Larry Brown To Be Named SMU Head Basketball Coach, Tim Jankovich Offered Coach In Waiting Position

Trying to prepare itself for life in the Big East, SMU took 35 days but made the bold hire it was hoping to make and according to a report from Jason King with ESPN, will name 71 year old Larry Brown as its head coach. SMU becomes Brown's 14th different head coaching job since he first became a head coach at Davidson in 1972. Brown will have a year in Conference USA to try and rebuild a dreadful roster that went 13-19 as the school prepares for a significant step up in competition when it joins the Big East, beginning in the 2013-2014 season. According to reports, Brown will be paid $1.75 million per year.

In addition to hiring Brown, SMU has offered to hire Illinois State head coach Tim Jankovich to be the head coach in waiting when Brown steps down. At 71 years old, Brown will likely only coach the team for a few seasons before handing the program over to Jankovich. Jankovich has been the head coach at Illinois State since 2007 where he has guided the team to the NIT four times. Prior to taking the job at Illinois State, Jankovich was an assistant coach at Kansas and Illinois under Bill Self.

It is also being reported that Brown will have current Kentucky Director of Basketball Operations Rod Strickland join the staff as an assistant coach. According to IlliniHQ.com, joining Strickland as an assistant is former Illinois assistant and ace recruiter Jerrance Howard.