June 16, 2004

Stony Brook, N.Y. - Former Stony Brook head basketball coach, Herb Brown, was part of the coaching staff that guided the Detroit Pistons to the 2004 NBA Championship on Tuesday night. Brown's first head coaching job came at Stony Brook in 1964.

A native New Yorker, Brown has over 40 years of basketball experience as a coach and a scout at the professional and collegiate levels. Twice before he has earned NBA World Championship rings as a scout for the Chicago Bulls in 1992 and 1993. This season was his second trip to the NBA Finals as an assistant coach as he also was on the staff of the 2001 Eastern Conference Champion Philadelphia 76ers.

Brown began his coaching career as an assistant at C.W. Post from 1960 to 1964 before assuming his first head coaching job at Stony Brook in 1964. He guided the Patriots for five seasons and later moved to the NBA in 1976 as the head coach of the Detroit Pistons. In addition to his stints with the Pistons and the 76ers, he also has been an assistant coach with the Houston Rockets, Phoenix Suns and Indiana Pacers.

Brown is not the only former Stony Brook coach to help guide his team to a title. Rollie Massimino was SB's coach from 1969-71 and later went on to win the 1985 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship with Villanova.