What is Larry Brown’s Net Worth and Salary?
Larry Brown is an American basketball coach and former basketball player who has a net worth of $70 million. Larry Brown has coached numerous teams in the NBA and NCAA. He is the only coach in the history of the sport to win both NBA and NCAA titles, as well as the only coach to lead eight different NBA teams to the playoffs. As a player, Brown won an Olympic gold medal as part of the US men’s basketball team at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.
As a player Brown was an ABA Champion, three time ABA All-Star, All-Star MVP, and All-ABA Second Teamer. As a coach Brown started off as an assistant for North Carolina. He got his first head coaching job with the Carolina Cougars of the ABA and then coached the Denver Nuggets of the ABA and NBA. Brown coached the UCLA Bruins from 1979 to 1981 before returning to the NBA to coach the New Jersey Nets from 1981 to 1983. He went back to college to coach the Kansas Jayhawks from 1983 to 1988. He then returned to the NBA to coach the San Antonio Spurs, Los Angeles Clippers, Indiana Pacers, Philadelphia 76ers, Detroit Pistons, New York Knicks, and Charlotte Bobcats. From 2012 to 2016 he coached for Southern Methodist University.
Salary and Career Earnings
After adjusting for inflation Larry Brown has earned well over $150 million during his coaching career. From 2003-2006 alone, Larry earned $45.5 million from the Pistons and The Knicks. That breaks down to $187,000 every game coached.
He earned $28.5 million coaching The Knicks for 331 days.
Early Life and Education
Larry Brown was born on September 14, 1940 in Brooklyn, New York into a Jewish family. He has an older brother named Herbert. When Brown was still a child, his father Milton passed away. As a teen, Brown went to Long Beach High School, where he served as a point guard on the school basketball team. He went on to attend the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, playing for the Tar Heels basketball team under coaches Dean Smith and Frank McGuire.
Playing Career
Initially determined to be too small to play in the NBA, Brown started his post-collegiate basketball career playing for the Akron Wingfoots of the National AAU Basketball League. In the first of his two years with the team, Brown led the Wingfoots to the AAU National Championship. During this time, he also played with the US men’s team at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, where he won the gold medal.
After spending a couple of years as an assistant coach at his alma mater UNC, Brown played for a number of teams in the American Basketball Association. In the late 60s and early 70s, he played for the New Orleans Buccaneers, Oakland Oaks, Washington Caps, Virginia Squires, and Denver Rockets. By the end of his playing career, Brown was the all-time leader in assists in the ABA with 2,509.
Coaching Career, 1969-1992
Following a brief coaching stint at Davidson College in 1969, Brown coached the ABA’s Carolina Cougars from 1972 to 1974. He next coached the Denver Nuggets from 1974 to 1979; during this time, the team moved from the ABA to the NBA. Brown returned to collegiate basketball in 1979 to coach for UCLA, where he stayed through 1981. He subsequently became the head coach for the NBA’s New Jersey Nets for two years. Returning again to college basketball, Brown began coaching for the University of Kansas in 1983. Coming in after two consecutive losing seasons for the Jayhawks, Brown turned the team’s fortunes around to post a 22-10 record in his first season as coach. He had even greater success the next season with a 35-4 record and an appearance in the Final Four. In the 1987-88 season, his last at Kansas, Brown established himself as an all-time coaching great when he led the Jayhawks to a series of NCAA upsets en route to the Championship title.
After his triumphant tenure at the University of Kansas, Brown returned to the NBA to coach for the San Antonio Spurs. He went on to lead the team to two consecutive Midwest Division titles; moreover, he brought the team from its worst record in franchise history to its best. Brown coached for the Spurs until his firing in early 1992.
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Coaching Career, 1992-present
Less than a month after being fired by the Spurs, Brown became the head coach for the Los Angeles Clippers. As he had previously done with other teams, he revived the floundering Clippers and led them to their first winning season since the franchise came to Los Angeles. He also led the team to two straight playoff appearances before resigning in 1993. Brown subsequently coached for the Indiana Pacers, leading the team to its first two conference finals in history. After resigning in 1997, he became the head coach for the Philadelphia 76ers. In 2001, he led the 76ers to the NBA Finals. Brown resigned from the team in 2003. The following year, he began coaching for the Detroit Pistons; in his first season, he led the team to the NBA Championship title. Not long after that, as head coach of the US men’s basketball team at the Summer Olympics in Athens, he led the US to a bronze medal. The next summer, the Pistons bought out the remainder of Brown’s contract.
Brown next signed a five-year contract as head coach of the New York Knicks. During his season with the team in 2005-06, he recorded his 1,000th NBA win as coach. However, he also led the Knicks to a dismal 23-59 record, and drew ire for publicly sparring with many of his own players. As a result, Brown was fired after a single season. His next coaching gig was with the Charlotte Bobcats from 2008 to 2010. Notably, he led the team to its first-ever appearance in the playoffs. Brown left the Bobcats following a poor start to the 2010-11 season. He subsequently became the head coach at Southern Methodist University, where he guided the Mustangs to their first NCAA Tournament appearance in over 20 years. However, he was suspended by the NCAA the following year for failing to report an academic fraud committed on behalf of one of his athletes. Brown resigned from SMU in 2016. Two years later, he coached the Italian basketball club Auxilium Torino, but was fired midseason due to a 5-19 record. Brown next became an assistant coach at the University of Memphis in 2021.