It's finally official: Larry Brown is the new men's basketball coach at SMU.
Well, as new as a man taking his 14th head-coaching job can be.
SMU announced Brown's hiring Thursday afternoon, two days after media reports citing anonymous sources said he agreed to take the job.
The hiring ends a 38-day coaching search that saw SMU target Marquette's Buzz Williams, St. Louis' Rick Majerus, Long Beach State's Dan Monson and Harvard's Tommy Amaker before focusing on Brown.
Brown had expressed interest in SMU during the week of the Final Four. SMU fired former coach Matt Doherty on March 13.
Brown will be 72 when SMU opens play this fall and begins its final season in Conference USA before heading to the Big East in 2013-14.
"I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to coach at SMU," Brown said in a statement released by the school. "I always thought of myself as a college coach and this gives me a wonderful chance to get back where I started."
Brown, a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, is the only man to coach champions in both the NBA and NCAA. He won an NCAA title with the Detroit Pistons in 2004 and an NCAA title with Kansas in 1988.
Brown has a reputation as one of the game's best teachers and has rebuilt several struggling teams. SMU has not been to the NCAA tournament since 1993.
"Larry Brown is one of the top coaches in the history of the game," SMU athletic director Steve Orsini said in a statement. "He is a legend and has made every team he has ever coached a winner. As we transition into the nation's top basketball conference, the Big East, his leadership will be invaluable."
No mention of Brown's staff was made in the release, but reports have surfaced that Illinois State head coach Tim Jankovich would be hired as a coach-in-waiting.
Follow Keith Whitmire on Twitter: @Keith_Whitmire
