AP Larry Brown wants to get back into coaching so badly, he’s willing to coach at SMU. For a limited time, even.
A report from Kate Hairopoulos of the Dallas Morning News indicates the school’s coaching search could turn to hiring Brown and bringing in UNC Wilmington coach Buzz Peterson as a coach in waiting.
It doesn’t sound as if Brown, 71, will be hired without any catches. His age and reputation for job jumping has made SMU officials uneasy about hiring him. Peterson would provide a safety net of sorts. But not much of one.
Peterson’s coached six different schools since 1999-2000, including one-year stints at Tulsa (2000-01) and Appalachian State (2009-10), which makes him more nomadic than Brown. He doesn’t have Brown’s success record, either. Peterson’s just 248-184 in his career, including a 23-37 mark the last two seasons at Wilmington.
Brown, on the other hand, has won an NCAA and NBA title and was 177-61 in two college coaching stints at UCLA and Kansas.
SMU’s headed to the Big East after next season. Perhaps it’d be better served hiring a coach who isn’t a short-term solution.
You also can follow me on Twitter @MikeMillerNBC.
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- chumthumper - Apr 16, 2012 at 3:49 PM
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The local Wilmington paper is reporting Peterson is staying at UNCW. Too bad for UNCW. He’s losing too many games and too many players.
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- florida727 - Apr 17, 2012 at 8:19 AM
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Peterson has his eyes squarely on his alma mater. He wants to eventually work his way into a position of being considered for the Tar Heels head job… whenever that opens up. He’s going about it the wrong way though. He thinks hopscotching from school to school and winning a few games and (allegedly) turning programs around will get him there. He’d have been better off staying put at a mid-major like Tulsa, build a long-term record of excellence, then being sought after. Better, in this case, to be the hunted, not the hunter. Not even MJ is going to get you that UNC gig, Buzz.
