NCAA Basketball rewind: Most impactful coaching hires after 2012 season

By Joey Loose | Jun 22, 2021

PHILADELPHIA, PA - FEBRUARY 19: Head coach Kevin Ollie of the Connecticut Huskies yells to his team against the Temple Owls during the second half at the Liacouras Center on February 19, 2017 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Connecticut won 64-63. (Photo by Corey Perrine/Getty Images) /

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NCAA Basketball Larry Brown SMU Mustangs (Photo by Lance King/Getty Images) /

5. Larry Brown (SMU)

As the calendar struck 2012, it had been nearly two decades since SMU was in the NCAA Tournament, and just about that long since that had been a successful basketball program. Needing to jumpstart the program, especially with joining the AAC on the horizon, the Mustangs made a big-time hire that netted some very positive results.

SMU brought aboard a man who needed no introduction, as Larry Brown was already a legend of the game. He led Kansas to an NCAA title in 1988 and won an NBA final coaching the Detroit Pistons in 2004. Brown had spent time as head coach at UCLA and a great number of NBA franchises, including the Spurs, Knicks, and most recently the Charlotte Bobcats.

By his second season, Brown had made SMU into a 27-win team that finished runner-up in the NIT. They were back in the NCAA Tournament in 2015, winning the AAC regular-season and tournament titles. Unfortunately, there were violations that tarnished the end of his tenure with the Mustangs, though they did win at least 25 games in three of his four seasons with the Mustangs. Also, consider that successor and former assistant Tim Jankovich hasn’t exactly kept the program’s momentum going.

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