UConn's Brown leaving for assistant coaching job at Iona
May 14—Taliek Brown, who as a player helped take the UConn men's basketball team to the top of the heap and who as a staff member in the program has helped the Huskies begin that climb back, is leaving the school.
Brown, UConn's director of player development, has been hired by Iona coach Rick Pitino to be an assistant with the Gaels.
As much as he loves his alma mater and working in coach Dan Hurley's program, Brown admitted he couldn't pass up the opportunity to be an assistant coach at the Division I level for the first time.
"It's the perfect opportunity, an ideal situation," Brown said by phone Saturday afternoon.
Brown said he was offered the job one day after interviewing with Pitino.
Brown will leave UConn at the end of the month and start work at Iona June 1. He admitted there's a chance he's not saying goodbye to UConn forever.
"It's good to get the experience (at Iona) and maybe some day I'll come back," Brown said.
A Corona, New York native, Brown scored 1,039 points in his playing career at UConn and is the program's all-time leader in assists with 722. He was the point guard and the captain of the Huskies' 2004 national championship team.
Brown played 10 years of professional basketball before embarking in a coaching career. He was an assistant coach at LaGuardia Community College and served as the head coach at August Martin High School in New York.
He joined Hurley's staff in 2018.
Neill covers UConn men's basketball and UConn football teams, and he keeps a finger on the pulse of Connecticut sports. For live game updates, and more insight into UConn athletics, player transfers, and team changes, follow Neill on Twitter: @NeillOstrout, Facebook: JINeillO, and Instagram: @NeillOstrout.
