Hubie Brown Talks a Good Game When He Isn’t Coaching

Last Dec. 1, when Hubie Brown was fired as coach of the New York Knicks, he retreated to his second home in Kiawah, S.C.

The next morning, Brown got a phone call from Mike Goldberg, the attorney for the NBA Coaches Assn.

“Hubie, CBS is trying to get hold of you,” Goldberg told Brown. “They want to hire you.”

Brown recalled: “It was a nice way to wake up. At least somebody wanted me.”

CBS first used Brown on the 1982 NBA playoffs while he was between jobs. He’d been fired by the Atlanta Hawks a year earlier and hadn’t yet been hired by the Knicks.

During the regular season in ‘82, he worked 24 NBA games for the USA network.

But it was during the playoffs--his first assignment was a Laker-Portland game--that Brown’s work attracted attention. Some critics called him the best NBA commentator at CBS since Rick Barry, who was dropped essentially because he was unable to get along with his co-workers.

Brown drew raves for his insight and low-key, articulate delivery.

CBS continued to use Brown after he took the Knick job, but less and less because of his lack of availability.

Then Brown became available again and this time he was hired as a college commentator. He worked four games during the regular season and will be used during the tournament. Saturday, he is assigned to the Nevada Las Vegas-Kansas State game.

Brown said he is keeping an open mind about the future. “I like to believe I have the talent for this (broadcasting) to develop into something full time,” he said. “But I am leaving my options open. I’m not saying I’m going to do this or do that.

“There also are some coaching opportunities for me, both college and pro,” he said, without naming any.

The Clippers reportedly are among the interested parties.

Meanwhile, he keeps busy with basketball clinics--including some in Europe this summer--and motivational speeches to corporations.

Asked about his problems with the Knicks, Brown said: “I don’t want to be rude, but I haven’t talked about that with anyone. I have not said one thing. I prefer not to comment.”

During games, Brown usually is a terror. But during an interview, he is polite and mild mannered.

About broadcasting, Brown said: “I’ve been fortunate enough to have been closely involved with basketball and to have learned a lot about the game.

“A commentator should educate the viewer as well as provide entertainment. That’s what you strive for.

“But too many commentators get wrapped up in all the hype and don’t educate. They just repeat what is seen.”

Are you listening, Tom Heinsohn?

Brown, a former assistant coach at William & Mary and Duke, got away from the college game somewhat when he went to the pros, guiding the 1974-75 Kentucky Colonels to the American Basketball Assn. championship in his first season.

“As a pro coach, you mainly look at the college game as a means for evaluating talent,” he said. “But this season I’ve had the opportunity to study the different styles of the teams.”

So who does he like in the tournament?

“Las Vegas and Georgetown seem to be peaking at the right time,” he said. “Both have speed and have the ability to hit the three-point shot. Both play excellent defense and are blessed with 10 athletes. They are extremely deep.

“If anyone is going to upset them, they will have to play a perfect game.”

Brown said he also likes Iowa. “I think we’ll see a Vegas-Iowa final in the West Regional,” he said.

If things go according to form, UCLA and Las Vegas will meet next Thursday in the West Regional semifinals, and the game surely will be televised by ESPN or CBS.

The Bruins’ first-round game Thursday night against Central Michigan wasn’t going to be televised until Channel 2 made a deal with NCAA Productions Wednesday.

But the Bruins’ Pacific 10 tournament semifinal against California last Saturday was not televised by Channel 2, which, hard as it is to believe, did televise the second semifinal game, between Washington and Oregon.

Instead of the Bruin game, Channel 2 carried CBS’ coverage of Michigan’s blowout win over Purdue, as required by the network.

“We took a chance that UCLA would play in the second semifinal,” Jay Strong, Channel 2 program director, said. “We were counting on the luck of the draw. We gambled and lost.”

The Pac-10 tournament games were part of a season-long package supplied by Raycom, an independent production company. The package, generally a ratings bust, caused Channel 2 plenty of programming problems last weekend. The station had to delay the Pac-10 tournament final and also the CBS show covering the announcement of the NCAA tournament pairings.

Still, Strong said that Channel 2 may carry the Raycom package next season, if there is one.

“Speaking strictly from a programming standpoint, the package was good because UCLA or USC was involved about 50% of the time,” he said. “The Raycom package is better than old movies, and that’s the alternative.”

TV-Radio Notes Saturday’s Nevada Las Vegas game, scheduled to start at 11:25 a.m., is the first of an NCAA tournament tripleheader on CBS. There’s another tripleheader on CBS Sunday, with the first game beginning at 11:20 a.m. . . . Kudos Dept.: UCLA radio play-by-play announcer Joel Meyers has blossomed into a top-rate basketball announcer. His rapid-fire delivery is easy to follow and makes listening to the Bruins on radio enjoyable. . . . Add kudos: New Angel radio commentator Ken Brett was a hit in his debut last weekend. He’s a good addition because he sees the game so well and isn’t afraid to express an opinion. Partner Al Conin has a nice smooth delivery but needs someone like Brett to bail him out when he gets lost or confused.

“Wacky World” goes international: “The Wacky World of Sports International Extravaganza,” a one-hour sports-comedy-travel special that is a spinoff of “Bob Uecker’s Wacky World of Sports,” will be televised on Channel 4 Saturday at 3 p.m. Roy Firestone is the host. From the South Pacific island of Fiji, Firestone reports on such sports as crab racing, coconut tree climbing and fire walking. From Australia, he broadcasts an Australian Rules Football game as Howard Cosell would. Producer Steve Rotfeld said his crew spent seven days in Fiji and seven more in Australia taping the special, the first of three to be televised this year. The second will be shown in June, the third in August.