He's always said that he would be just as happy coaching a high school team, but we all know the truth. Brown wants to be part of the show, the big show, and he hated the way his last stop with the New York Knicks ended in 2006.

So when Michael Jordan, the Bobcats' part-owner, called recently, Brown listened, and yesterday the 67-year-old landed his ninth NBA/ABA coaching job, this time with the Charlotte Bobcats. In a way, Brown is going home, back to the state where he played collegiate ball, where his professional coaching career started with the old ABA Carolina Cougars, and where his mother, a few months shy of 103 years old, lives. If he couldn't coach his beloved North Carolina Tar Heels - and Carolina made that painfully clear when it hired Matt Doherty instead of Brown in 2000 - then this essentially was the next best thing.

And it's a great thing for the Bobcats.

"How are you going to say no to Michael?" Brown said at his introductory news conference in Charlotte yesterday afternoon. "I've known him a long time. The things he stands for have made our game better. There's no way I could say no to him. It was a pretty easy decision once my wife said yes."

I've had several conversations with Brown in recent weeks, and each one ended with Brown telling me, unsolicited, how badly he wanted back in the game. He said he was "bored" simply working as an adviser with the Sixers. He said he never got too close to the gym because he didn't want to interfere with what Maurice Cheeks was doing as the coach.

In addition to spending hours at Villanova as an observer and offering hundreds of offensive sets to Wright, Brown spent a lot of time at Memphis with his protege, John Calipari. When Tom Crean was considering taking on the monstrous task of revitalizing the Indiana Hoosiers, Crean called Brown for advice. When the Kansas Jayhawks made their run to the national championship, Bill Self invited Brown to their Sweet 16 game against Villanova, and then again to the Final Four. Brown was a nervous wreck sitting in the stands during the national championship game between Calipari's Tigers and Self's Jayhawks.

All of it just reinforced what Brown knew. He had to coach. It is who he is. Long walks with his wife or trips overseas with his kids weren't enough to fill the void left when he was run out of Madison Square Garden two years ago.

So with his family settled back on the Main Line and with his son and daughter entrenched in Episcopal Academy, Brown felt he could turn his attention back to basketball. Jordan, a fellow Tar Heel, provided the perfect outlet not too far away.

The Charlotte job isn't just a rebuilding job, which has been Brown's specialty as he has crisscrossed the NBA during a four-decade career. It's a start-from-scratch, do-it-yourself gig. The Bobcats have been in existence for just four seasons. They have a new downtown arena and a collection of young players who need to be taught how to play the game.

With a four-season record of 109-219, Charlotte has never sniffed .500, much less the playoffs. This season, Sam Vincent's first and only as the head coach, ended with a 32-50 record, one game worse than the franchise high from the season before. Vincent was not loved. He was erratic with his game plans and not astute in making in-game adjustments.

At least in the beginning, the players should embrace Brown, the ultimate teacher and tactician. The Bobcats have a young core, led by Emeka Okafor, Gerald Wallace, Raymond Felton (another Tar Heel), and Jason Richardson. They seem willing to be taught.

Attracting fans might be a harder sell.

There are plenty of hoops fans in Charlotte and the surrounding area, but outside of a hard-core contingent, the Bobcats have had a hard time putting bodies in the seats. They are near the bottom in the NBA in attendance. On top of being the coach, Brown will have to be a promoter. He's got the charm and personality for that job, too.

During his news conference yesterday, someone asked Brown his feelings on practice.

"Practice? We're talking about practice," Brown said, channeling his inner Allen Iverson. The room erupted, and Jordan nearly fell over laughing.

So the vagabond is back, doing what he loves, what he missed for so long, what he was meant to do. But will he get it done in Charlotte?

"I love it," Crean said in a text message. "He will win."