Dream come true: Brown introduced as Knicks coach

Although terms of the deal were not released, several reports indicated that it is a five-year contract worth between $50 million and $60 million.

Born in Brooklyn in September of 1940, Brown has often described the Knicks as his "dream job." He grew up idolizing legendary coach Red Holzman, who guided the Knicks to their last NBA title in 1973.

Last week Brown was relieved of his duties as head coach of the Pistons, just two years into a five-year, $25 million contract. Brown had led Detroit to the NBA championship in 2004 and his Pistons were beaten in seven games by San Antonio in the NBA Finals this past season.

The 64-year-old Brown, though, wasted little time in securing a new job, as he met with Knicks president of basketball operations, Isiah Thomas, last Thursday and then met with interim head coach Herb Williams on Monday.

A three-time ABA Coach of the Year and the 2001 NBA Coach of the Year while with the 76ers, Brown joined the Pistons after spending six seasons with Philadelphia. His basketball resume includes 33 years of coaching at the collegiate or professional level. He has also had coaching stints with the Denver Nuggets, Indiana Pacers, Spurs, Los Angeles Clippers, New Jersey Nets and the 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.

In his NBA career, Brown has compiled a 987-741 record and has 100 postseason victories.

He has had only three losing seasons as a head coach (1988-89 Spurs, 1996-97, Indiana, 1997-98 Philadelphia).

Brown, who was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2002, has a big job ahead of him in New York, as the Knicks went 33-49 this past season. They haven’t won a playoff series since 1999-2000.