Former assistant Brown takes over as Coeur d’Alene boys basketball coach
Coeur d'Alene Press | UPDATED 9 hours, 2 minutes AGO
JASON DUCHOW PHOTOGRAPHY Arnold Brown, as a Coeur d'Alene High assistant boys basketball coach, at the state tournament in 2024.
By MARK NELKE
Sports editor
Coeur d’Alene High’s new head boys basketball coach has been on the Viking sideline before.
Arnold Brown was an assistant for two seasons (2023-24 and 2024-25), even serving as interim head coach for the final five games of the 2025 season.
“I enjoyed my time here; everybody was friendly,” Brown said. “An easy choice for me.”
Brown, 62, succeeds Kent Leiss, who resigned after an 8-14 season in the first year of his second stint as Viking coach.
“We are excited to welcome boach Brown into this role,” Coeur d’Alene High athletic director Tony Prka said. “He cares deeply about students, understands the importance of building a strong team culture, and brings the experience and leadership needed to support the continued growth of our boys basketball program.”
Brown has been a special education teacher and a coach for some 30 years, the past dozen or so at Shadle Park High in Spokane, where he will remain as a teacher and assistant coach in football and baseball.
After school, he’ll head to Coeur d’Alene for practices and games.
“Two great school districts,” Brown said. “The more kids I can help the better.”
Most recently, Brown was boys basketball coach at Shadle Park from 2018-23, before joining the staff of head coach Jon Adams at Coeur d’Alene High. Brown coached Adams in the 1990s, when Adams, now head coach at MODE Prep in Liberty Lake, played at Whitworth and Brown was an assistant coach for the Pirates.
Together, they run the CDA Summer Shootout basketball tournament, the sixth edition of which is scheduled for June 19-21 at the HUB Sports Center in Liberty Lake.
Brown played football, basketball and baseball at Medical Lake High, graduating in 1982.
He played all three sports at Oregon Tech in Klamath Falls, Ore., and at Whitworth, and played basketball and baseball at Blue Mountain Community College in Pendleton, Ore.
“In my mind, I was already coaching when I was playing. It was in my blood,” Brown said.
He coached all three sports at each of his first four coaching stops after college.
Brown coached two years at Rosalia High, then returned to his alma mater for 14 years, where he led Medical Lake to a state boys basketball title, as well as a third-place finish at state.
Then he spent a couple years at Wapato High before coming to Shadle, where he was eventually named boys basketball coach.
Next up: Getting his Viking basketball players into the gym this summer.
“We know what we’ve got to accomplish,” Brown said. “Just got to take care of business, and see what happens.”