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BROWN TELLS WHY HE LEFT JOB
By ROY S. JOHNSON (NYT)
Published: April 18, 1983
One of the most popular stories circulating around New York and New Jersey these days goes something like this: When Larry Brown goes to heaven, his opinion of the place is likely to be similar to his apparent view of life on earth. ''This place is nice,'' he'll say with all sincerity, ''but ...''
There are those who believe that Brown, despite being one of the basketball's most prominent and successful coaches, will never be satisfied. In Denver, Los Angeles and New Jersey, he has occupied three of the most coveted coaching seats in the game -with the Nuggets, the U.C.L.A. Bruins and, most recently, the Nets. He left them all, each time for what he claimed would be a better life. Yet with every move, he left behind one question: Why?
Eleven days ago, Brown left the Nets, the team he had helped build into one of pro basketball's most respected franchises, to accept the job as coach at the University of Kansas. Every day since, that simple question has become a burden that has hung heavily about those he left behind.
Joe Taub, president of the Nets, attempted to lighten the weight by citing the ''problems'' Brown experienced during his two seasons in New Jersey. ''With his family and with the city,'' Taub said just after he accepted Brown's resignation. He would not elaborate. Nets Have Played Poorly
Buck Williams and some of the other players tried to shake the weight by saying that it was the pressures of coaching in the National Basketball Association that led to Brown's departure. ''I don't now how long he would have held up mentally, physically and emotionally at the pro level,'' Williams said. Williams added that he was ''elated'' for Brown, yet the Nets' best player was crushed by the coach's sudden move, and that elation has yet to manifest itself on the court.
Larry Brown has watched that weight drag his former team down. The Nets have played poorly in the days since he left - before last night's regular-season finale, a victory over Indiana, they were 1-4 under the new coach, Bill Blair - and now have but two days to prepare themselves for their two-of-three-game playoff series with the Knicks. Now he says he is compelled to try to jettison the weight by explaining his move.
''Every day I read or hear something else bad about them,'' Brown said in an interview Saturday at his home in Upper Saddle River, N.J. ''And every day I feel worse and worse. It's been trying on the team. And on me? Terrible. I didn't want to put Bill Blair in that position. I feel bad that I'm not with them.''
Brown cannot defend the swiftness of his departure, which occurred about 48 hours after the disclosure on Tuesday, April 5 that he had been seen in Kansas on a visit to meet with university officials. Yet he contends that he told one Nets official, whom he would not identify, that he was going for the interview on Monday, April 4. That official was not Taub. Still, Brown says, ''The Nets knew.''
Brown is also distressed by the talk that he abandoned a team bound for the playoffs. ''I didn't want to leave,'' he said. ''I was told I couldn't coach the team. Would people have said I was disloyal if I'd left at the end of the season? I don't think so. I had no intention of running out.''
Brown and his wife, Barbara, spent more than three hours Saturday night trying to answer the questions about the move. In that time, they said that the reasons cited by Taub and Williams - the problems and the pressures - were indeed the basis for Brown's departure. But they went further, citing specific circumstances that contributed to his eventual decision.
Among them were these:
- The presence of Mickey Johnson, a veteran forward who spent 88 days as a Net after being acquired from Milwaukee on Feb.6. In that time, Brown and Johnson feuded openly, as the player challenged most of the coach's philosophies. ''I found myself always having to compromise,'' Brown said. ''And that's when I realized maybe the pros weren't for me.''
- The disappointment Brown felt at what he considered a lack of support from fans at the Byrne Meadowlands Arena. ''I thought they would rally around us,'' he said. ''We were young, and we tried. It never happened. I never felt people were positive.''
- The pressures of the long and winding season. ''It tells on me,'' he said, although he denied that deteriorating health was a factor in his decision. ''If you looked at me at the begining of the season and again at the end, there was a big difference. Physically, it wears on you.''
Each of these factors played their part, and Brown, meanwhile, would speak casually of how he yearned for college coaching. ''I just believe that it's better for me and my family to be in college basketball,'' he said. ''It has nothing to do with this team. They were special. And it had nothing to do with Joe Taub. I feel we had a nice relationship. It was mostly this atmosphere. When I got the job, I thought people would feel excited about us. They didn't, and it sometimes got hard to walk into the arena. That never changed.''
Barbara Brown mentioned two examples. One occurred when Brown was asked to present a $10,000 check on behalf of the Nets to a charitable telethon. When it was time for him to make the presentaion, he was introduced as, ''That highly successful coach of the Nets, Larry Wilson.'' The other occurred when Brown and Buck Williams attended a clinic. Williams was asked by one of the sponsors, ''Why didn't you bring a coach?'' Brown was standing next to him.
''Maybe it's ego,'' he says, ''but you want people to recognize your accomplishments. Even if you feel satisfied, you need that.''
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