high-five the players,” Brown said. “The kids still call me coach.” [10]
Head coaching record
| Legend | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Regular season | G | Games coached | W | Games won | L | Games lost | W–L % | Win-loss % | |
| Post season | PG | Playoff Games | PW | Playoff Wins | PL | Playoff Losses | PW–L % | Playoff Win-loss % | |
| [hide]Team | Year | G | W | L | W–L% | Finish | PG | PW | PL | PW–L% | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CLE | 2005–06 | 82 | 50 | 32 | .610 | 2nd in Central | 13 | 7 | 6 | .538 | Lost in Conf. Semifinals |
| CLE | 2006–07 | 82 | 50 | 32 | .610 | 2nd in Central | 20 | 12 | 8 | .600 | Lost in NBA Finals |
| CLE | 2007–08 | 82 | 45 | 37 | .549 | 2nd in Central | 13 | 7 | 6 | .538 | Lost in Conf. Semifinals |
| CLE | 2008–09 | 82 | 66 | 16 | .805 | 1st in Central | 14 | 10 | 4 | .714 | Lost in Conf. Finals |
| CLE | 2009–10 | 82 | 61 | 21 | .744 | 1st in Central | 11 | 6 | 5 | .545 | Lost in Conf. Semifinals |
| LAL | 2011–12 | 66 | 41 | 25 | .621 | 1st in Pacific | 12 | 5 | 7 | .417 | Lost in Conf. Semifinals |
| Career | 476 | 313 | 163 | .658 | 83 | 47 | 36 | .566 |
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