Tim Jankovich will serve as an assistant under Larry Brown at SMU next season, but he will soon take over as head coach, according to ESPN.com.

“Tim was highly recommended by Kansas coach Bill Self, and I am very excited to have him at SMU,” Brown said in a statement. “The number and quality of coaches interested in coming to SMU has been tremendous; and to get someone with his experience and success as a head coach is invaluable.”

Jankovich taking the job was not contingent on he being coach-in-waiting, according to Brown. There is also no timetable for when Jankovich will take over.

“Tim is the right guy and there’s nothing in the contract that says there is a time limit,” Brown said. “He didn’t wait. The school didn’t want it. I’m 71 but I don’t feel like there is a time limit.”

It’s official — Hall of Fame basketball coach Larry Brown is coming out of retirement at age 71 to become the next head coach at Southern Methodist University, according to ESPN.

“I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to coach at SMU,” Brown said in a statement. “I’ve built so many relationships in the basketball world and my success has been due to the coaches I’ve played for and the players I’ve coached. … I always thought of myself as a college coach, and this gives me a wonderful chance to get back where I started.”

It’s Brown’s first venture into the college game in 24 years — he walked away from the Kansas Jayhawks after winning a national championship in 1988, and he’s been in the NBA ever since. He last coached at the pro level with the Charlotte Bobcats, who fired him on Dec. 22, 2010 after getting off to an ugly 9–19 start.

Overall, Brown has been a winner at every level, compiling career records of 1,098-904 in the NBA, 229-107 in the ABA and 177–61 in the college game. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Sept. 27, 2002.