Mike Brown (basketball, born 1970)

For other people named Michael Brown (disambiguation), see Michael Brown (disambiguation) (disambiguation).

Mike Brown

Brown as head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers
Personal information
Born	(1970-03-05) March 5, 1970 Columbus, Ohio
Career information
College	Mesa Community College University of San Diego
Position	Head coach
Coaching career	1992–2010
Career highlights and awards
NBA All-Star Game head coach (2009) NBA Coach of the Year (2009)

Michael “Mike” Brown (born March 5, 1970 in Columbus, Ohio) is an American basketball coach. He was the head coach of the National Basketball Association's (NBA) Cleveland Cavaliers from June 2, 2005 until May 24, 2010. After learning the game under Gregg Popovich, Brown is widely regarded as a defensive specialist. He turned the Cavaliers into one of the top defensive teams in the NBA and guided them into the 2007 NBA Finals. Mike Brown was honored as NBA Coach of the Year for leading the Cleveland Cavaliers to a team record and league best 66 wins in 2009, and 61 wins, again a league best, in 2010. However, after losses to both the Orlando Magic in the Conference Finals in 2009, and the Boston Celtics in the 2010 Eastern Conference Semifinals, he was fired after failing to win an NBA title with the Cavaliers.

Early years

Brown was born in Columbus, Ohio, but spent parts of his childhood overseas. He graduated from Würzburg American High School in Würzburg, Germany in 1988, where he excelled in basketball, football, and baseball. After studying and playing basketball at Mesa Community College for two years, Brown went on to the University of San Diego, where he played two seasons for the Toreros and graduated in 1992 with a B.A. in business. He began his career in 1992 with the Denver Nuggets where he spent five seasons as the team's scout and video coordinator.

NBA career

In 2000, Brown was hired by Gregg Popovich as an assistant coach with the San Antonio Spurs. While with the Spurs, Brown's teams won at least 58 games each season. He also was the head coach for the Spurs' summer league teams in Boston and Salt Lake City. After winning a championship with San Antonio in 2003, Brown was hired as associate head coach to Rick Carlisle with the Indiana Pacers. He helped lead Indiana to consecutive playoff appearances including a trip to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2004.

Mike Brown's record as an assistant coach is 341–201 (.629).

In June 2005, Brown got his first head coaching stint with the Cleveland Cavaliers, replacing Brendan Malone, becoming the second youngest coach in the league, with only Lawrence Frank of the New Jersey Nets younger.

On June 2, 2007, Brown's Cavaliers defeated the Detroit Pistons in the Eastern Conference Finals and advanced to the NBA Finals for the first time in the history of the franchise. However, they were swept in four games to his former team, San Antonio Spurs.

On February 1, 2008, Brown was named the Eastern Conference Coach of the Month for January 2008.

In 2009, Brown was named coach of the Eastern Conference All-Star team, making him the second coach in Cavaliers history to coach the All-Star team, joining Lenny Wilkens who coached the East team back in 1989.

On April 20, 2009, Brown was named NBA Coach of the Year after guiding the Cavaliers to a franchise best 66–16 record.

On May 13, 2010, Brown and the Cleveland Cavaliers were eliminated by the Boston Celtics in the Conference Semifinals of the 2010 NBA Playoffs. With this loss, the Cavaliers became the first team in NBA history to accomplish back-to-back 60+ win seasons and not advance to the NBA Finals.

Mike Brown was fired on May 24, 2010. In December 2010, he began working with ESPN as a studio analyst.

Head coaching record

Legend

Regular season	G	Games coached	W	Games won	L	Games lost	W–L %	Win–loss %
Playoffs	PG	Playoff games	PW	Playoff wins	PL	Playoff losses	PW–L %	Playoff win–loss %

Team	Year	G	W	L	W–L%	Finish	PG	PW	PL	PW–L%	Result
CLE	2005–06	82	50	32	.610	2nd in Central	13	7	6	.538	Lost in Conf. Semifinals
CLE	2006–07	82	50	32	.610	2nd in Central	20	12	8	.600	Lost in NBA Finals
CLE	2007–08	82	45	37	.549	2nd in Central	13	7	6	.538	Lost in Conf. Semifinals
CLE	2008–09	82	66	16	.805	1st in Central	14	10	4	.714	Lost in Conf. Finals
CLE	2009–10	82	61	21	.744	1st in Central	11	6	5	.545	Lost in Conf. Semifinals
Career		410	272	138	.663		71	42	29	.592