Returning to Southern California hasn’t been a dramatic adjustment for assistant coach Eric Brown. He’s lived here before. The Los Angeles native returned to Southern California from Iowa, going from assistant coach to substitute teacher to assistant coach again.
“The only difference between Los Angeles and Iowa is geographic location,” Brown said. “The people [in Iowa] are great and I’ve got family all over Orange County. … I was only [in Iowa] a year. It hasn’t been much of a transition at all.”
But between his time as assistant coach at Long Beach State and the end of his time at Iowa State, a year has elapsed and Brown had some time to work outside the sports world.
“The staff I was with before had been released,” Brown said. “I did some substitute teaching [at private schools in California]. No math, though. I can’t do math.”
Brown’s coaching experience has largely been spent in California, serving as assistant coach at the Division I level at Cal State Northridge between 1999-2001 and USC from 2001-2005.
Among the highlights in his career as an assistant coach are the high ranking and scoring during his tenures at USC and Iowa State. The Trojans were ranked among the top 45 teams in the country in 2004 and the Trojans’ scoring averages in 2003 and 2004 were 76.5 and 75.4 points per game, respectively. While at Iowa State, the Cyclones led the Big 12 in scoring at 76.6 points per game.
During his time at Northridge, Brown also helped the Matadors appear in the NCAA Tournament in 2001 for the first time in the school’s history.
This summer hasn’t been the quintessential Southern California summer for Brown, though. In addition to recruiting, Brown, along with the other coaches, has been busy with a youth basketball camp. This week was the first of two sessions of camp. The second session of the camp starts in August.
“[The coaches] all do different clinics” at the camp, Brown said. It’s nice to “meet members of the community. [The coaches] all share responsibilities.”
Overall, Brown wants to bring to the team “whatever Monson wants … a good work ethic, character and experience.”
