The Tommy Brown coaching era at Lee University has ended.
The Chattanooga native and former Boyd-Buchanan School and Covenant College standout has been let go as the men’s basketball coach at the NCAA Division II school in Cleveland after 11 seasons with a 244-108 record. He is 379-209 as a college coach, counting his time at Bluefield.
The Flames went 18-14 in 2014-15 but were only 10-12 in the Gulf South Conference and then finished the 2015-16 season this past Thursday with a 10-18, 7-15 record, missing the league tournament.
“I have great appreciation for Coach Brown’s terrific work ethic and desire to win,” Dr. Paul Conn, Lee’s president, said in statements released Saturday. “He has led us to many wonderful successes during his years as coach, and we are grateful for his contributions to our program. But after three years of NCAA competition we believe the challenges of this level require a fresh start with new leadership.”
Brown guided Lee to eight consecutive NAIA national tournaments, reaching the quarterfinals twice, and his 2007-08 and 2012-13 teams went 33-2 and 30-4.