USD Magazine Fall 2026

TOREROS MAKING WAVES

Mike Brown is Looking to Follow Up His Best Season Yet Mike Brown ’93 (BBA) will lead the New York Knicks in their pursuit of back to-back titles. In June, Brown and the Knicks capped off a 16-3 postseason with an NBA Finals win. It was one of the most dominant playoff runs in recent history and brought New York its first NBA title in more than 50 years. The feat made Brown a New York City legend in just his first year as head coach of the Knicks, but the recognition had been a long time coming. Brown, 56, had his first NBA head coaching job at just 35 years old. Since then, he’s amassed more than 800 wins and multiple Coach of the Year awards, but a championship had eluded him until he got to New York. On the floor, Knicks players embodied their head coach. In the NBA, Brown is regarded as one of the league’s top strategists — a defensive specialist who can adapt to his roster. The Knicks’ title run was built off the prodigious talent of star point guard Jalen Brunson, but also the aggressive and flexible defense of his teammates. New York won the Eastern Conference in a matchup against Cleveland’s offense-first backcourt, only to get matched up against San Antonio’s huge lineup headlined by 7-foot-4 Victor Wembanyama. They adjusted the gameplan as needed each step of the way and executed like champions. “Mike Brown has reached the pinnacle of success in his profession. He has done it, regardless of circumstances, with class and integrity. His team exemplifies his resilience. Torero Nation is nothing but proud of his achievement,” said fellow alumnus and member of the NBA coaching fraternity, Bernie Bickerstaff ’66 (BA). As a player at USD, Brown was an extension of his own coach, Hank Egan. In 53 games with the Toreros, Brown was described as absorbing the game like a coach himself, internalizing Egan’s exacting defensive principles and discipline. Today, Brown still returns to USD to give back, imparting his wisdom on a new generation of basketball coaches. He’s appeared at the annual USD Basketball Coaches Clinic and is committed to keeping the USD-to-NBA pipeline thriving. “We’re also grateful for the continued connection he maintains with our program. His journey reflects the standard we strive for at USD — pursuing championships while doing it the right way and making your community proud. Coach Brown stands as a powerful example of the impact Toreros continue to have across the NBA and beyond,” said Executive Director of USD Athletics, Kimya Massey. — Steven Covella

Formulating a Future Nicole Palazzo ’19 (BA) sat cross-legged on the floor of an Ulta Beauty aisle, customers stepping over her like she was a minor obstacle on their way to grab the skin care product they came in for. She didn’t move. She didn’t apologize. She just stared at the products on the shelf in front of her — the ones she had formulated herself — and quietly posted an Instagram story with a quote she had chosen for her high school yearbook years before. “One day you’re going to make it to where everyone said you never would.” “I remember thinking, ‘I like it here,’” she said, laughing at the memory. “I think I’m going to stay for a while.” That moment in the aisle marked Palazzo’s first major product launch at Sun Bum, the Encinitas-based sun care brand known for its laid-back beach aesthetic and commitment to skin protection. As the company’s research and development manager, Palazzo now oversees the formulation of products that land on shelves in retailers across the country, a career she built from scratch, largely by refusing to listen to anyone who told her she couldn’t. Growing up on Staten Island, New York, Palazzo was drawn to two things that seemed to have nothing in common: science and beauty. She was a competitive cheerleader and a self-taught makeup artist. She knew when she went off to college that she wanted to pursue a biochemistry degree with the purpose of finding a way to merge her two passions, perhaps as a cosmetic chemist. But she experienced doubt early on. “Many of my mentors told me I wasn’t smart enough for biochemistry,” she said. “I remember being thought of as a bit of a slacker and questioned if I would make it in biochem. I felt like I could.” And she did. Palazzo enrolled at the University of San Diego after receiving a Knights of Columbus scholarship that required her to attend a Catholic university. She received the scholarship through her father Jeffrey Palazzo’s affiliation with the organization. Her father passed away as a

Photo: Meg McMillan

Valley, a position she wasn’t fully enamored with. She then moved to a marketing internship in downtown San Diego with a company focused on personal care, where her supervisor pulled her aside and gave her advice that would change her whole career trajectory. “She said, ‘You need to go back to science. Your brain needs that,’” Palazzo recalled. “So, I said, ‘OK, I’ll trust you.’” She sent cold emails to every personal care company in San Diego County she could find. In November 2019, she reached out to Sun Bum. They weren’t hiring interns at that point in time. Then, in January 2020, the company called her back. By March, just as the world was shutting down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, she started as a product development intern under James Grundy, who is now her boss. “He taught me everything I know,” she said. “I probably would not be here without him giving me the chance.” Sun Bum was founded on a straightforward premise: to give people better sun care products and better information about how to protect their skin. That mission remains central to the brand’s identity today, driving not just what goes into its formulas but how the company engages with the public around sun safety and skin cancer prevention and detection.

first responder during the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York City. Palazzo was only four years old. Despite the gravity of that loss shaping her path, her decision to actually attend USD was almost spontaneous. She hadn’t visited the campus in person. She simply applied on the Common App and committed the day she received the “big envelope” in the mail. “My mom called me crying,” she said. ‘Well, pack it up!’ And that was it.” What she found at USD wasn’t always easy, but the university gave her something she hadn’t expected: people who believed in her. Two faculty members, she said, were the first to take her unconventional career goal seriously. “Everyone else I talked to was like, ‘I have no network for you, no resources,’” she said. “But my advisor Debbie Finocchio and my research professor Peter Iovine, PhD, were the ones who actually helped me. I still had to figure out a lot on my own, but those two people, they tried their best to support me.” After graduating in 2019 with a degree in biochemistry and minor in marketing, Palazzo took a job doing vaccine and medical device development at a pharmaceutical company in Sorrento

Nicole Palazzo leads students on a tour of Sun Bum’s headquarters during the USD Marketing, PR and Advertising Torero Trek.

For Palazzo, that mission is personal. She developed Sun Bum’s Daily Glow SPF 30, a product she calls her “baby,” as well as a full skincare line that gave her that unforgettable moment on the Ulta Beauty store floor. In-house formulation, she explained, allows the team to develop products for real people who are living life, or as she puts it, “products for us, by us.” Today, Palazzo manages a small research and development team and helps chart the creative direction of Sun Bum’s product line. She also coaches junior varsity and assists with varsity cheerleading at a local high school, where she encourages young girls to pursue their goals. She is quick to say that her career and life in San Diego wouldn’t have happened without taking a chance on a university she had never visited, in a state she had only seen in pictures. “I still have my core group of friends from freshman year,” she said. “Now, we have weddings, babies and careers to celebrate. I wouldn’t have any of that without USD.” — Kelsey Grey ’15 (BA)

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