Last season Kevin Brown was head coach of the Crossroads boys’ basketball team. During the summer he was head coach of the Ivory Coast team in international competition.
“I had to go for it,” Brown explains. “It was a wonderful experience. My travels with the team also took me to Angola and Morocco.”
Brown resigned from Crossroads in April, conducted a one-week training camp for the Ivory Coast team just outside of Paris, was named head coach, and led the squad into Olympic qualifying.
The goal was to qualify for the 2008 Olympics in China, but the Ivory Coast lost to Cameroon, which featured UCLA players Luc Richard Mbah a Moute and Alfred Aboya. Cameroon then lost to Angola, which earned the Olympic bid.
Brown returned to the United States in September and is now teaching sociology at Inglewood High along with doing work for FIBA, the international basketball body. He has one more impressive job on his resume and hopes to get back into coaching.
“I do miss it on a day in day out basis,” he said.
Brown said he taught the same style of play with the Ivory Coast team that he used in guiding Crossroads to 17 wins last season, pressing full court and keeping the games up-tempo.
His team was comprised of several former U.S. college players and current professionals. One of his stars was Rodrick Djaue, who played at Miami University and is now a pro in France. A teammate had played at Rutgers and is now a pro in China.
Brown has been an assistant coach at several U.S. colleges and worked with players at Santa Monica College two years ago under Coach Trevor Shickman. He’s been willing to go where the opportunities are.
