Newsday from New York, New York • 72

BASK ETBift L1 "Sports A73 heart attack when Larry was 6 brother Herb a coaching standout in his own right assumed the role for a time as did Bob Gersten hoops coach at Long Beach and Dean Smith the basketball coach at North Carolina But since 1957 Glass has been the one constant in life outlasting family estrangements three marriages and some 19 changes of address in the past 40 years To Gottlieb a former Hewlett star who now runs a recruiting service for high school players in Orange Calif the death of father had a big impact on the man Brown would become all the success had I think growing up without a dad left him with a great amount of insecurity I think when he comes into a new job everybody thinks he walks on water but then a little bit of criticism comes along and Larry handle that When that comes he tends to want to run away and find another To which Glass replies: think everybody is sensitive to criticism Larry is no more sensitive than anyone But even with Glass the subject of father is one that has never been broached keeps that very close to his Glass said Glass can recite chapter and verse on every one of career moves and for each one come up with a reason why it was not Brown's fault But even Glass must admit: is a long pattern of behavior but remember been a long career Eighty percent of the CEOs of Fortune 500 companies they move around just as much as Larry has the American landscape allowed to move To hear Glass tell it only transgression is that he always finds a way to do unto others before they do unto him He points out that the average lifespan of an NBA coach is a mere 24 seasons and that three of tenures at Philadelphia San Antonio and Indiana lasted beyond four Glass uses as evidence willingness to stick it out in Philadelphia with the troublesome Iverson for an astounding six years as proof that the prevailing wisdom about his client is not so wise compromises he had to make there to keep Iverson happy were killing Glass said why he finally had to get According to Glass Brown and Iverson a love-hate but to Iverson it may have been more hate-hate According to Heyman a Sports Illustrated story from a few years back in which he described his on-court KO of Brown drew a phone call from a man who identified himself as member of The man went on to say that Iverson loved the story because Heyman had something Sec BROWN on A56 ly will take Brown who turns 65 in September right to the brink of 70 But who with any knowledge of ways and habits truly believes he will be anywhere near Madison Square Garden in 2010? Brown declined to be interviewed for this story but as re-ccpitly as June 11 he told Bob Costas on I coach on a professional level or the college level only be Detroit" That was then This is now Despite his incredible successes if one were to choose a theme song for career it would have to be I Must Be as sung by Groucho Marx wanderlust has become as predictable as his success in almost immediately improving teams that were considered hopeless before he arrived He did it at UCLA and in Denver New Jersey' Los Angeles (Clippers) and Philadelphia He won the NBA title with a Detroit team that been to the Finals in 14 years In one of great ironies the superstar coach whose every business move has seemingly been calculated for maximum personal benefit built the Pistons into the per-sonification of the word a squad without a superstar less than a year later Brown was annoying his bosses owner Bill Davidson and general manager Joe Dumars by telling reporters that coaching the Knicks would be his job" and interviewing for a front-office job with the division rivals the Cleveland Cavaliers while the Pistons were in the middle of the Eastern Conference finals can you be less than happy with the wondered Bob Gottlieb who played against Brown as a ninth-grader at Hewlett High School looks to me like Larry wanted Again resume is as long as Shaquille wingspan and every bit as impressive Since he was graduated from North Carolina in 1963 he has coached seven NBA teams two ABA teams two NCAA Division I teams as well as one that did not make it on to his Hall of Fame resume That was his first head-coaching job at Davidson College which he left before he coached a game By the time the final split came with Detroit last week the sequence of events was both tragically predictable and comically familiar both sides publicly claiming to want to stay together while privately negotiating a buyout package just think Larry kind of gives everything got and dwarfed the 5-9 160-pound Brown still shakes his head at the moxie of the kid who threw the basketball at him and wouldn't back down until Heyman knocked him down "Tough as he said put a knife through your Just what sort of man have the Knicks hired to lead them out of the morass they have been mired in since Jeff Van Gundy left in December 2001? Gian who has known Brown since Brown was the 17-year-old camp counselor to his two sons Brent and Keith at Camp Keeyumah in the Poconos said was a very straightforward honest kid with a great approach to people back then and he hasn't changed a Glass was among the first in a series of surrogate fathers for Brown whose other died of a then no more to give and he feels time to move on" Walsh said Under Blown the Pacers were 190-138 got us over the Walsh said had a lot to do with not only the success we had with him but the success we had after he Friends and foes and Brown has an abundance of both agree on one thing: for Larry Brown misery is good company Doug Moe a longtime friend says is only happy when unhappy" Gottlieb says he is never going to be happy gonna get restless and he's going to want to move on" Art Heyman a longtime rival who butted heads with Brown as a star for Oceanside High School knocked him out in an on-court brawl as a member of the Duke Blue Devils when Brown was at North Carolina and served as a co-captain with him on the 1961 Maccabiah Games team that won a gold medal had this to say: tries to give you this soft Southern but so full of pathetic He couldn't care less about anyone in life but himself" But even Heyman who blames the brawl with Brown and his subsequent three-game suspension for costing Duke the national championship in 1961 must admit: was a coach from the first time I met him when he was 13 years old Even then he was constantly telling the other players what to do and the same thing over and over again: Team to play without the It was Heyman who at 6-5 225 5 in JO a 5 KJ.