Dale Brown, who mentored Shaq, dies at 90
The LSU coach won 448 games and received a national coaching award nomination two days before his death.
By Jason Kovalenko ·
Dale Brown, the head coach who guided Louisiana State University men’s basketball to national prominence, died on Friday, October 23. He was 90 years old.
Brown arrived in Baton Rouge in 1972 and began a 25-year tenure that ended in 1997. During that span, he accumulated 448 victories, a record for any head coach in the school's history. His teams won four Southeastern Conference regular-season titles and qualified for the NCAA Tournament 13 times. The program reached the Final Four in 1981 and 1986 under his leadership.
His passing came two days after the university announced his selection for the 2027 John R. Wooden Legends of Coaching Award. The honor recognizes his long-term impact on the sport. Brown coached several players who went on to professional success, including Shaquille O'Neal, Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, and Rudy Macklin.
Brown earned the Associated Press National Coach of the Year title in 1981. He also received SEC Coach of the Year honors four times. He was inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame, the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame, and the LSU Athletic Hall of Fame. In 2022, the university named the court inside the Pete Maravich Assembly Center after him. It was later renamed Dale Brown/Sue Gunter Court in 2023 to honor both former coaches.
Brown's family issued a statement describing him as a humanitarian who prioritized others. "We have lost the most loving and most loved man any of us has ever known," they said. They noted that he "always led with the heart." Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry posted on X that Brown "put LSU Basketball on the map." Sports journalist Marc J. Spears also posted on X, calling Brown "an extraordinary human."
In a 2025 interview with WAFB reporter Chris Nakamoto, Brown discussed a game against top-ranked Kentucky. He recalled that all five starters had fouled out. He told the remaining players, "From now on you are not substitutes, you are backups." LSU won that game. Brown credited his mother with teaching him to stand up for what is right. He noted her warning that polishing one's image could tarnish character.
Brown was born in Minot, North Dakota, on October 31, 1935. He died eight days before he would have turned 91.
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