Colorado University Athletics
Buffs' Boyle Could Face Mentor Brown
December 21, 2015 | Men's Basketball, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — If all goes according to form Tuesday for the Colorado and Southern Methodist basketball teams, Wednesday will produce a classic matchup between a Hall of Fame coach and one of his proteges.
It's not a matchup Colorado coach Tad Boyle will particularly relish — but if he does get the chance to square off against Larry Brown, Boyle knows that when the first whistle blows, both coaches involved will want nothing more than to win.
“I've never enjoyed coaching against friends, or in this case, someone who's been a mentor and a friend for years,” Boyle said late last week. “The good things is I've gotten past the 'Oh my gosh, that's Larry' part of it because we've scrimmaged SMU every year for the last four years.”
But that doesn't mean it won't be a special moment for Boyle if the matchup occurs.
“No doubt it would be special because I have such great respect for him and our players have great respect for him,” Boyle said. “He's a Hall of Fame coach who has won wherever he's gone. I'd rather not be playing him — but I hope we do, because it will mean we both won our first game. If it happens, I'm going to be coaching my team and just trying to do the best I can.”
For a Boyle-Brown matchup to occur, the Mustangs must beat Kent State and the Buffs must defeat Penn State in their games Tuesday at Orleans Arena. If that happens, the two will meet in an 8:30 p.m. game Wednesday in the Las Vegas Classic final. (If both teams lose their opener, they'll also play Wednesday, a possibility Boyle doesn't want to consider.)
Boyle's relationship with Brown stretches back more than 30 years. Boyle was a junior at Kansas in 1983 when Brown was hired to replace Ted Owens, who recruited Boyle to Lawrence. Boyle played for Brown for two seasons, including his senior year, when he was the Jayhawks' team captain.
“He shaped me as a coach, without a doubt,” Boyle said. “When I think of my basketball philosophy and value system, my core values, it traces back to Larry Brown and Larry Hicks, my high school coach.”
That influence has stuck with Boyle through the years, from his first college position as a grad assistant at Oregon all the way to Boulder — where he reacquainted himself with another Brown fan, former Buffs star Chauncey Billups.
It was under Brown's guidance that Billups enjoyed his biggest successes in the NBA. Brown coached Detroit when Billups helped guide the Pistons to the 2004 NBA title. Billups was the NBA Finals MVP that year while Brown became the first — and still only — coach to ever win an NCAA and an NBA title.
“When I got the job at Colorado and got a chance to reacquaint myself with Chauncey, I had lunch with him one day,” Boyle said. “I remember asking him who was the best coach he ever played for. It took him about a tenth of a second to say 'Coach Brown.' There was no doubt or hesitation in his mind.”
In terms of coaching philosophy, Boyle said it was Brown who instilled in him the tenets of defense and rebounding above all else. “Those are the things I took from him,” Boyle said.
But Boyle said there was far more to Brown than simply basketball strategy.
“It was much more than that,” Brown said. “When I was a senior playing for Coach Brown, Danny Manning was a freshman. The one thing I always appreciated about Coach Brown was that he always treated us all fairly, but he didn't treat us all the same. He was a lot harder on Danny than he was on me, for example. He knew how great Danny could be and he knew I had limited upside, if you will. But you never felt like Danny got the star treatment.”
Boyle also took with him other parts of Brown's coaching style.
“One of the things I learned from Coach Brown is that he coaches his best players probably the hardest,” Boyle said. “Look at his time in Philadelphia with Allen Iverson and Detroit with Chauncey and those guys. Certainly at the time you're playing for him you don't always appreciate that, but as time goes on you realize what he was doing and how he was getting the best out of everyone.”
Boyle even watched to see how Brown dealt with people not directly connected to the basketball world.
“One of the things that you learn from Larry is how he treats people,” Boyle said. “He always treats people really well — whether it's the waiter at the restaurant, the custodian in the gym or the star player on your team. It doesn't matter who it is, he treats people the right way. That's something I've always tried to remember.”
Boyle made sure to stay in touch with Brown over the years. When Brown left coaching business briefly in 2010, Boyle strived to ensure that their contact was regular.
“I probably got closer to Coach Brown for the year or two that he was out of it,” Boyle said. “That's when I wanted to stay in touch because I knew how important coaching was to him. That's when I would call him and he would call me regularly. He's one of those guys that if he's not coaching a team, he's watching games every night. When he got the SMU job I was thankful he got back in.”
If the two teams do play Wednesday, Boyle will look down the court when the game begins at a coach who is now 75 years old, a coach whose first job came in 1969 — when Boyle was 6 years old. Boyle, who will turn 53 in January, would have to coach 22 more years to match Brown.
“No way,” Boyle said with a laugh. “Absolutely not. That's what makes him so special. Coach Brown coaches for the right reasons. He coaches because he loves the game. He loves coaching for coaching's sake. I love the game. I love coaching for coaching's sake.
“But 20 more years? There's no way.”
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
