Dale Brown, winningest LSU basketball coach who Shaquille ONeal played under, dead at 90
Dale Brown, who coached some of the most successful basketball teams in LSU history, as well as one of the Tigers’ most famous players in Shaquille O’Neal, has died.He was 90.Brown, whose death Friday was announced by LSU, was just over a week away from what would have been his 91st birthday.
On Wednesday, Brown was announced as the 2027 recipient of the John R.Wooden Legends of Coaching Award.Brown was named AP Coach of the Year in 1981, was a four-time SEC Coach of the Year and has the most wins of a coach in program history.
The panache with which his teams played and the rate at which they won packed LSU’s dome-shaped Pete Maravich Assembly Center with crowds so wild that the stadium took on the nickname, “Deaf Dome.”The highlights of his 25 years as LSU’s coach included two trips to the NCAA Final Four with his 1981 and 1986 teams.He coached O’Neal for three seasons, from the 1989-90 campaign until the charismatic, 7-foot-1 superstar entered the 1992 NBA draft and was selected first overall by Orlando.LSU earned bids to the NCAA Tournament during all three of O’Neal’s seasons, but did not advance past the second round.The final years of Brown’s career were marred by an NCAA investigation over alleged recruiting tactics that now are permitted.During the 1996-97 season, the NCAA concluded that a booster had paid one of Brown’s former players, Lester Earl, about $5,000 while he played for the Tigers.Brown retired in 1997 and LSU was placed on probation in 1998.Still, Brown remained popular in Louisiana, where his enthusiastic, gregarious and expressive manner had long captivated fans.
Many LSU fans also appeared to subscribe to a storyline — espoused in no small part by Brown — that he was unfairly singled out and persecuted by the NCAA.Brown later was inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame and LSU’s home basketball court was named for him in 2022 (and also subsequently for late women’s coach Sue Gunter in 2024).When Brown...