NBA champion coach Mike Brown played 2 seasons at Mesa CC

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PHOENIX – Before becoming an NBA coach, Mike Brown was a standout guard in the Valley. He played at Mesa Community College for coach Tom Bennett, an NJCAA Hall of Famer and Arizona basketball coaching icon. Brown was known for his incessant work ethic.

“On a Friday night, I walked into the gym and I heard a ball bouncing and it was Mike shooting free throws,” said Bennett, the father of Arizona State coach Randy Bennett. “This was a Friday night. Other guys were out with their girlfriends, or going to parties or whatever they were doing, and Mike’s in the gym at 10 o’clock.”

The New York Knicks just completed one of the most dominant playoff runs in NBA history, capturing their first championship since 1973. The Knicks, in Brown’s first season at the helm, finished their 2026 playoff campaign with a 16-3 record, and an average point differential of +14.9, the best mark in NBA playoff history.

However this isn’t the first historically dominant run Brown has been a part of in his basketball career.

“I think he’s one of the top three leaders I’ve ever been around,” Bennett said. “He was independent and he was hard working. He lived about a mile from our campus for two years. He never had a car, bike, motorcycle or anything. He walked every day.”

Brown spent two seasons at Mesa Community College, where attention to detail and knowledge of the game caught the eye of both his coaches and teammates.

“He was the type of guy that becoming an NBA coach didn’t surprise me,” said Dana Achtzehn, Brown’s former teammate. “He was a guy that everyone respected, everyone loved and was always a good leader. I’m not surprised at all to see him work his way up.”

Bennett had a long and successful 19 year coaching career at Mesa, where he won six regional championships and nine conference championships.

Mike Brown, left and Dana Achtzehn, center, were teammates on the Mesa Community College men’s basketball team before Brown won an NBA title. (Photo courtesy of Dan Achtzehn)

One of Bennett’s best teams was the 1989-90 team, a squad that won 30 consecutive games at one point, and finished with a 32-3 overall record. It finished its conference slate unblemished, capturing a regional championship and earning a berth in the NJCAA tournament.

Former Mesa Community College assistant and current Grand Canyon President Brian Mueller said Brown played an important role in that team’s success.

“He was recognized as the leader of that team,” Mueller said. “He was a real quick learner, a smart player and you could feel the leadership qualities that he had even as an 18- 19-year-old.”

Brown entered the season injured, and was unable to practice during the first week. When Brown returned to the court, his impact was immediately felt.

“On the first day he was able to practice, he was giving people instructions,” Bennett said. “He paid attention to things.”

Brown’s path to the NBA championship has been anything but smooth. He never played professional basketball before beginning his career in coaching, and started in the NBA as a video coordinator for the Denver Nuggets. Furthermore Brown held head coaching positions for the Kings, Lakers and Cavaliers twice. He was fired all four times.

“I think it’s a great story that someone without a lot of internal advantages and connections worked his way up from the bottom and became an NBA head coach,” Mueller said. “I think it’s a testament to his character. Things don’t always go exactly as you wish, but when people stick with it, they demonstrate strong character and unselfishness, it usually works out the right way in the end.”

Mueller is most proud of how Brown and his Knicks team have exemplified the qualities that he and Bennett emphasized to their teams.

“Coach Bennett was known as one of the best defensive coaches in America and Mike was the epitome of that,” Mueller said. “To watch his teams play that way was a proud thing. Watching him exhibit those characteristics as a coach and seeing his players respond that way was for me the most fun thing.”

For Bennett, seeing Brown succeed at this level and win the NBA championship was a surreal experience.

“It was happening but you also kind of question ‘is this really happening’” Bennett said. “I told him that it was kind of surreal watching that, and I asked him, ‘How does world champion sound?’”