Larry Brown out as head coach in Detroit

Brown’s agent, Joe Glass, told The Detroit News that the Pistons have fired Brown, but the team says the coach was offered a buyout package based on the final three years and $18 million remaining on his contract.

The 64-year-old Brown, who signed a five-year, $25 million contract with the Pistons two years ago, guided Detroit to the NBA Championship in 2004 and lost the Finals in seven games to San Antonio this past season.

However, in the postseason there were rumors that Brown would take a front office job with Cleveland next season, and that he would leave following the year to coach the New York Knicks.

Through everything Brown had insisted that if he is healthy enough to keep coaching, he will remain on the sidelines with the Pistons. Following the NBA Finals defeat, Brown checked himself into a hospital for two days because of complications from November hip surgery.

The vagabond Brown has burned bridges all across the country by leaving teams before his contract expired. He has had coaching stints with the Philadelphia 76ers, Denver Nuggets, Indiana Pacers, Spurs, Los Angeles Clippers, New Jersey Nets and ABA’s Carolina Cougars. He was the head coach at UCLA and the University of Kansas, where he won the National Championship with the Jayhawks in 1988.