It was clear that Larry Brown would be back coaching again, we just didn’t know when or where. Those questions were answered on Tuesday, when the Charlotte Bobcats hired him to become the team’s third head coach since they joined the NBA during the 2004-05 season. The announcement comes just three days after Charlotte fired coach Sam Vincent. As reported by ESPN: 

“How are you going to say no to Michael (Jordan)?” Brown said. “I’ve known him for a long time. The things he stands for have made our game better. There’s no way I could say no to him. It was a pretty easy decision once my wife said yes.”

Charlotte will be Brown’s ninth professional head coaching job, the most by any one individual in all of the four major sports. Brown is well known for turning around struggling franchises. Excluding his last coaching job with New York, Brown has made the playoffs in his first year with each one of his teams.

He will attempt to work his magic once again with the Bobcats, who have failed to reach the playoffs in each of their first four years, and haven’t won more than 33 games in a single season.  

The Bobcats increased their win total from 2004-05 to 2005-06 by eight, and then from 2005-06 to 2006-07 by 9, before turning in a disappointing 32-50 campaign this year. It was at this point that Michael Jordan, the team’s managing member of basketball operations, decided to make a change.

Jordan called Brown on Saturday after firing Sam Vincent. Apparently Jordan feels Brown’s past success is enough to give him a pass for a 23-59 season with the Knicks two years ago

“I was a bad coach. I did a bad job. I learned from that,” Brown said, referring to his time with the Knicks. “But being out of it in the last few years, even though I had a title in Philly … I just missed being around the game. I love it. I want to be a part of it.”

The 67-year-old Brown is the only coach to win NBA and NCAA titles, and he’s one of just five NBA coaches to win 1,000 games. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2002. 

It will be interesting to see how long Brown and Jordan can co-exist.

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