THERE’S a new coach in the Jr. NBA/Jr. WNBA Philippines 2016 presented by Alaska that may catch the fancy of US collegiate ball enthusiasts.
His name is Craig Brown, and he’s a certified National Collegiate Athletic Association star.
Coach Craig, as the young participants of the NBA’s developmental basketball program call him, was as big a star as Grant Hill during their competitive playing years in the NCAA. Brown played for the Florida Gators. Grant Hill played for Duke.
Back in college, Coach Craig was described as a guy with a “feathery shooting touch from downtown” who scored three consecutive three-pointers in the University of Florida’s unforgettable win over Boston College in 1994. He also was capable of a “Shaq-like destructive dunk” that made him a walking legend in collegiate hard courts.
Perhaps Craig Brown’s name still resonates within the halls of Boston College to this day. After all, he did give the college something to remember him by once upon a time. Consider this write-up about the day the Gators eased Boston out of the Final Four in 1994:
“Back to back to back. That is how Boston College exited the NCAA Tournament in 1994. This was due to the surefire hands of the University of Florida’s shooting guard Craig Brown. Brown hit three-point baskets on three possessions in a row to help defeat Boston College 74-66 in the Elite Eight.”
Originally from Pennsylvania, Craig Brown made the big move to Gainesville, Florida for college. If you think he experienced a culture and climate shock when he did, well no, he didn’t.
Back when he was 11, he and the family went on a vacation in Florida and got to watch the Gators play the LSU Tigers. Guess what, the Gators got creamed by LSU and the phenomenal Chris Jackson, now known as Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, the guy that Phil Jackson said was the Stephen Curry of his day.
From that day forward, Craig Brown burned with a desire to return to the University of Florida and play for the team. Eventually, he did. “I recruited Florida rather than them recruiting me,” Brown said.
True to his words (and dream), Brown did do his share to make Florida a winning team. Voted team captain in 1994, he helped lead his team to the Final Four for the first time in history that year with a 29-8 record. That same year he earned All-Southeastern Conference regular season honors, became part of the All-SEC tournament team and was named the NCAA Tournament East Regional Most Outstanding Player.
Brown was also Florida’s leading three-point maker with 186 points and still ranks among Florida’s top 10 in steals (158) and assists (305). His total score as a Gator was 1,419 points and he still shares the Gator record for scoring in double figures for 33 consecutive games.
After college, Brown played basketball in foreign countries for five years. He first joined Harrisburg and Mexico City in the Continental Basketball Association, where Harrisburg selected him in the first round of the 1994 CBA Draft. He also played professionally overseas in Brazil, China, Hong Kong and France. After earning a Bachelor of Science in Exercise and Sport Science degree in 1995, he served as Florida’s video coordinator and administrative assistant during the 1995-1996 campaign.
Today, the former Gator Big Hero is Director of Basketball Operations for NBA Asia and oversees the continued growth of the league’s basketball development initiatives in Asia while conceiving and delivering on-court content for NBA Asia basketball events. Before he joined the NBA in March 2015, Coach Craig was director of Operations for the University of Central Florida (UCF) Knights, where he helped monitor the academic progress of student-athletes, coordinated community service initiatives and directed summer youth camps.
This summer, Coach Craig is head coach of the 2016 Jr. NBA/Jr. WNBA Philippines program.
Low-key and unassuming despite his on-court gravitas, it is obvious though that he loves basketball with total dedication and all-consuming passion. At an NBA Cares clinic for the children of International Care Ministries Foundation Inc. in Cebu on March 6, Coach Craig conducted basketball fun games and drills with the kids with gusto—right through the lunch hour—without missing a beat.
He is incredibly patient with the kids—from the very little tots to the young adults. He shares skills, lessons, philosophy and inspirational wisdom with them, always making sure they stay focused and motivated, never losing their drive.
As effective a teacher as Merlin was to the young Arthur, Coach Craig is genuinely fascinated with the basketball talent he finds in the Philippines and how passionate about the game Filipinos are.
This year’s Jr. NBA/Jr. WNBA participants don’t know how lucky they are to have an honest-to-goodness collegiate basketball superstar in their midst. Coach Craig doesn’t just know what to teach them about basketball, he can also show them how to play it well.