Dale Duward Brown (born October 31, 1935) is an American former college basketball coach. He was the head coach of the LSU Tigers for 25 years, and his teams earned Final Four appearances in 1981 and 1986. Brown is also remembered as one of the most vocal critics of the NCAA, saying it "legislated against human dignity and practiced monumental hypocrisy."
Early life Born and raised in Minot, North Dakota, Brown's family was of limited means; he and his two older sisters were reared by his single mother Agnes, a domestic service worker with an eighth-grade education, and all worked various jobs. He graduated from St. Leo's High School in 1953, where he starred in football, basketball, and track. During his senior year, he posted the highest scoring average in state basketball history and also set a school record in the quarter mile.
Brown then went to Minot State Teacher's College (now known as Minot State University), where he was a star athlete, earning 12 varsity letters in football, basketball, and track; the only athlete to accomplish this in these three sports. He scored 1,140 points in three years of varsity basketball.
In 1999, Sports Illustrated selected him as one of the top 50 athletes of the 20th century from North Dakota. Brown graduated from Minot State in 1957 and received a master's degree at the University of Oregon in 1964. He was inducted into the Minot State University Athletics Hall of Fame in 1981.
Coaching career
North Dakota (1957–1964) From 1957 to 1959, Brown was head coach of the basketball, wrestling, and track teams at Columbus High School in Columbus, North Dakota. In 1959, he became the head basketball coach at Bishop Ryan High School in Minot, where he stayed until 1964.
In 1961, Brown was recalled to military service for one year due to the Berlin Crisis. While there, he served as head coach of the basketball and track teams in Fort Riley, Kansas; which both won championships. He received an honorable discharge from the U.S, Army as a sergeant.
Brown is a member of the North Dakota Sports Hall of Fame, National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame, and Minot State University Sports Hall of Fame.
After North Dakota (1964–1972) Brown left North Dakota in 1964 for various coaching jobs around the country:
1964–1965: Garfield junior high school basketball coach-Berkeley, California. 1965–1966: Palm Springs high school head basketball coach-Palm Springs, California. 1966–1971: Assistant basketball coach, Utah State University 1971–1972: Assistant basketball coach, Washington State University
LSU: Early years (1972–1978) Brown came to LSU in the spring of 1972, replacing Press Maravich as head coach. The LSU program had received great notoriety under Press Maravich because of his All-American son, Pete. In spite of the publicity, however, LSU finished 10 games under .500 during Maravich's tenure (including a 10-16 record in his final season), with only two winning seasons, no NCAA tournaments, and only one NIT appearance in six years. Brown took over a program which had not been to the NCAA tournament since 1954, and had only four winning seasons in the 18 years since then.
Brown had a winning record in his first season at LSU and he was voted as SEC Coach of the Year. 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, who went on to become NCAA runner-up. The Tigers were picked to finish last in the SEC, but were a surprising fifth.
The Tigers regressed during his next three years at LSU, with losing records in each season. 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.
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."Brown's coaching style emphasized intensity and focus during his tenure at LSU. He was known for his public speaking, and received the nickname "The Master Motivator" among players and fans.
Brown's hard work began paying off 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, then 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, which came despite all five LSU starters fouling out of the game.
Glory years: 1979–1981 In the 1978–1979 season, 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 finished 23–6. The Tigers also finished 14–4 in the SEC, giving LSU its first regular-season 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 without star player DeWayne Scales who was suspended for the tournament for violating team rules. 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, finishing second in conference play before going on to win what would be the program's only SEC men's 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, Brown took his team to the Final Four, the second in LSU history, and the first of the Brown era. The team finished 31–5 (most wins in the nation) 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 and the only SEC team to ever win 17 consecutive league games in the same season with only a loss to powerhouse Kentucky in Rupp Arena stopping LSU from becoming the only team to complete an 18-game SEC slate with an unblemished mark. Rudy Macklin was an All-American, as well as First Team All SEC. Ethan Martin also made First Team All SEC, and Howard Carter made the Second Team. LSU advanced to the Final Four by beating Wichita State 96–85 in the Elite 8 round of the 1981 NCAA tournament, played in front of home-state fans in the Louisiana Superdome. To reach the regional final, LSU defeated future SEC rival Arkansas, coached at the time by Eddie Sutton, who would tangle with Brown for four seasons at Kentucky.
Unfortunately for Brown and the Tigers, Macklin was injured in the Wichita State game and was not 100 percent for the Final Four. The Tigers lost in the national semifinal game to Indiana. 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. Brown was named national coach of the year by The Sporting News for his team's performance.
Disappointment and investigation: 1982–1985 Like many other teams that reach the Final Four with a senior superstar, 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 but lost in the first round.
The team got 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 (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 1984–1985 team also won the Southeastern Conference championship with a 13–5 record. However, both seasons ended with tremendous disappointments. In 1984, the Tigers were upset by #10-seed Dayton. 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).
It was also during this time that Brown began having some of his most notorious run-ins with the NCAA. Brown became an outspoken and relentless critic of the NCAA, calling them "hypocrites" and even "The Gestapo". He has consistently argued that the NCAA should be more compassionate when enforcing rules governing compensation for student-athletes, especially in situations involving athletes who were truly in need.
In 1982, the NCAA began a four-year investigation into Brown and the LSU basketball program. The NCAA cited LSU for sixteen rules violations and stripped the Tigers of two scholarships. Brown was not connected to any of the reported infractions.
"The master motivator": 1986–1988 The 1985–1986 season was well on its way to being the most disastrous season yet for Brown and his Tigers. However, he 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 Brown.
Before the season began, Jerry "Ice" Reynolds went pro early. Incoming freshman Tito Horford 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 shooting guard Ricky Blanton to starting center. In addition to all these troubles, some LSU players contracted chicken pox during the Southeastern Conference regular season, including star player John Williams. In spite of all these troubles, LSU jumped out to a 14–0 start, and finished with a 22–11 record.