Pepperdine University Athletics

A three-time All-West Coast Conference performer for Pepperdine, Gerald Brown will be part of the men’s basketball staff for his sixth season in 2023-24, and his fourth as an assistant coach.
 
He returned to Malibu as the team’s assistant director of operations in 2018-19 before being elevated to assistant coach in August 2019. The Waves won the postseason College Basketball Invitational (CBI) in 2021.
 
Brown played for the Waves between 1993-94 and 1997-98, and his final two years at Pepperdine coincided with Lorenzo Romar’s first stint as head coach.
 
“My time here at Pepperdine as a student was great,” said Brown in March 2018 at the time of his hiring. “I’m so excited about returning to be a part of Coach Romar’s staff. I enjoyed playing for him and had a great relationship with him. It’s just a blessing that I’m back here almost 20 years later. I’m excited about helping get Pepperdine back to where it should be.”
 
Said Romar: “Gerald played for me and he had so much success at Pepperdine. He was always a very cerebral winner. He’s going to bring something very valuable, that know-how of someone who persevered and carved out a great career for himself. He’s going to bring those same attributes to this program.”
 
For the three years (2015-16 through 2017-18) before his return to Pepperdine, Brown was an assistant coach at Concordia-Irvine. He helped the NCAA Division II school to a 59-27 record, a pair of 20-win seasons and a share of the PacWest Conference regular-season title in 2016.
 
Previously, he was an assistant coach at Arizona Christian in 2014-15, helping the Firestorm to a school-record 25 wins and the program’s first-ever victory at the NAIA Tournament. He was also the head coach of the Arizona Scorpions of the American Basketball Association and led the Scorpions to the ABA Final Four in 2015.
 
Brown left Pepperdine at #12 on the program’s all-time scoring list with 1,467 points. He earned All-WCC first team honors in 1995, 1996 and 1998 and led the Waves in scoring each of those years. In 1996, he led the WCC in scoring at 17.8 points per game. He played on the Waves’ 1994 NCAA Tournament team as a freshman.
 
Brown made the Phoenix Suns as an undrafted free agent and appeared in 33 games during the 1998-99 season, averaging 2.4 points in 7.2 minutes per contest. He went on to play internationally in such places as Israel, Serbia, Germany, Spain, Argentina, Australia and Mexico. He also played for the Harlem Globetrotters’ competition team during a two-week tour against college teams in 2001.
 
He earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Pepperdine in 1998.
 
Brown, a native of Phoenix, is married (his wife’s name is Jessica) and they have two daughters, Janae and Jaelah.