Hubie Brown

Hubert Jude “Hubie” Brown is a former basketball coach and television analyst. Brown is a two-time NBA Coach of the Year and a Basketball Hall of Fame inductee. Hubie started his basketball career as a player at Niagara University. Brown’s coaching career included stops at Duke University and the Milwaukee Bucks. After two seasons in the NBA, Brown was given his first professional-level head coaching opportunity – the head coach position with the Kentucky Colonels of the ABA.

Brown led the Colonels to their only ABA Championship in 1975 before the ABA-NBA merger in 1976 when the Colonels franchise folded. Brown then rejoined the NBA as head coach of the Atlanta Hawks, where he earned the Coach of the Year honors. After leading the Hawks to a Central Division Title in the 1979-80 season, Brown joined the New York Knicks in 1982. He stayed with the Knicks until 1986.

Hubie Brown then turned to the broadcasting booth, becoming the lead basketball analyst for CBS and later for TNT. Brown continued anchoring TNT’s basketball coverage through the 2001-02 season. But during the 2002-03 season, Brown became a head coach in the NBA again, this time with the Memphis Grizzlies. A couple of years later the team underwent a complete turnaround finishing 50-32 and making the playoffs for the first time in team history. Brown was again named the NBA’s Coach of the Year.

The following year Brown signed with ABC as their top NBA analyst. In 2005, he was enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame as a contributor.