Not quite. Brown said he will get back in the market place and prove himself. The proving must be with a credible program, and it could take up to four or five years. Bunn said it will be sooner. "I have no doubt that Brett Brown will be the head coach of a quality program in the 2000 season." Brown, who rivals Goorjian as an accessible/quotable coach, is talking from a position of strength. A payout of the two years he had left on his Giants contract is estimated to be worth $200,000-$250,000. This will enable him to wait for the right job. He will not wait on his backside. He is taking his wife and two young daughters to the United States to learn on the job; hopefully an NBA job. He will take whatever minor coaching role he can get, to widen his education, with the Boston Celtics or another team - he says he has seven possible "ins" and that "something will eventuate". He is not closing the door on staying long-term in the US, but his plan is to return to Australia, his wife Anna's home and where he has won an NBL championship. He will continue as an assistant coach with the Boomers from next year as the team prepares for the Sydney Olympics in 2000, and will have occasional work such as coaching at the Adidas basketball camp for promising Australians. (The first begins in Melbourne tomorrow.) And then when, say, the Sydney or Perth head coaching position becomes available, he will be in. Or perhaps his next NBL job will be much closer to home, if and when Lindsay Gaze steps aside as the Tigers' coach. The irony about this temporary coaching death is that Brown kept the Giants alive late in '95 when their owner and the league put the club in the hands of a receiver. He worked above and beyond the call of duty to secure Bunn's Bounce syndicate as the saving owner and in the face of other clubs hovering, like seagulls pecking at chips, to pick up Giants players. "I categorically told Bill Palmer (then the NBL's chief executive) we would not work for some of these people (looking to take over the Giants)," he said. "They (the league) would be better off calling it a day. Some lacked credibility, some perhaps were not honorable." The key was to find someone smart and honorable. Brown decided former merchant banker Bunn was in that category but he needed more people to make the deal work. So Brown introduced people such as businessmen Peter Fiddes and Peter de Rauch into the ownership. Brown says he does not feel left out now. Rather, he is grateful for the chance to have helped the Giants keep their proud history alive, especially when it was his feeling that all along the NBL had been hoping the resurrection would not succeed because in the overall scheme of things two teams were better for Melbourne than three. But the case put to the league by Brown and Bounce was too strong, 10 owners putting up a $1 million working capital, since topped up. Brown says he does not hold anything against these same men, who three seasons later have taken the sensible business path and hopped into bed with the Giants' long-term enemy to secure theirs and the Magic's future in the league. In a sense, the blow was softened for Brown by the previous ownership changes he had endured. "I can't imagine others having to coach through the turmoil and lack of consistency we have had to work under," he said. In his six seasons at the helm, Brown has seen three sets of ownership and seven general managers. In the Bounce reign, there have been three general managers and three marketing managers. And of the coaches in charge in 1993, only Goorjian and Gaze were still at the same clubs after last season. A friend suggests Brown is tired and will benefit from the coaching break. He said that initially he thought that was the case, but only a week and a half out of the Boomers' latest campaign he is rejuvenated and ready to roll again. The problem is, he has not a team to roll with. The talk is that once the merger got the green light, there was never going to be a job for Brown, that the Magic's starting point to any talks was that Goorjian would be coach. While at the world championship in Athens with the Boomers, Brown said he would not get the combined job, but that claim appeared to be based on gut feel because of Goorjian's superior recent record. The inevitability was fought, but accepted. Brown's sorrow is not for himself but for his players who will not fit into the new group. Particularly for Giants' captain Pat Reidy, like Brown a prime mover in keeping the team together in '95. "He's trying to get a foot back in the door with the Boomers for the Olympics," Brown said. "Clearly the best environmment to achieve that is with me and North Melbourne, where he has spent his whole career." But the enduring thoughts of seasons with his players are of Darryl McDonald and Paul Maley. "I look back and see what Darryl has been able to do with his family . . . his ability to go into the New York courts and get custody of five kids and bring his entire family here.

"To have shared in that experience . . . and to know he'll have something to show for his efforts as a professional player . . . I'm very much into that." And Maley? "He'll be a tremendous addition to this new Magic franchise." Magic? Not Titans? That is what Brown said, but he can be forgiven the slip. It is no slip to say Brown will be a tremendous addition to another NBL team one day. His Giant years have been time well spent.