LSU Athletics
BATON ROUGE – Dale Brown, the winningest coach in LSU Basketball history, passed away on Friday at the age of 90, just days shy of his 91st birthday.
Brown earlier this week was announced as the 2027 recipient of the John R. Wooden Legends of Coaching Award recipient.
“We have lost the most loving and most loved man any of us has ever known. Dale Brown always put others first. He always led with the heart. He was always a great humanitarian before anything else. Dale long ago fell in love with Louisiana. And the people of Louisiana loved him right back. We are forever grateful for that.”
STATEMENT FROM THE FAMILY OF DALE BROWN
The Minot, North Dakota native, who rose from obscurity to one of the Southeastern Conference’s coaching icons, was at the helm of the Tigers for 25 years from 1972-97, with 448 on-court victories. That was second at the time only to Adolph Rupp in the SEC. He was only the third SEC head coach to reach 25 years as a head coach in the league.
He began his career as a high school coach, teach and principal before landing assistant basketball coaching jobs at Utah State and Washington State.
Over his 25 years, he won 60 percent of his games and recruited some of college basketball’s most outstanding talent to Baton Rouge.
Brown won four Southeastern Conference Championships (1979, 1981, 1985, 1991), was the SEC Coach of the Year four times (1973, 1979, 1981, 1989) and in 1981 was named National Coach of the Year.
People will always remember the Tigers return to the NCAA Final Four in 1981 and 1986 in two dramatically different ways.
The 1981 team won 31 games, including the first 17-of-18 games in the SEC, moving through the NCAA Tournament with ease, including two games in the then-Louisiana Superdome to advance to the Final Four.
In 1986, the Tigers started fast, but had a few setbacks, and found themselves as an 11th seed in the NCAA Tournament. However, in a twist of fate, the Tigers were scheduled to host first and second round games and for the last time in tournament history, a team would play in their home arena against higher seeded teams.
First came Purdue and the Tigers own in overtime. Then a Saturday nationally-televised second round against then-Memphis State with Anthony Wilson pulling the ball out-of-a-floor scrum to sink a bucket as the horn sounded to give LSU the win and send the LSU Assembly Center into a frenzy.
Wins over Georgia Tech and Kentucky (after two losses in season), would send LSU back to the NCAA Final Four as at that time, the lowest seed to ever get to the final Saturday or play in the long history of the tournament.
It was a long way from when Brown took the LSU job as a virtual unknown to LSU fans in March 1972. The man who dreamed big arrived with that dream that was perceived by many who knew the LSU basketball program as impossible.
That dream was to make basketball important in football-crazy Tiger country. When Brown was introduced as the Tiger coach, LSU fans were still remembering the Pete Maravich era. Final Fours? Rudy Macklin? Shaq? All a dream. In those years, fans had to be convinced to come to the new arena known as the LSU Assembly Center.
Brown traveled from one end of the state to the other telling all how would listen about the future of LSU basketball. Some thought him foolish. Others questioned his statements. But none who saw or heard them criticized the effort and the timeless energy.
His first LSU team shocked the basketball world by knocking off third-ranked Memphis State in Brown’s home opener in December 1972. The Hustlers, as they were dubbed, gave the competition fits all season. They won 14 games, finished 9-9 in the league and drew praise from all around the country for their determination.
Starting with the 1976-77 season, the Tigers increased their victory total ever year for the next six season. In all LSU would make the NCAA Tournament 13 years including 10 straight Tournaments (1984-93).
In his career he coached six All-Americans – Al Green(1979), Durand “Rudy” Macklin (1980-81), Ethan Martin(1981), Howard Carter (1982-83), Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf (1989-90), Shaquille O’Neal (1991-92).
Brown was inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in 1999, the LSU Athletic Hall of Fame in 2013 and the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in 2014. The court at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center was officially unveiled for Dale Brown in Jan. 2022.