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Call it inevitable: Larry Brown’s SMU program accused of NCAA violations

By Phil Watson

Dec 20, 2014; Ann Arbor, MI, USA; Southern Methodist Mustangs head coach Larry Brown during the first half against the Michigan Wolverines at Crisler Center. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 20, 2014; Ann Arbor, MI, USA; Southern Methodist Mustangs head coach Larry Brown during the first half against the Michigan Wolverines at Crisler Center. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports /
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Larry Brown has been a successful coach at the collegiate and professional level for more than 40 years. But college has been a challenge for him in terms of rules.

According to a report, the basketball program at SMU has been notified of NCAA allegations, including academic improprieties within the program.

ESPN Dallas reported that coach Larry Brown’s program is expected to meet with the NCAA’s Committee on Infractions later this year.

One of the allegations centers around the academics of sophomore guard Keith Frazier, who has been declared academically ineligible for the remainder of the season.

Assistant coach Ulric Maligi’s involvement with Frazier prior to Frazier’s enrollment is also under scrutiny and Maligi has taken a leave of absence for “personal reasons,” effective Tuesday.

SMU issued a statement saying it has received the notice and will have no further comment.

That a Larry Brown college program is under NCAA scrutiny is almost as surprising as the sun rising in the East in the morning.

Brown led UCLA to a Final Four in 1980, an appearance that was later vacated because the program was found guilty of nine infractions under Brown’s short, two-season tenure with the Bruins, according to the Los Angeles Times in 2010.

Before the penalties had been handed down, the man nicknamed “Next Town Larry Brown” had skipped off to the NBA’s New Jersey Nets.

Brown later bolted the Nets before the end of the 1982-83 season to take the job at Kansas.

Under Brown, the Jayhawks won the 1988 NCAA tournament, but also landed on probation for three-years, a penalty that included a postseason ban that prevented the school from defending that national title, according to a story in The New York Times from 1988.

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Larry Brown's come a long way from the coach in the coveralls in Denver in the 1970s. (This work is in the public domain in that it was published in the United States between 1923 and 1977 and without a copyright notice. )
Larry Brown’s come a long way from the coach in the coveralls in Denver in the 1970s. (This work is in the public domain in that it was published in the United States between 1923 and 1977 and without a copyright notice. ) /

And by the time the penalties came down, Brown was gone like last night’s thunderstorm, off to coach the San Antonio Spurs of the NBA.

So it is not exactly a shocker to learn that another collegiate program headed by Brown has allegedly run afoul of NCAA regulations.

Brown came to SMU in 2012 and the problem for the 74-year-old coach is there may be nowhere left for him to run.

He coached at Kansas for five seasons, matching the longest run in one spot of his coaching career, which began in 1972 with the Carolina Cougars of the old ABA and continued through stops with the Denver Nuggets in both the ABA and NBA, UCLA, the Nets, Kansas, the Spurs, Los Angeles Clippers, Indiana Pacers, Philadelphia 76ers, Detroit Pistons, New York Knicks, Charlotte Bobcats and SMU.

He has 1,327 victories as a professional coach, including his 229-107 mark in the ABA, and is 232-92 in parts of 10 collegiate campaigns.

If the allegations are true and SMU ends up on probation, it really could be strike three for Brown’s coaching career.

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