A familiar face has returned to the city of brotherly love, and his name is Larry Brown.
Philadelphia, Pa. - Jan. 6, 2007 -- Philadelphia 76ers President Billy King announced today that he has named Hall of Famer Larry Brown as Executive Vice President. In this role, Brown will primarily be responsible for assisting King and the 76ers front office and basketball operations staff in personnel decisions, as well as other special projects.
"Larry Brown has been a friend and mentor to me for many years and his knowledge of the game of basketball is unparalleled," King said. "Adding his basketball knowledge to the existing staff gives us a valuable resource."
Brown returns to the Sixers organization with more than 43 years experience as a player, coach and executive at the collegiate and professional ranks. In 23 seasons as an NBA head coach with eight different teams, he compiled an all-time NBA coaching record of 1,010-800 (.558) in the regular season and a 100-89 (.529) record in the NBA Playoffs. He ranks as the fourth winningest NBA coach of all-time (regular season) and third all-time winningest coach in the NBA Playoffs.
"Billy came to me and asked if I would be interested in getting involved with the organization again," said Brown who spent a total of six years (1997-2003) with the 76ers as the Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations and Head Coach. "Obviously, Billy has been a close friend for more than 20 years and I respect his work immensely. I am flattered that he asked me. I was very excited about the opportunity of working with him again and doing whatever I can to help him bring a winner to this city, a city that my family and I love."
In an NBA coaching career that began in 1976-77, Brown has piloted the Denver Nuggets (1976-79), New Jersey Nets (1981-83), San Antonio Spurs (1988-92), Los Angeles Clippers (1992-93), Indiana Pacers (1993-97), Philadelphia 76ers (1997-2003), Detroit Pistons (2003-05) and the New York Knicks (2005-06). Prior to that, he coached for four seasons in the old American Basketball Association with the Carolina Cougars (1972-74) and Denver (1974-76). Brown's 229-107 (.682) in the ABA gives him an overall professional record of 1,239-907 (.577), the second best NBA/ABA combined wins mark of all-time behind only Lenny Wilkens (1,332-1,155, .536).
The 66-year-old Brooklyn-native has enjoyed similar success in the college ranks, compiling a 177-61 (.744) career mark in seven collegiate seasons - two seasons at UCLA (1979-81) and five seasons at the University of Kansas (1983-88). He led UCLA to the 1980 NCAA title game, and in 1988 piloted Kansas to its first National Championship in 36 years. He stands as the only head coach in basketball history to win both an NCAA Championship (Kansas, 1988) and an NBA title (Detroit, 2004).
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