A quarter century leading the Tigers
Dale Brown, who spent 25 seasons in charge of LSU basketball and retired in 1997 as the program's all-time leader in victories, died Friday, the university confirmed. He was 90 years old. Before arriving in Baton Rouge he worked as an assistant at Utah State and Washington State, then took over the Tigers in 1972 and stayed until the end of his coaching career.[S1][S3][S5]
His record at LSU totaled 448 wins. The Tigers finished atop the SEC regular-season standings four times, in 1979, 1981, 1985 and 1991, and claimed the conference tournament championship in 1980. Brown also guided the program to the Final Four on two occasions, first in 1981 and again in 1986.[S1][S4][S6]
The players he shaped and the honors that followed
Among the players Brown coached at LSU were Shaquille O'Neal, later a star in the NBA, and Chris Jackson, who now goes by Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf. Abdul-Rauf was taken third overall in the 1990 NBA Draft, and O'Neal went first overall two years later. Brown entered the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in 2014.[S1][S7][S8]
Earlier in the week of his death, Brown was named the recipient of the 2027 Wohn R. Wooden Legends of Coaching Award, an honor he was scheduled to accept in Los Angeles in the spring. Brown had been a friend of the former UCLA coach for many years. Wooden once remarked that Brown's enthusiasm always stood out to him, and that although some doubted the coach's sincerity, he never did, seeing a depth in him that went well beyond basketball.[S1]
A family's farewell
Brown's relatives issued a statement describing him as a man who placed other people ahead of himself and led with compassion, calling him a humanitarian above all else. They said he had fallen in love with Louisiana long ago and that the state's residents returned that affection, adding that the family would remain grateful for it.[S1]
