Brown came to WVU in 1985 after having served the previous two seasons as an assistant coach and two season as head mentor at Pratt Institute in New York City. He also worked nine years for the New York City Criminal Justice Agency. During his tenure at Pratt Institute, considered among the top academic institutions in the East, six of his players went on to earn degrees in engineering while two became architects and two earned degrees in computer science. Brown also spent considerable time working as an assistant coach in the prestigious New York City Pro League. He spent four years tutoring some of the NBA's outstanding players, including Gus Williams (Washington Bullets), Kevin Williams (Cleveland Cavaliers) and Rodney McCray (Houston Rockets). In the summer of 1984, Brown's team captured the league championship for the first time in his four year tenure. Brown was in charge of a great deal of the recruiting efforts and Catlett credited him for landing many of the blue chip players WVU was able to sign over his tenure at the university. He also worked very closely with the guards and forwards schooling them in their position skills.