Former Illini star Dee Brown leads Chicago's Roosevelt University to conference title
CHICAGO (CBS) – Former Illini and Proviso East standout player Dee Brown is in his second year as head coach of the men's basketball team at Roosevelt University after five years as an assistant at the University of Illinois Chicago.
Brown was just named the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference coach of the year leading the Lakers to one of their best seasons ever.
Reporter: "How much are you enjoying this?"
Brown: "Loving it. I tell people winning is not normal. Winning is fun, but I hate losing more."
Luckily for Brown, his Roosevelt Lakers haven't done a lot of losing in his second year at the helm. They went 24-3 in the regular season and secured the school's second-ever trip to the NAIA national tournament by winning their first-ever conference title.
"It meant a lot," Brown said. "Really wish we would've done it last year for those guys, but for us to come back in year two and win it was really special. And that was our goal, to come in and at least compete for a championship. So for us to win it, first time in school history, is a blessing."
Sophomore guard Julio Montes II said, "When we won the conference championship, it meant a lot to us, honestly. I was just thinking about all the 6 a.m. practices, all the sprints we ran, all the times that we were going through adversity. All the emotions was a little bit too much, overwhelming. It was one of the best feelings I've had in my life."
Getting the program to a championship level in just two years obviously wasn't easy, but Brown has the guys buying in and putting in the work.
"He is definitely not the easiest guy to play for in terms of practice is gonna be tough, games are gonna be tough," said graduate forward Cody Mitchell. "He's going to be tough on you as a player, but it's only because he wants the best out of you at the end of the day. I've kind of loved that aspect coming here. He's definitely pushed me to my limits to be the best player I can be."
Brown added, "It's tough being a student-athlete. I commend those guys. You gotta have a different type of grit and toughness, but being here in Chicago is tough as well. So many things to do, but we wanted to win a championship and you have to sacrifice a lot to do that, but also, we wanna make it to Kansas City. We wanna go down to the Sweet 16 and keep repping Roosevelt University and this great community."
It helps to have guys like Mitchell, who transferred as a graduate student from Illinois Wesleyan, where he helped the Titans make it all the way to the Division III Elite Eight in 2022.
"That's kind of a big reason Dee brought me here was to bring a winning attitude, a winning culture," Mitchell said. "I've seen what it takes. So that's kinda what I've been trying to tell these dudes is you gotta keep a level head this time of year. You can't get too high. You can't get too low. When March comes around, you just gotta play your best basketball and be firing on all cylinders."
Brown feels his team has grown to the point where they can make a tournament run, and he feels like he's grown as well by learning to be a better head coach.
"It takes practice," Brown said. "You gotta believe. When you bring in your personnel, you bring in these student-athletes, you gotta believe in them. You gotta coach them up, but you gotta believe in them. Each day you learn something new. I'm a lifelong learning. I want to continue to learn how can I become a better coach, a better mentor. It's been a blessing. I'm very grateful, and I'm having a great time."
And Brown hopes that great time continues for at least a few more games this season. The Lakers earned a No. 4 seed in the 64-team NAIA Tournament. They begin play on Thursday in Livonia, Michigan against No. 13 Shawnee State out of Ohio.
