Coach Changes His Mind at the Last Second

Larry Brown was ready to leave. The basketball coach at the University of Kansas had packed his bags. A plane was waiting to take him to UCLA, where he would become their new coach. But then his phone rang, and everything changed.

The call came from Joe Glass, Brown's godfather. Glass helps Brown with money matters and has known him since he was young. After that phone call on Friday afternoon, Brown made a shocking decision. He decided not to go to UCLA after all. The plane left without him, and Kansas fans celebrated in the streets.

Brown would not say much about the mystery phone call on Saturday morning. He made it clear that Glass did not force him to stay. "Nobody persuaded me," Brown said. "I just thought I had to do it." The coach said there was a problem with his contract. UCLA had changed some important words, and Brown did not like it.

Brown said UCLA treated him very well. He had nothing bad to say about the school. But something about the whole situation bothered him. He could not go through with leaving Kansas. Instead of flying to California, Brown got ready for a recruiting trip to Texas.

The coach admitted he wanted to work at UCLA. He did not try to hide his feelings about missing the chance. He had appeared on TV the night before but showed no happiness. "This should be the highest time of my life," Brown said on Saturday. "And I'm not feeling it."

Brown had met with UCLA officials on Thursday. That meeting helped him make his final choice. The chancellor and athletic director offered him amazing things. They wanted to give him lots of money and special treatment. But Brown felt embarrassed by all their offers.

At Kansas, Brown felt he had earned everything the school gave him. He had worked hard and won games for them. But UCLA wanted to give him great things before he had proven himself there. This did not feel right to Brown. The coach grew up without much money in Brooklyn and Long Island.

When Brown first came to Kansas, he never even asked about his salary. He did not care about the money details. Kansas Athletic Director Bob Frederick said they never talked about money this week. "If money was the overriding issue, Larry would have gone back to the pros," Frederick said.

As Brown left for his recruiting trip on Saturday morning, he tried to look ahead. He said if Kansas could sign some good new players, they would have a great team for years to come. The coach who almost left decided to stay and keep building something special at Kansas.