Brown Is Surprised by Interest of Clippers : Pro basketball: New coach says he expected to be out of work longer after being fired by Spurs.

Three days after his hiring became a fait accompli and the morning after he signed a five-year contract at about $750,000 per year, Larry Brown was introduced Thursday as the Clippers’ coach.

The speed with which this occurred was unusual, his being hired by the Clippers only weeks after being fired by the San Antonio Spurs. That was one of his many comments at a news conference in which Brown, wearing the NCAA championship ring he won with Kansas in 1988, was forthcoming and insightful.

--On being fired for the first time and the events that followed:

“When you lose your job, you don’t expect people to be knocking on your door. You start to examine yourself a bit and try to realize what went wrong. I was hopeful to utilize this time to go around and visit other programs, watch people practice and use the time to learn so I wouldn’t make the same mistakes.

“I was very surprised (by the interest from the Clippers). I heard from other people (college programs) pretty quickly, but it wasn’t something I was anxious to get started doing. Then, when Mr. (Joe) Glass (his agent) heard from the Clippers, I think he was very impressed with what they had to say. That meant a lot to me.”

So just what did he learn from the experience at San Antonio?

“You’ve got to adjust to dealing with players now,” said Brown, 51. “A lot of guys, you can say things to, and the first thing on their mind is, ‘Coach wants to make me better.’ Then there’s some who think you’re getting on them all the time. I think there’s a fine balance. My job now is to give these guys the confidence to get them to become better players.

“I think that’s important, and I’ve got to start out on that on Day 1. In San Antonio, we won 21 games my first year, and that never satisfied our owner. From Day 1, I felt he felt he made a terrible mistake in hiring me, and no matter what we did after that I always felt that was the case. . . . I have a commitment from the Clippers. I think they made a statement, and I think that statement will be made to the players. I don’t know if our players in San Antonio ever felt that I was in control of the basketball end.”

--On why he decided to accept the Clipper job:

“The ultimate decision for me coming here was because of Elgin (Baylor, the general manager) and Harley (Frankel, the executive vice president). I was not ready to accept another position right now. But I had some real good discussions with them. They made me feel that, one, I was wanted, and, two, that they would do everything they could to help me be successful. That really was important to me.”

--On this being one of his biggest challenges:

“I thought UCLA was a pretty big challenge. This is way up there. It’s the first time I’ve been fired, and anytime you’re fired you begin to doubt yourself in some respects and people doubt you.”

--On his reputation as a vagabond, having left all five of his head coaching jobs before the Spurs:

“In the ‘80s, I’ve been, basically, in just two places. I coached Kansas for five years, and then I intended to stay in San Antonio for a long time. I was actually there four years. So I think I’m starting to get that question arrested a little bit, so to speak. I think once someone is labeled, it’s very difficult to change that.”

Brown was also with UCLA and the New Jersey Nets in the early part of the decade before going to Kansas in 1983.

--On what he will do differently from his predecessors to turn the Clippers from underachievers to playoff regulars:

“I’m not going to compare myself with those guys, except that I’m standing up here and I’m going to be the Clipper coach. Obviously, I’ve stood up at a lot of different places (laughter), so maybe that’s a little different.”

Clipper Notes

Larry Brown, close to his assistant coaches in San Antonio, said he doesn’t anticipate changes on the Clipper staff for this season, but he was noncommittal about the roles of Mack Calvin and John Hammond after that. “Whether they’ll stay on after this year, that’s going to be a decision I’m going to talk to Elgin (Baylor) about,” Brown said. . . . Because of the All-Star break, Brown will not hold his first Clipper practice until Monday afternoon, two days before his debut against Houston at the Sports Arena. . . . Brown recruited many current Clipper players when he was at Kansas but was successful in landing only Danny Manning, star of the national championship team. Said Manning of Brown: “I think he’s one of the better teachers in the game. I have not played for a lot of coaches, but I feel very fortunate to have played for Coach Brown.”

Larry Brown’s Coaching Record

COLLEGE

YEAR TEAM W L PCT 1980 UCLA 22 10 .688 1981 UCLA 20 7 .741 1984 Kansas 22 10 .688 1985 Kansas 26 8 .765 1986 Kansas 35 4 .897 1987 Kansas 25 11 .694 1988 *Kansas 27 11 .711 Totals 177 61 .744

*won national championship

PROFESSIONAL

YEAR TEAM W L PCT 1973 Carolina ABA 57 27 .679 1974 Carolina ABA 47 37 .560 1975 Denver ABA 65 19 .774 1976 Denver ABA 60 24 .714 1977 Denver NBA 50 32 .610 1978 Denver NBA 48 34 .585 1979 Denver NBA 28 25 .528 1982 New Jersey NBA 44 38 .557 1983 New Jersey NBA 47 29 .618 1989 San Antonio NBA 21 61 .256 1990 San Antonio NBA 56 26 .683 1991 San Antonio NBA 55 27 .671 1992 San Antonio NBA 21 17 .553 Totals 599 396 .602 Playoffs 35 42 .455