Down in Durham, Duke fans wear sarcastic T-shirts that say, "I said no to Dean." But, trust me, Larry Brown never, ever would've said no.

The truth is, Larry Brown would've said yes last year had North Carolina asked him to be its coach. But instead of trying to talk him into the job, the Tar Heel athletic director, Dick Baddour, tried talking him out of it.

"My interview was humiliating," Brown told me recently. "The guy just talked about how other people were perfect for the job, and I was too old ... I think for me to get the job, Coach Smith would've had to go to war."

I bring all of this up, because it is March, and because North Carolina is suddenly teetering, and because the Philadelphia 76ers are not. I bring this up because Larry Brown is the most loyal Carolina alum out there, and because he still says, "Oh, I'm a college coach," and because he can not go a day without mentioning Dean Smith, the man he calls Coach.

I also bring this up because I'm shocked -- absolutely shocked -- that Smith did not have more say in the hiring of Carolina's head basketball coach.

It's not that Matt Doherty hasn't done a fine job in his rookie season or that the Tar Heels can not go to the Final Four again. It's just that I'd much rather have Larry Brown on my bench right now than Matt Doherty, and, trust me, Brown would've been glad to be there.

This all went down last summer, of course, when Bill Guthridge retired and Roy Williams was offered the job, and Dean Smith had to call Brown to say I'm sorry.

"When Coach called me to tell me they had offered the job to Roy Williams, I was really hurt initially," Brown says. "Because I was Coach Smith's first assistant, and I always thought at one time that was a job I'd love to have. But ... then I understood. Roy had been at Carolina as an assistant a long time, he's a college coach, he's a lot younger, and I love Roy. So I was perfectly okay with that.

"But then Coach Smith said there was a chance Roy might not take the job, and he said, 'I'd like you to have it.' And then all of a sudden I realized, whoa, this might really happen. Just the fact that he told me he'd like me to come was the greatest compliment I'd ever been given, and I'd have done anything he wanted me to do.

"Because it certainly wasn't what my wife wanted me to do. I've got a new family. And I've got two young kids. Most college coaches that are put in an atmosphere like North Carolina or Kentucky or Duke, their kids are older. But I have a 3-year-old and a 6-year-old, and I was a little bit nervous about what they would've had to go through had I been the coach. Just the scrutiny, and you know how the college fans can be, kind of cruel in a college community.

"Not that I ever feel like I'm going to fail. But to put your family in a situation like that, especially a young family, to me was something that worried me. On the other hand, when Coach initially said he wanted me to have the job, my first response was 'There's no way I can tell him no.' Plus, he has a relationship with my wife, and I think some things were said between them. Coach made it easy for me."

So Larry Brown sat and waited, and he saw Roy Williams turn down Carolina to stay at Kansas, and Brown thought the job was all his.

"Coach called again and told me we should be able to finalize this on the phone," Brown says. "And then he said, 'But I'm going to be moving away [from the program] a little bit, so I'd like you to at least meet with people you're probably going to work with.' I told him, 'Coach, why should I interview for a job at North Carolina?' I mean, I've been involved with this program as long as anybody. Look at how many North Carolina kids have played for me or tried out for me or coached with me. I've had Dennis Wuycik, Steve Previs, Billy Chamberlain, Donald Washington, Darrell Elston, Tommy LaGarde, Bobby Jones. You name it, I've had them. Whatever Coach has ever asked me to do, I've done. Because I love the school, and I worship him. So when he said that, I said, 'Why should I even be interviewed, Coach? Everybody knows what I'm about and if I'm qualified.'

"And he said, 'You're right. You shouldn't have to interview.' "

That was when Larry Brown found out that Dean Smith -- the same Dean Smith he has on speed dial -- could do nothing more for him.

He was forced to have that interview with Dick Baddour, and it wasn't a love fest. Brown has used the word "humiliating" to describe it more than once, and it bothered him that Baddour assumed he wanted too much money. "This guy was talking about money as an issue," Brown says, "and I said to him, 'That's my decision, not yours.' Money's never been an issue. He said that because I'm making so much money, I wouldn't want the job. That's never an issue with me. I've always been overpaid, so ..."

So it was clear to Brown that day, and eventually everyone else, that Baddour had settled on the younger Doherty, and Brown was never offered the job, perhaps because he's 60 years old now or perhaps because Baddour wanted to defy Dean Smith. Baddour has never said.

"I was hurt by the process, just by that interview process," Brown says. "And the position I thought Coach Smith was put in."

But it's all over now, and on the subject of Doherty, Brown says, "They've got a phenomenal coach there. I like Matt a lot." But trust me when I say North Carolina is always on Brown's mind. It is on his mind when he scours the NCAA Tournament pairings this week, and it is on his mind after his own 76er games.

In fact, I was with Brown a few months back, when former Tar Heel Antawn Jamison lit up the Sixers for 36 points. After the game, Brown smiled at one of his players, another former Tar Heel named George Lynch, and said, "You'll hear about this in Chapel Hill, George."

Lynch said: "I didn't give up all 36. I'll take about 10 of them."

Brown said: "Well, if Coach Smith stayed up to watch tonight, I'll get a call in the morning."

And Dean Smith did call that next morning, and they did talk, and, if Carolina collapses this week, they will talk again. And they will both ache.

Tom Friend is a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine. E-mail him at tom.friend@espnmag.com.