Normal, Ill. ? Illinois State basketball coach Tim Jankovich has accepted an assistant coaching position on Larry Brown’s staff at SMU. Jankovich, 52, will take over as SMU head coach when the 71-year-old Brown’s tenure, however long it be, ends.

Former KU assistant Jankovich, 52, went 104-64 in five years at ISU.

“Tim was highly recommended by Kansas coach Bill Self, and I am very excited to have him at SMU,” former KU head coach Brown said. “The number and quality of coaches interested in coming to SMU has been tremendous and to get someone with his experience and success as a head coach is invaluable.”

KU’s Self worked for Brown as a graduate assistant at KU during the 1985-86 season. Brown spent a few weeks with KU’s team this past postseason.

“Bill called me and said you should consider hiring Tim and I said, ‘If you think he’s the right guy for me, then I will,'” Brown told ESPN’s Andy Katz.

Jankovich had interviewed for the SMU job before Brown and impressed school officials.

“I’m 71 but I don’t feel there is a time limit,” Brown said of how long he’ll coach at SMU. It’s believed Jankovich, who was paid $450,000 a year at ISU, now will make over $700,000 at SMU.

ISU athletic director Gary Friedman said the men’s basketball program “is in really good shape” and would begin looking for a successor to Jankovich immediately.