Dale Brown, the winningest coach in LSU men’s basketball history who led the Tigers to two Final Four appearances and four Southeastern Conference titles, died on Friday. He was 90.

Brown’s death was announced in a statement by his family. No cause of death was given.

“We have lost the most loving and most loved man any of us has ever known. Dale Brown always put others first,” Brown’s family said. “He always led with the heart. He was always a great humanitarian before anything else. Dale long ago fell in love with Louisiana. And the people of Louisiana loved him right back. We are forever grateful for that.”

Brown, who is credited with discovering Shaquille O’Neal, won SEC titles in 1979, 1981, 1985 and 1991, ESPN reported. He was the conference coach of the year in 1973, 1979, 1981 and 1989, and in 1981 was named National Coach of the Year, when LSU went 31-5.

Brown won 448 games in 25 seasons at LSU and more SEC games (238) than any league coach other than Kentucky’s Adolph Rupp (397), according to The New York Times. His teams reached the NCAA tournament 13 times and advanced to the Final Four in 1981 and 1986, according to the newspaper.

Brown was selected earlier last week to receive the John R. Wooden Legends of Coaching Award, recognizing his accomplishments and impact on college basketball, ESPN reported.

He coached O’Neal for three seasons, from the 1989-90 campaign until the 7-foot-1 center entered the 1992 NBA draft and was selected first overall by the Orlando Magic. LSU reached the NCAA tournament in all three of O’Neal’s seasons in Baton Rouge, according to the cable sports outlet.

“He made me one of the best basketball players ever,” O’Neal said in a video last week congratulating Brown for the Wooden Award. “Daddy Dale -- we call you ‘Daddy’ for a reason. I love you and congratulations. I am so proud of you, Coach.”

Brown discovered O’Neal in 1985 while conducting a basketball clinic in West Germany, the Times reported. When O’Neal approached to ask about some basketball wisdom, the coach asked the towering youth how long he had been in the Army.

“I’m not in the Army,” O’Neal said. “I’m 13.”

Brown grabbed him like “he had a secret” or “had found gold,” O’Neal has said through the years, according to the newspaper. Brown encouraged O’Neal to work hard, and the youth signed with LSU in 1989.

“I think I owed it to Coach Brown,” O’Neal said during a 2013 news conference, “because he believed in me when I didn’t even believe in myself.”

After Brown was hired at LSU in March 1972, he traveled around Louisiana and preached the gospel of basketball. He fully integrated a team that previously had only one Black varsity player – Collis Temple Jr. -- and became a lifelong member of the NAACP, the Times reported.

“Dale Brown was a fireball, a renegade, a change agent,” Temple said in an interview with the newspaper.

He was also unafraid to get into it with other coaches and the NCAA.

He had a long-running feud during the 1980s with another cantankerous coach, Indiana’s Bobby Knight, the Times reported.

When Indiana defeated LSU 77-76 to reach the Final Four, Brown called Knight a bully who intimidated referees and coaches, according to the newspaper. Knight responded by calling Brown’s coaching abilities into question – “I was worried about losing until I looked down the floor and saw Dale Brown. Then I knew we had a chance,” he said.

Brown responded by challenging Knight to wrestle him naked in a ring until one of them was left alive.

Dale Duward Brown was born on Oct. 31, 1935, in Minot, North Dakota, according to the Times. He lettered in basketball, football and track at Minot State University, ESPN reported.

After graduating from college with a bachelor’s degree in physical education in 1957, Brown coached high school basketball in North Dakota and California. After receiving his master’s degree in 1964 from the University of Oregon, Brown became an assistant at Utah State in 1966 and Washington State in 1971.

In 1959, Brown married Vonnie Ness, who taught folk dancing, the Times reported.

Following his retirement, Brown became a motivational speaker, a basketball analyst for television broadcasts and founded the Dale Brown Foundation, according to ESPN.

Brown was inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame in 1999, and LSU’s home basketball court was named for him in January 2022.

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