Ottawa University Arizona Men’s Basketball is excited to announce Gerald Brown as the new Assistant Coach for the program. This appointment is effective immediately.
“I am thankful Gerald is joining our coaching staff,” OUAZ Head Coach Tyler Ojanen said. “His love of Jesus, his family and his desire to help the players grow into men of God stood out to me right away.”
Brown is coming to Surprise after six years on the men’s basketball staff at Pepperdine University. He was the program’s assist director of operations in 2018-2019, and was elevated to assistant coach in August of 2019.
“I am excited to be returning home to the Valley, and even more excited to be joining Coach Ojanen’s staff,” Brown said. “I look forward to getting to know the OUAZ community, especially our players. I cannot wait to begin working with the guys.”
Brown has a deep connection to Arizona, as he is a Phoenix native who played at Carl Hayden High School. Brown has also coached collegiately in the Valley, and was the head coach of the Arizona Scorpions of the American Basketball Association, where he led the team to the ABA Final Four in 2015.
He has spent a lot of his basketball life at Pepperdine as well, playing for the Waves between the 1993-94 and 1997-98 seasons. Brown graduated from the program with the 12th-most points in the team’s history (1,467), and earning All-West Coast Conference honors in three different seasons (1995, 1996, 1998). Other collegiate career accolades include leading the WCC in points per game (17.8) during the 1995-96 season, and playing on the Waves’ 1994 NCAA Tournament team as a freshman.
Following his time in Malibu, Brown played in 33 games for the Phoenix Suns during the 1998-99 season, averaging 2.4 points in 7.2 minutes per contest. He went on to play internationally in places such as Serbia, Australia, and Mexico, plus played for the Harlem Globetrotters’ competition team during a two-week tour against college teams in 2001.
Brown also spent three years as an assistant coach at NCAA Division II Concordia-Irvine. He was a part of a program that went 59-27, posting a pair of 20-win seasons and a share of the PacWest Conference Regular Season Championship in the 2015-16 campaign.
He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology from Pepperdine in 1998. Brown also earned a Master’s of Arts in Coaching and Athletic Administration from Concordia University in 2018. He is married to Jessica, and they have two daughters, Janae and Jaelah.
“I believe Gerald’s character, work ethic, and experience will help take our program to the next level of excellence that we are pursuing,” Ojanen said. “I am excited that Gerald is coming back home to Arizona to help us Lay Up Treasures in Heaven.”
