Hubert Jude Brown (born September 25, 1933) is an American former professional basketball player, coach, and analyst. Brown is a two-time NBA Coach of the Year, the honors separated by 26 years. Brown was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2005.
Following his retirement from coaching, Brown worked as a television analyst for CBS, TNT, ESPN and ABC. Brown called his final game on February 9, 2025.
Brown was born on September 25, 1933, in Hazleton, Pennsylvania. His family moved to Elizabeth, New Jersey, when he was three years old and grew up there, living in a small apartment building without a telephone. Brown, an only child, has said that his father, Charlie, who worked at the shipyards, was a "demanding man."
He graduated from St. Mary of the Assumption High School in 1951. While he was in high school, St. Mary won state championships in football, basketball and baseball.
Brown played college basketball and baseball at Niagara University, graduating in 1955 with a degree in education. While at Niagara, Brown was a teammate (and roommate) of former Utah Jazz coach Frank Layden, as well as Larry Costello and Charlie Hoxie, who would go on to star for the Harlem Globetrotters.
Rochester Colonels (1958–1959)
After leaving Niagara, Brown joined the U.S. Army where he joined the Army's basketball team. After being honorably discharged in 1958, Brown briefly played for the Rochester Colonels of the Eastern Professional Basketball League (the forerunner to the Continental Basketball Association) before they folded after just eight games. He averaged 13.8 points per game in his brief stint as a pro and was an excellent defender as a player.
Brown also returned to Niagara to earn a master's degree in education as he looked to pursue a coaching career.
Brown's defensive mentality would carry on into his coaching career, which began in 1955 at St. Mary Academy in Little Falls, New York where he coached both basketball and baseball.
Brown coached at Cranford High School in Cranford, New Jersey in the 1960s.
Fair Lawn High School (196?–1967)
Brown coached at Fair Lawn High School in Fair Lawn, New Jersey until 1967. He was replaced in that role before the start of the 1967 season by Bob Gottlieb.
Brown became an assistant coach for one season at the College of William & Mary from 1967 to 1968.
The following season, Brown joined Duke University as an assistant coach. Brown coached the Duke Blue Devils until 1972.
Brown joined the NBA as an assistant coach for the Milwaukee Bucks in 1972 under Larry Costello. Milwaukee made the NBA Finals in 1974 with future Hall of Famers Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Oscar Robertson, but fell in seven games to the Boston Celtics, who were led by their own superstars: Dave Cowens, John Havlicek, Jo Jo White and future Bucks coach Don Nelson.
After two seasons in the NBA, Brown was given his first professional head coaching opportunity with the Kentucky Colonels of the American Basketball Association. Brown led the Colonels to the 1975 ABA Championship. Brown continued as the Colonels' coach until the ABA-NBA merger in 1976 when the Colonels franchise folded, one of two ABA teams that did not join the NBA (the Spirits of St. Louis being the other).
Brown then rejoined the NBA as head coach of the Atlanta Hawks, going 31–51 in his first season with the Hawks. But by the 1977–78 season, the Hawks had rebounded into a .500 team, finishing 41–41 and earning Coach of the Year honors for Brown. Two years later, in 1979–80, they won only their second division title since moving to Atlanta. However, after they tumbled to a 31-win season in 1980–81, Brown was fired with just three games remaining in the season.
Brown joined the New York Knicks in 1982, succeeding long-time coach Red Holzman. He stayed with the Knicks until he was fired in 1986 after starting the season 4–12. After reaching the playoffs in each of Brown's first two seasons, the Knicks plummeted to 24–58 in 1984–85 and 23–59 in 1985–86. But there were circumstances that were far beyond Brown's control that hastened the downfall. Star forward Bernard King suffered a devastating knee injury in March 1985 in a game against the Kansas City Kings, not fully recovering for two seasons, while Patrick Ewing, the top overall pick in the 1985 NBA draft, missed 32 games in an injury-plagued rookie season. Brown left the Knicks at the beginning of the 1986–87 season, succeeded by Bob Hill.