Larry Brown has hinted before at stepping down as head coach of the Philadelphia 76ers, so the news of his resignation is no great surprise.

Brown helped a talent like Allen Iverson become a much better team player. Brown lifts his players, enabling them to get the most out of their abilities.

A coaching icon, the 62-year-old Brown is one of the all-time best teachers of the game. While he's apparently ready to take a break, Brown will never stop coaching. He has said to me on many occasions that he will always coach somewhere -- whether at the college level, where he won a national title with Kansas in 1988, or even at the high-school level. Brown loves coaching and excels at it.

The Sixers have released Brown from the final two years of his contract, so he's free to pursue other NBA options and there appear to be many of those. And I would not be surprised if he reappears in the NBA next season.

I believe he works best with with younger players, though he has a knack for rejuvenating veterans like Derrick Coleman as well. He has also helped younger guys like Todd MacCulloch and Eric Snow improve their games. Snow saw no significant playing time with the Seattle SuperSonics, but he became a starter in Philly.

Moreover, Brown helped a talent like Allen Iverson become a much better team player. Brown lifts his players, enabling them to get the most out of their abilities. In his 31 years of coaching, I've never seen a player who did not improve under Larry Brown.

Another impressive element of his longevity is that he's had just three losing seasons at the college and professional level -- a 21-61 record with the San Antonio Spurs in 1986-87, a 39-43 showing with the Indiana Pacers in 1996-97 and a 31-51 record in his first season with Philly in 1997-98.

I've coached against Brown, initially during 1976-77, the first season after the ABA and NBA merged. He was coach of the Denver Nuggets, one of the old ABA teams. This was toward the beginning of Brown's coaching career, more than a decade after his college playing days under Dean Smith at North Carolina. As a pro, Brown became a three-time ABA All-Star.

	Brown

Brown's Nuggets won the NBA's Central Division in 1976-77, led by David Thompson and a run-and-jump, pressing defense that they brought from the ABA. Brown's team fostered a frenetic pace and created turnovers that led to easy baskets. My Portland Trail Blazers met the Nuggets in the playoffs, and we won the series in six tough games. We went on to win the NBA championship, led by Bill Walton, Maurice Lucas and Co.

What I remember about Brown -- and this is something I still see in him -- is that he was always gracious to the opposing coach. He commented several times about how well we played and how well our Portland team was coached. That's uncommon, especially when a team loses. You rarely hear the losing coach praise the winning coach. That shows tremendous class.

Larry Brown is a coach's coach, teaching skills and team play -- and he won't back down from that. That's been good for the game and for the NBA.

Dr. Jack Ramsay, who coached the Portland Trail Blazers to the 1977 NBA title, is an NBA analyst for ESPN and a regular contributor to ESPN.com.