Former LSU men’s basketball head coach Dale Brown has passed away at the age of 90.
Brown won four SEC Championships (1979, 1981, 1985, 1991), was the SEC Coach of the Year four times (1973, 1979, 1981, 1989) and was named National Coach of the Year in 1981.
He totaled 448 on-court victories during his 25-year run in Baton Rouge.
The LSU Basketball family is saddened to announce the passing of legendary coach Dale Brown at the age of 90.
– https://t.co/4k1I1qlwzc https://t.co/U0ctlUDiBI
— LSU Basketball (@LSUBasketball) October 23, 2026
Press release from LSU Athletics:
BATON ROUGE – Dale Brown, the winningest coach in LSU Basketball history, passed away on Friday at the age of 90, just days shy of his 91st birthday.
Brown earlier this week was announced as the 2027 recipient of the John R. Wooden Legends of Coaching Award recipient.
The Minot, North Dakota native, who rose from obscurity to one of the Southeastern Conference’s coaching icons, was at the helm of the Tigers for 25 years from 1972-97, with 448 on-court victories. That was second at the time only to Adolph Rupp in the SEC. He was only the third SEC head coach to reach 25 years as a head coach in the league.
He began his career as a high school coach, teacher and principal before landing basketball assistant coaching jobs at Utah State and Washington State.
Over his 25 years, he won 60 percent of his games and recruited some of college basketball’s most outstanding talent to Baton Rouge.
Brown won four Southeastern Conference Championships (1979, 1981, 1985, 1991), was the SEC Coach of the Year four times (1973, 1979, 1981, 1989) and in 1981 was named National Coach of the Year.
People will always remember the Tigers return to the NCAA Final Four in 1981 and 1986 in two dramatically different ways.
The 1981 team won 31 games, including the first 17-of-18 games in the SEC, moving through the NCAA Tournament with ease, including two games in the then-Louisiana Superdome to advance to the Final Four.
In 1986, the Tigers started fast, but had a few setbacks and found themselves as an 11th seed in the NCAA Tournament. However, in a twist of fate, the Tigers were scheduled to host first- and second-round games and – for the last time in tournament history – a team would play in their home arena against higher seeded teams.
First came Purdue and the Tigers won in overtime. Then a Saturday nationally televised second round against Memphis State with LSU’s Anthony Wilson pulling the ball out of a scrum to sink a bucket as the horn sounded to give LSU the win and send the LSU Assembly Center into a frenzy.
Wins over Georgia Tech and Kentucky (after two losses to the Wildcats in the regular season), would send LSU back to the NCAA Final Four as, at that time, the lowest seed to ever get to the final Saturday of play in the long history of the tournament.
