Fred Brown Jr. Leaving Iowa -- Academic Difficulty Prompts Move

IOWA CITY, Iowa - Fred Brown Sr. enjoyed an outstanding basketball stint at Iowa, scoring 1,091 points in two seasons before a 13-year career with the Seattle SuperSonics, but his son's career with the Hawkeyes ended before it began.

Fred Brown Jr. has left the Iowa team after one season without playing a game.

Brown apparently had academic problems and likely would not have been eligible until the middle of the 1993-94 season, if then, a university official confirmed. Ed Pepple, Brown's high school coach at Mercer Island, said Brown might transfer to North Idaho College in Coeur d'Alene.

"He just got caught up in the academics," Pepple said. "The bottom line is, he's got to want to go to class and really dig in."

Efforts by The Seattle Times to reach Brown for comment were unsuccessful.

The 6-foot-2 guard was redshirted last season as a freshman. He practiced with the Hawkeyes during the first semester and accompanied the team to the San Juan Shootout in December, but he did not practice once the second semester began in mid-January.

Brown, who graduated from Mercer Island High in 1992, averaged 19 points as a senior when the Islanders placed fourth in the Class AAA state tournament.

He chose Iowa over Penn State and Seton Hall.