Dale Brown (basketball)
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LSU coach Dale Brown on the cover of Sports Illustrated in 1985 while the Tigers basketball team was in the middle of an NCAA investigation. |
Dale Duward Brown (born October 30, 1935 in Minot, North Dakota) is the winningest coach in LSU men's basketball history, and led the Tigers to Final Four appearances in 1981 and 1986. He coached the team for one quarter of a century. He is also remembered as one of the most vocal critics of the NCAA during the 1980s and 1990s.
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[edit] Early Years in Minot
Brown is originally from Minot, North Dakota, where he was a star football, basketball and track performer. He was the state scoring leader in basketball, and set a school record in the 440-yard dash at St. Leo's High School.
Brown then went to college at nearby Minot State University. He was a star athlete there as well. He earned 12 letters in basketball, football and track. He is the school's only athlete to achieve that goal.
[edit] Taking the Job
Brown started his coaching career coaching high school basketball. Eventually, he got a college job as an assistant coach at Utah State University. In 1971, he left the school with hard feelings after five years. He had expected to receive the head coach job after Ladell Andersen left the university, but the job went to T.L. Plain. After leaving Utah State, Brown then accepted another assistant coach position at Washington State University. He would be there for the 1971-1972 season.
He came to LSU in 1972, and replaced Press Maravich as head coach. The LSU program had received great notoreity during the Press Maravich era because of his son, Pete Maravich. In spite of the publicity, however, LSU was still a losing program, making no NCAA basketball tournaments and one NIT appearance (third place) during the Maravich Era. Brown took over a team that finished 10-16 in the 1971-1972 season.
In an article for The Kentucky Kernel (the school newspaper of the University of Kentucky) in 1997, Brown said that most people told him it was a mistake to take the LSU job: "When I came to LSU, most of my friends told me I was making a mistake. That 'you're going into a football school. They've never been any good. Kentucky will dominate. You'll never go to the tournament.'"
[edit] Early Years: 1972-1978
Brown had a winning record in his first season at LSU. The Tigers finished 14-10, with a 9-9 record in the Southeastern Conference. In his first home game, the Tigers beat #11 Memphis State 94-81. However, the Tigers were not invited to the postseason after the 1972-1973 season.
The Tigers regressed in the win/loss column during Brown's next three years at LSU. In each of those seasons, the Tigers had a losing record both overall and in conference play. However, LSU stuck with Brown, who was quickly developing a reputation for his tireless efforts to promote college basketball in the football-hungry state of Louisiana.
Brown struggled to gain traction for the LSU basketball program, which languished in the giant shadow cast by the football team and coach Charlie McClendon. McClendon and Brown clashed on numerous occasions, and in one incident shortly after Brown's hiring at LSU, Brown confronted McClendon at an athletic department function and boldly told McClendon that "I'll be here long after you're gone". Brown was right, as the LSU football program had six coaches in the 18 years between McClendon's forced retirement following the 1979 season and Brown's retirement in 1997.
Former Nicholls State University head basketball coach Don Landry, a colleague of Brown in Louisiana, fondly remembered Brown's early years in a 2005 newspaper article:
"As soon as he was hired he started traveling the state and giving out nets. Wherever there was a basketball goal, he would stop and introduce himself as the new coach at LSU and hand out nets. I had never heard of such a thing and I really looked forward to meeting him after learning how hard he worked, how aggressive he was and how conscious he was of spreading the word about basketball in this state."
It was this great intensity and focus that helped Brown win over LSU fans, players and recruits. He also developed a reputation for being a powerful and inspirational speaker. These traits helped Brown earn the nickname that stuck with him throughout his tenure at LSU: "The Great Motivator," or "The Master Motivator."
Brown's hard work began paying off in the win/loss column in the 1976-1977 season. Led by the emergence of freshman Durand "Rudy" Macklin, the Tigers finished with a 15-12 record that year. In 1977-1978, LSU was led again by Macklin, now a first-team all-conference selection. The team finished 18-9, and was 12-6 in the Southeastern Conference, including a thrilling 95-94 overtime victory over eventual national champion Kentucky less than a month after the Wildcats clobbered the Tigers 96-76 in Lexington. However, the Tigers still did not make it to the postseason, as this was the last year before the revival of the SEC tournament. This would change in the next season.
[edit] Glory Years: 1978-1981
In the 1978-1979 season, Dale Brown's Tigers dramatically improved their record, in spite of losing Rudy Macklin to injury. Led by all-conference first team members DeWayne Scales and Al Green, LSU inished 23-6. The Tigers also finished 14-4 in the Southeastern Conference, giving LSU its first conference championship and first NCAA tournament appearance in 25 years. LSU made it to the Sweet 16 of the 1979 NCAA tournament, but lost to Michigan State 87-71. The Spartans, led by Magic Johnson, went on to win the National Championship.
Macklin returned to the team for the 1979-1980 season. With Macklin and Scales, LSU had one of the best forward combinations in the country. Macklin was a first-team all-conference selection, and Scales was a second-team selection. In addition, guard Ethan Martin emerged as a second-team selection. The Tigers improved their record again, finishing 26-6. They also finished 14-4 in conference again, and won their first-ever SEC Basketball Tournament. The Tigers also went one round deeper than the previous year in the 1980 NCAA tournament. This year, they lost in the Elite 8 to Louisville. Like Michigan State the year before, Louisville (led by Darrell Griffith) went on to win the National Championship.
The Tigers improved again in the 1980-1981 season. In fact, it would be the winningest year in LSU history. This year, Dale Brown took his team to the Final Four, the second in LSU history, and the first of the Dale Brown era. The team finished 31-5, and won the conference championship with a 17-1 record. The team also set a school record winning 26 straight games, including its first 17 conference games. Rudy Macklin was an All-American, as well as first team all conference. Ethan Martin also made first team all conference, and Howard Carter made the second team. LSU advanced to the Final Four by beating Wichita State 96-85 in the Ellite 8 round of the 1981 NCAA tournament, played in front of home-state fans in the Louisiana Superdome.
Unfortunately for Brown and the Tigers, Macklin was injured in the Wichita St. game and was not 100 percent for the Final Four. The Tigers lost in the National Semifinal Game 67-49 to Indiana, a loss further marred by a post-game incident in which Hoosiers coach Bobby Knight stuffed an LSU fan into a trash can in a hallway at The Spectrum in Philadelphia. They also lost the consolation game 78-74 to Virginia, which incidentally was the last consolation game ever played in the NCAA tournament. In addition, for the third year in a row, LSU was eliminated by the eventual national champion, as Indiana (led by Isiah Thomas) won it all. Dale Brown was named College Basketball Coach of the Year for his team's performance.
[edit] Decline, Disappointment, and Investigation: 1981-1985
Like many other teams that reach the Final Four with a senior superstar, Dale Brown's Tigers experienced a decline in the next two years. LSU still had star players in Howard Carter and Leonard Mitchell, but the team would not make the NCAA tournament in 1982 and 1983. The Tigers finished 14-14 and 19-13 in those years, and were invited to the NIT in both seasons. In both tournaments, however, LSU experienced what fans considered to be "embarrassing" losses to in-state rivals in the first round. In 1982, the Tigers were eliminated by Tulane 83-72. In 1983, they lost to New Orleans in overtime 99-94. Brown needed to improve his record on the court quickly to satisfy increasingly frustrated LSU fans spoiled by the success of the Macklin years.
Brown got the team back on track in the next two seasons, but these years proved to be even more frustrating. The next wave of star players had emerged. Among them were Jerry "Ice Man" Reynolds, Derrick Taylor, Nikita Wilson, Don Redden and John Williams (Dale Brown's most celebrated recruit to date). The Tigers had improved regular seasons, finishing 18-11 in 1983-1984 and 19-10 in 1984-1985. The 84-85 team also won the Southeastern Conference championship with a 13-5 record. Both seasons ended with tremendous disappointments, however, in the first round of the 1984 NCAA tournament. In 1984, the Tigers were upset by 10-seed Dayton 74-66. 1985 was even more embarrassing for the Tigers. LSU was a 4-seed going into the 1985 NCAA tournament, but were beaten badly by 13-seed Navy (led by a then-unknown David Robinson) 78-55. Brown was now the target of even more critics, who were angry about LSU's post-season performances. Dale Brown's teams now regularly had the "underachiever" label pinned on them.
It was also during this time that Dale Brown began having some of his most notorious run-ins with NCAA investigators. Brown became an outspoken and relentless critic of the NCAA, calling administrators "hypocrites," and even "The Gestapo." He has consistently argued that NCAA should be more compassionate when enforcing rules governing compensaton for student-athletes—especially in situations involving athletes who are truly in need. His detractors used this stance to argue that Brown was the real hypocrite, and saw it as evidence that his program wasn't clean; his supporters believed that his defiant public statements made him the subject of a "witch hunt."
This experience also made Brown one of the most polarizing figures in college basketball. In some circles, coaches like Brown and Jerry Tarkanian became self-righteous opportunists who advocated breaking or bending NCAA rules to bring in good players; in others, he became a sympathetic realist who just wanted to treat his players with compassion and common sense—something some people saw lacking in the NCAA.
The NCAA began conducting a four-year investigation into Brown and the LSU basketball program in the early 1980s. The investigation was also one of the subjects of a 1985 Sports Illustrated cover story titled "Crazy Days at LSU." The article created much embarrassment for the school, and Brown's enemies were convinced that the NCAA would find evidence of payments and other forms of compensation to star recruits. However, the investigation ended in 1986 and yielded only some minor infractions. Nothing significant or shocking was uncovered, and Brown was not connected to any of the reported infractions. Dale Brown and LSU were off the hook—for now.
[edit] "The Master Motivator": 1985-1988
The 1985-1986 season was well on its way to being the most disastrous season yet for Dale Brown and his Tigers. However, Brown miraculously rallied the team and turned the season into what is fondly known to many LSU fans as the greatest season in the school's basketball history. The Tigers overcame several obstacles to reach their third-ever Final Four, the second under Dale Brown.
LSU was still under investigation by the NCAA. Before the season began, Jerry "Ice" Reynolds went pro early. Incoming freshman Tito Horford, whose recruitment also came under the scrutiny of NCAA investigators, was kicked off the team two months into the season. Starting center Zoran Jovanovich injured his knee in December. Nikita Wilson was academically ineligible after the fall semester. Brown was forced late in the season to move guard Ricky Blanton to starting center. In addition to all these troubles, some LSU players contracted chicken pox during the Souteastern Conference regular season, including star player John Williams. In spite of all these troubles, LSU jumped out to a 14-0 start, but were a disappointing 22-11 after the SEC basketball tournament.
LSU made it into the 1986 NCAA tournament as an 11-seed. Some people were critical of the inclusion, arguing that a slumping team with 11 losses did not deserve an at-large bid. But thanks in part to an unusual, confusing defense Brown devised, which he called the "Freak Defense," the Tigers overcame their lack of talent and depth to make an unlikely run. After a double-overtime upset victory over Purdue, LSU had to beat the top three seeds in its region to reach the Final Four. The Tigers did just that, defeating #3 seed Memphis State in the second round (on a last-second shot by Anthony Wilson), #2 seed Georgia Tech in the Sweet 16, and top seed Kentucky (which had already beaten LSU three times that year) in the Elite 8. The Tigers, however, lost to Louisville 88-77 in the national semifinals. Louisville went on to win the national championship. In spite of the Final Four disappointment, LSU's 1986 is remembered as the first 11-seed to reach the Final Four (the lowest-seeded Final Four team ever), and the only team to beat the top three seeds to get there. George Mason University reached the Final Four as an 11-seed in 2006, but did not beat the top three seeds (although the Patriots' feat of defeating one top seed plus half of the previous year's Final Four is equally impressive).
The 1986-1987 season was almost a carbon copy of the previous season, except that Dale Brown finished just seconds away from taking LSU to another Final Four. The Tigers lost Don Redden and Derrick Taylor to graduation. [John Williams went pro. Ricky Blanton was injured. The Tigers were forced to rely on role players and overachievers. The team lost 14 games during the season, but reached the 1987 NCAA tournament as a 10 seed. LSU won the first game of the tournament in an upset over Georgia Tech. Next, LSU beat #3 seed Temple and #2 seed DePaul. That set up a showdown with top-seed Indiana in the Elite 8. LSU was in control for most of the game, and had a 9-point lead with 5 minutes remaining. But Indiana mounted a furious comeback, and defeated LSU in a 77-76 heartbreaker. The Hoosiers won the national championship; it was the fifth time in 9 years that Dale Brown's Tigers were eliminated by the eventual national champion.
LSU struggled again during the 1987-1988 regular season. The Tigers entered the 1988 NCAA tournament with a 16-13 record, barely making the field again, this time as a 9-seed. By now, many LSU fans were not concerned about the poor regular season, as they now just figured that Brown would easily engineer another Cinderella run. But Brown ran out of miracles this time, as the Tigers lost to Georgetown in the first round 66-63 on a last-second shot. In spite of the disappointment in 1988, Dale Brown had already established his reputation as the "Master Motivator;" he was now considered a coach who could get the best out of his least-talented teams through inspiration, sheer will, and the "Freak Defense."
[edit] Underachieving With Superstars: 1988-1993
Dale Brown reached the Final Four with a talented, veteran team in 1981. He then made it again with mostly a team of overachievers in 1986. Now, he finally had the opportunity to see what he could do with bona fide superstars. Unfortunately for Brown, these years arguably proved to be the most disappointing of his LSU career. It was during these years that the "Master Motivator" label backfired on him. By the end of the 1992 season, Brown was now known as a coach who could get the most out of his bad teams, but didn't know how to coach NBA-caliber talent.
Chris Jackson, Stanley Roberts and Vernel Singleton came to LSU in 1988 (Roberts did not play in the 1988-1989 season). Shaquille O'Neal and Maurice Williamson (son of NBA and ABA star John Williamson) came in 1989. Jamie Brandon committed to LSU in 1990. Future NBA first-round choice Geert Hammink was Shaq's backup at center before becoming an all-conference player in 1993. Of these recruits, Jackson, Roberts, O'Neal and Brandon were McDonald's All Americans.
Jackson was the first of these recruits to become a star. He exploded on the scene to become an All-American in his freshman year. Jackson and Ricky Blanton led LSU to a 20-win season in 1988-1989. The Tigers, however lost in the first round of the 1989 NCAA tournament to UTEP 85-74.
In terms of player talent, the 1989-1990 team was the best Dale Brown ever assembled. The roster included 4 future first-round NBA picks (Jackson, Roberts, O'Neal and Hammink), and two of them (Jackson and O'Neal) were current or future All-Americans. The team started the season ranked #2, but failed to meet those lofty expecations by the end of the season. Jackson was named All-American for the second year in a row, and the Tigers finished a very respectable 23-9. However, LSU lost a heartbreaker in the second round of the 1990 NCAA tournament to Georgia Tech 94-91. Tech went on to that year's Final Four.
After the season, Chris Jackson went pro and Stanley Roberts left school. Their departures allowed Shaquille O'Neal to become to blossom into a superstar. He would be named an All-American in 1991 and 1992, and was the 1991 National Player of the Year. He also helped lead LSU to a Southeastern Conference championship in 1991. Both the 1990-1991 and 1991-1992 teams won 20 games, but both seasons ended in disappointment. LSU lost badly to UConn in the first round of the 1991 NCAA tournament 79-62. In the 1992 NCAA tournament, LSU lost in the second round to Indiana 89-79. It marked the third time since 1981 that a Dale Brown team was eliminated by Indiana.
O'Neal left after the 1991-1992 season, but LSU had another 20-win season in 1992-1993. The Tigers were now led by Geert Hammink and Jamie Brandon. But as had become the custom in recent years, LSU lost early in the 1993 NCAA tournament. This year, the Tigers were eliminated by California and its superstar freshman, Jason Kidd, 66-64 in the first round. In spite of all the talent and five straight 20-win seasons between 1988 and 1993, Dale Brown failed to get any of these teams to the Sweet 16. In fact, the 1993 NCAA tournament appearance would be the last post-season appearance of the entire Dale Brown era.
[edit] Mediocrity and Scandal: 1993-1997
Dale Brown's final four years at LSU were mostly forgettable. All four seasons ended in losing records. In all four seasons, the Tigers also had double-digit conference losses (including a 3-15 record in 1996-1997). Brown was still bringing talented players into the program, but none of them worked out--and the last one would bring down the entire team.
In 1993, Brown brought in two more McDonald's All Americans: Randy Livingston and Ronnie Henderson. Livingston's LSU career was limited to 29 games. Serious knee injuries kept him from becoming the superstar he was projected to be; he was forced to go pro early before knee problems made him completely undraftable. Henderson had a good career, but had few good players to help him out. Former Memphis star Sylvester Ford joined the team in 1995, but he injured his knee early and was eventually dismissed from the team.
One game summed up Brown's last four years at LSU perfectly. On February 15, 1994, LSU hosted Kentucky in a nationally-televised game on ESPN. A sellout crowd was in attendance at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center, and the festive atmosphere was further heightened by the fact that Mardi Gras was winding down that night. The struggling Tigers, in desperate need of a victory to keep their slim post-season hopes alive, blitzed the Wildcats in the game's first 28 minutes and took a 68-37 lead.
The last 12 minutes turned into the greatest comeback (or collapse, from LSU's perspective) in NCAA history, as the Wildcats outscored the Tigers 62-27 to take an improbable 99-95 victory. That loss was part of a nine-game losing streak to end the season, LSU's first losing campaign since 1975-76.
Kentucky ran roughshod over LSU the next two seasons, winning 127-80 in Lexington in 1995 and 129-97 in Baton Rouge in 1996, a game in which the Wildcats scored a school-record 86 points in the fist half.
In 1996, Dale Brown brought in his last star recruit: Baton Rouge high school phenom Lester Earl. Earl lasted 11 games at LSU before leaving the team; he transerred to the University of Kansas soon afterward. While at Kansas, Earl said that an LSU assistant coach gave him money while he was being recruited. The NCAA quickly began an investigation. It found no evidence that Brown or his assistants paid Earl. However, it did find that a booster paid Earl about $5,000. LSU was placed on probation in 1998, which included a loss of six scholarships over three years and a 1999 postseason ban.
The probation remains a sore subject for many people in Louisiana. Many Brown and LSU supporters were angry with the NCAA's decision. They were convinced that the NCAA unfairly came down hard on LSU only because Dale Brown had long been a thorn in its side. They were also angry that Earl received immunity, never had to repay the money, and would eventually regain the eligibility he lost when he transferred from LSU. Critics defended the probation, however, arguing that money changed hands during Brown's watch, whether it was his fault or not. The NCAA also said that LSU could have been in line for harsher penalties, but investigators did not rule that there was a lack of "institutional control."
Brown was clearly under attack because of the losing records and NCAA investigation. Therefore, he announced his resignation halfway through the 1996-1997 season, which would be effective at the end of the year. He was replaced by John Brady the following year. It would take many years for the program to recover from probation. And by the end of the Dale Brown era, it could be argued that basketball had now dropped to the third most-popular men's sport on campus, behind football and baseball. It can be argued that baseball, not football, was the most popular sport, since the baseball team had won four national championships in a seven-year stretch from 1991-97 under coach Skip Bertman, now LSU's athletic diretor, while the football team had recently suffered through six consecutive losing seasons from 1989-94.
[edit] Retirement from LSU
After his departure from LSU, Dale Brown kept a low profile in his involvement with LSU athletics. He stayed in Baton Rouge after his retirement and created his own business, Dale Brown Enterprises. Brown has also worked as a college basketball analyst and motivational speaker.
In 2001, reports surfaced that Brown was considering running for the United States House of Representatives in North Dakota. Republicans in the state tried to persuade Brown to challenge incumbent Democrat Earl Pomeroy, but he decided against it. Two years later his name surfaced again, this time as a potential candidate to run for the United States Senate in 2004 against incumbent Democrat Byron Dorgan. Once again, however, Brown decided not to run.
Dale Brown suffered a stroke on April 24, 2003. He says that doctors told him they were not sure if he would survive the related operation. But Brown made a strong recovery and regained his speech and strength. He returned home a few weeks after his stroke, and was back at work in Baton Rouge a month later.
2006 has been a comeback year of sorts for Brown. In February, former LSU athletic director and basketball player Joe Dean, who announced many LSU games as a television color commentator during Brown's tenure as a coach and later selected Brown's successor, John Brady, submitted a letter to a Baton Rouge newspaper saying that he believes that the basketball floor at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center should be named after Brown. In addition, LSU honored Dale Brown and his 1986 team in February on the 20th anniversary of their improbable run to the Final Four. One month later, the LSU men's basketball team (coached by Brady) made its own Cinderella run to the Final Four. Brady's team was a 4 seed, but had to defeat the top two regional seeds (Duke and Texas) to get there. It was the men's team's first Final Four appearance since 1986, and it brought more renewed interest in LSU basketball and the Dale Brown era.
Brown has also written a book about his LSU experiences, called "Dale Brown's Memoirs From LSU Basketball."
| Preceded by Press Maravich |
LSU Men's Head Basketball Coach 1972-1997 |
Succeeded by John Brady |
