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Alumni Spotlight: Stephen Silas '96
2/28/2023 2:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Brown men's basketball has a long history of successful alumni, both while they have been on College Hill and long after they have left it. One of those alums is making his mark in the NBA as head coach of the Houston Rockets.
Stephen Silas '96 was named the Rockets' head coach in October 2020 after 19 seasons as an assistant coach with multiple NBA teams. Between his graduation from Brown in 1996 and his start as an NBA assistant in 2000, Silas spent three years as the assistant executive director of the National Basketball Retired Players Association.
Brown is a special place, and the men's basketball team is a special program. Silas recognizes how his time in Providence helped prepare him for life after graduation, as well as for his current role leading the Rockets.
"My time at Brown gave me the ability to connect with so many different people with different backgrounds and perspectives," Silas said. "My job [as head coach of the Houston Rockets] involves me connecting with players, management, ownership, media and fans on a daily basis."
Recognized as an exceptional defensive player at Brown, Silas played in 84 career games for the Bears from 1992-1996. He averaged nearly eight points per game as a senior and had 464 career points. He scored a career best 19 points vs. Yale and grabbed a career high eight rebounds against Maryland Eastern Shore.
But it was more than his time on the court that sticks with Silas today, 27 years after he last played a game for the Bears. It was the time off the court, in between games, that he remembers as what made his time at Brown so impactful.
"My Brown Basketball experience was about the people," Silas said. "I still keep in touch with some of the alumni, guys I played with, as well as coaches. It was much more about the bus rides, road trips, and practices than it was about any specific stats, games, or records. We were a tight knit group that enjoyed being around each other on and off the court."
Silas played in the Ivy League prior to the inception of Ivy Madness, the league's four-team postseason tournament first instituted during the 2016-17 season. That tight knit group finished the 1994-95 season, Silas' junior year, at 8-6 and in fourth place in the Ivy League. This year's team, that exemplifies the tight knit culture Silas remembers, is trying to accomplish something similar.
If the Bears were to mimic the '95 team's finish, they would qualify for the tournament for the first time in the program's history, giving the Bears a chance at their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1986.
After his time spent at Brown, the door was open for Silas to eventually make history as the first alum of Brown men's basketball to be named an NBA head coach.
Now, the door is open for this year's group of Bears to make their own kind of history.
BROWN UNIVERSITY SPORTS FOUNDATION
The Brown University Sports Foundation (BUSF) is the lifeblood of the athletics program, and exists to enhance the student-athlete experience through philanthropic support from alumni, parents, fans and friends. A gift through the Sports Foundation makes an immediate impact on today's Brown Bears and helps them to be their best in the classroom, in competition and most importantly in the community. To learn more about supporting the Bears, please click here.
FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL
For the latest on Brown Athletics, please follow @BrownU_Bears on Twitter, @BrownU_Bears on Instagram, like BrownUBears on Facebook and subscribe to the BrownAthletics YouTube channel.
Stephen Silas '96 was named the Rockets' head coach in October 2020 after 19 seasons as an assistant coach with multiple NBA teams. Between his graduation from Brown in 1996 and his start as an NBA assistant in 2000, Silas spent three years as the assistant executive director of the National Basketball Retired Players Association.
Brown is a special place, and the men's basketball team is a special program. Silas recognizes how his time in Providence helped prepare him for life after graduation, as well as for his current role leading the Rockets.
"My time at Brown gave me the ability to connect with so many different people with different backgrounds and perspectives," Silas said. "My job [as head coach of the Houston Rockets] involves me connecting with players, management, ownership, media and fans on a daily basis."
Recognized as an exceptional defensive player at Brown, Silas played in 84 career games for the Bears from 1992-1996. He averaged nearly eight points per game as a senior and had 464 career points. He scored a career best 19 points vs. Yale and grabbed a career high eight rebounds against Maryland Eastern Shore.
But it was more than his time on the court that sticks with Silas today, 27 years after he last played a game for the Bears. It was the time off the court, in between games, that he remembers as what made his time at Brown so impactful.
"My Brown Basketball experience was about the people," Silas said. "I still keep in touch with some of the alumni, guys I played with, as well as coaches. It was much more about the bus rides, road trips, and practices than it was about any specific stats, games, or records. We were a tight knit group that enjoyed being around each other on and off the court."
Silas played in the Ivy League prior to the inception of Ivy Madness, the league's four-team postseason tournament first instituted during the 2016-17 season. That tight knit group finished the 1994-95 season, Silas' junior year, at 8-6 and in fourth place in the Ivy League. This year's team, that exemplifies the tight knit culture Silas remembers, is trying to accomplish something similar.
If the Bears were to mimic the '95 team's finish, they would qualify for the tournament for the first time in the program's history, giving the Bears a chance at their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1986.
After his time spent at Brown, the door was open for Silas to eventually make history as the first alum of Brown men's basketball to be named an NBA head coach.
Now, the door is open for this year's group of Bears to make their own kind of history.
BROWN UNIVERSITY SPORTS FOUNDATION
The Brown University Sports Foundation (BUSF) is the lifeblood of the athletics program, and exists to enhance the student-athlete experience through philanthropic support from alumni, parents, fans and friends. A gift through the Sports Foundation makes an immediate impact on today's Brown Bears and helps them to be their best in the classroom, in competition and most importantly in the community. To learn more about supporting the Bears, please click here.
FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL
For the latest on Brown Athletics, please follow @BrownU_Bears on Twitter, @BrownU_Bears on Instagram, like BrownUBears on Facebook and subscribe to the BrownAthletics YouTube channel.
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