Doug Compton, longtime friend and business associate of Hall of Fame basketball coach Larry Brown, wasn’t surprised Thursday to learn Brown had been fired by the New York Knicks.

Brown had warned his pal of the impending news in a phone conversation three weeks ago.

“He told me, ‘The deal is done.’ They were just negotiating the buyout,” Compton, a Lawrence businessman, said Thursday night.

“He said this is not how he wanted to end his career,” Compton added of the 65-year-old Brown, who went 23-59 in his first and only season with the Knicks.

“He didn’t sound depressed, but was disappointed. It was a dream come true for him to end up in New York and finish his coaching career there.”

Compton, whose friendship with Brown blossomed during Brown’s days as Kansas University’s head coach (1984-88), said he never thought there would come a day the coaching legend would be let go by a team.

“No. No. No. He is phenomenal. He is the best,” Compton said of Brown, whose firing Thursday technically was the first in Brown’s 32-year professional head-coaching career, though he had two other not-so-amicable exits.

The Detroit Pistons bought out Brown’s contract in 2005 after tiring of rumors that the well traveled coach was headed elsewhere. Also, Brown long has maintained he was fired by the Los Angeles Clippers in the early 1990s, though that “firing” was never publicly described as such.

Whatever : the Knicks’ saga was a messy one.

Brown had differences with owner James Dolan and star player Stephon Marbury and communication problems with Isiah Thomas, the general manager who now replaces Brown as coach. For more than a month, Brown had referred to himself as a “dead-man walking,” waiting for the team to make a move.

“It’s disappointing you can have such a proven person in our profession not given a chance to do his job,” said Kansas University coach Bill Self, a volunteer assistant on Brown’s 1985-86 KU staff.

“I’m sure the last 11 months have been very difficult on coach Brown and his family. I’m personally glad it’s over, and he and his family can look forward to a new challenge.”

Where Brown will coach next is anybody’s guess.

The Associated Press indicates a dispute with the Knicks over how much money he’ll be paid (he’s owed $40 million for the next four seasons) may be headed to arbitration, keeping him from accepting a new position anytime soon.

There are no current head-coaching openings in the NBA, where Brown also has worked for the Denver Nuggets, New Jersey Nets, San Antonio Spurs, Los Angeles Clippers, Indiana Pacers, Philadelphia 76ers and Detroit Pistons.

“If he gets an opportunity to coach again, I would think he would,” Self said. “Coach loves teaching. He looks great, still has energy. I can’t imagine somebody not trying to convince him to be their coach.

“He’s been running pretty hard, coaching the Olympics (in 2004), having some health issues, losing in the finals (with Pistons), changing jobs under emotional circumstances and having what was probably a very emotion-draining-type year in New York. He might want to take some time off.”

Compton said Brown, who also coached the ABA’s Carolina Cougars and Denver Rockets as well as KU and UCLA, has coaching, “deeply imbedded in his system.

“I have a hard time seeing Larry not coaching again,” Compton said. “He has told me he doesn’t want to pick up the family (wife, son, daughter) and move them again. He said he’s concerned about how he’s moved them so much the last few years from Philadelphia to Detroit to New York. His family will play a big factor in what he does next.”