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 during the Press Maravich era because of his All-American son, Pete. In spite of the publicity, however, LSU was still a losing program, not making any NCAA tournaments, and only one NIT appearance during the Maravich Era. Brown took over a team that finished 10–16 in the 1971–72 season and a program which had not been to the NCAA tournament since 1954, and had only four winning seasons in 18 years prior to his arrival.
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."
It was this 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 Master Motivator".