Coaches hanging up suits this season
When the NBA told coaches this week it was moving forward with a loosened dress code at games, Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr sought out assistant coach Mike Brown to break the news.
“It was more or less him consoling me,” Brown said.
After all, Brown takes his suit game very seriously.
In normal times, Brown will pace the sideline with his colorcoded notes attached to his clipboard, his belt and eye- glass frames matching, shoes shining, his suit fitting just so particularly. Brown spends hours picking out each detail, from the shirt and tie combination, to the color of the
socks and pocket square.
But this season during the coronavirus pandemic, coaching staffs have the option of a jacket- less look or polo shirts. Across the league, there are mixed feelings about competing staffs not coordinating. One coach could look like he’s on a dinner date, while the other could look like he’s headed to a tee time. Some coaches, as ESPN’s Zach Lowe reported, are staunchly Team Suit while others are Team Casual.
Brown and the rest of the Warriors coaching staff will instead wear matching polos and slacks, as chosen by director of operations Eric Housen, according to a source. Brown’s signature look will be stripped away and replaced by a homogeneous smattering of “DriFIT” collars, Lululemon pants and yellow Warriors logos. It’s a shame, really.
“Mike is devastated that he’s going to have to wear the same stuff that the rest of us are,” joked Kerr, who has rarely worn a tie over the years. “It’s really going to be a blow to his ego.”
After all, how is Brown — or any coach for that matter — supposed to signal to his players that this is not a practice, but an important game? The Warriors open the season with a primetime matchup against the Brooklyn Nets, and then play the Milwaukee Bucks on Christmas Day. While Steph Curry, Kevin Durant and Giannis Antetokounmpo dazzle a national audience with super- human performances, the coaches will place the sideline looking like a bunch of under- dressed schmucks.
“There’s something about pulling into an NBA game, especially a big game, and there’s that certain kind of atmosphere in the building,” Brown said. “You want to be presentable.”
Brown spent years perfecting his craft, and has come a long way since his days as a video coordinator for the Indiana Pacers in the 1990s. Brown recalls buying his first suit at clothing store K& G, which offered a suit, shirt and tie for the low price of $ 99.
“I thought I was living large back then,” he said.
Later, as an assistant with the Washington Wizards in 1997, Brown admired how his players wore custom- fitted suits. He got the name of a tailor and had two or three suits made. He never looked back. He’s gone from spending a hundred bucks for something off the rack to about $ 1,800 per suit.
When he joined the Warriors in 2016, Brown hired a stylist to help him stay current. He had been excited to try a more contemporary trouser this season — tapered bottoms, with a tasteful flash of sock. Instead, Brown’s 30- or- so suits will hang in his closet rejected, the remnants of a bygone era like buffets, hand shakes and waiters’ faces.
“For me, if we’re playing three games on the road, I probably bring two suits, three different shirts, three different ties and two different pairs of shoes,” Brown said. “That’s a lot of extra clothing that I had to bring along just to wear to games. On top of that, I brought my garment suitcase. Now I can bring a duffel bag! It’s going to give me a lot more free time to do some other things.”
What sort of other things? He can spend more time tinkering with the Warriors’ rotations, watching film or getting some much- needed rest. Plus as Brown, the head coach of the Nigeria men’s national basketball team, found out coaching in the FIBA qualifiers in Rwanda last month, wearing a polo and pants is just more comfortable.
Going forward, it’s unclear if the full suit will ever come back. These uncertain times reminded people of what is necessary, and it turns out color- coordinated belts and eye- glass frames are not. An optimist like Brown can find the silver lining.
“If you would have hit me about 10 years ago I would have been adamant about Team Suit, for sure,” Brown said. “But I can’t even begin to tell you how much time it’s going to save me during my day, from packing, to picking out what to wear to games, it’s good. And it’ll put some money in my pocket, too. So I’m going to stick to Team Casual.”