Larry Brown has agreed to become the head coach at SMU, sources told ESPN.com.

Brown, however, denied later Tuesday that he had accepted the job.

"At this point I have not been offered the job so I cannot have accepted it," Brown told ESPN.com senior writer Andy Katz on Tuesday night. "I don't do anything without [agent and longtime mentor] Joe Glass' blessing. And as of Tuesday night he hasn't talked to [SMU athletic director] Steve Orsini."

On Wednesday, Brown told The Associated Press he has serious interest in the position, but reiterated that it had not been offered to him.

But according to sources, the only holdup involves Brown's assistants. Brown has offered Illinois State coach Tim Jankovich a "coach-in-waiting" position, sources said.

A source close to Brown told Katz that Jankovich is waiting to get a written contract that guarantees he would be the next head coach after the 71-year-old Brown's departure. Brown did say he has no timetable, is healthy and would coach as long as possible. That's why Jankovich would need assurances that he would be the next head coach, even if that was three or four years away, since he has a good job at Illinois State and a potential Missouri Valley title team returning.

Jankovich did not answer calls to his cell phone Tuesday afternoon.

Kansas coach Bill Self, who worked with Jankovich at Tulsa, Illinois and Kansas, said he hadn't talked to Jankovich in "two or three days."

"One thing I do know," Self said, "is that he loves Larry."

Jankovich has been around Brown a lot over the years because of his relationship with Self, who considers Brown a mentor.