LSU basketball and the wider basketball world lost another legend this week as Hall of Fame head coach Dale Brown passed away. He was 90 years old and had just won the John R. Wooden Legends of Coaching Award a few days ago.
Brown’s passing was announced by his family on Friday:
“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,” the family said, via Jacques Doucet.
The Greatest Tigers Basketball Coach Ever
Born in North Dakota, Brown played college hoops at Minot State where he was a star athlete in basketball, football and track. Sports Illustrated even ranked him as one of the greatest athletes in the history of North Dakota.
After graduating in 1957, Brown went into coaching, first in high school for a decade and then as an assistant in college. He spent several years at Utah State and one at Washington State before taking the LSU job in 1972.
Brown took a program that hadn’t reached the NCAA tournament since 1954 and had only four winning seasons in the 18 years after, and turned them into a powerhouse. In his very first year he delivered a 14-10 record and was named the SEC Coach of the Year. Yet the NCAA Tournament would continue to elude the Tigers until 1979.
In 1979, LSU won the regular season crown for their first time since 1954 and took them to the Sweet 16. The next year LSU won the SEC Tournament and made it to the Elite Eight.
In 1981, after taking yet another regular season title, LSU went all the way to the Final Four.
Brown would bring LSU back to the Final Four in 1986 and remains the only coach in LSU history to bring the team that far twice in his tenure. The 10 straight NCAA Tournaments Brown led them to between 1984 and 1993 is also untouched in LSU history.
Brown retired as the winningest coach in LSU history with 448 wins. Harry Rabenhorst is a distant second with 340 wins. John Brady is an even more distant third with 192 wins.
Brown was inducted into the Naismith Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in 2014.
Our hearts go out to Coach Brown’s family and loved ones.
