re: Hypocrisy of those who denigrate Dale Brown's accomplishments

Dale Brown, much like Collis Temple, were great while they were doing their thing at LSU. No one can deny the energy, talent, and exposure Brown brought to LSU. Even with the probation and sanctions at the end of his run as head coach, I don't think many would've felt ill will toward Dale. He is a good person.

Just like Temple, though, he chose to feel that he was bigger than the program and insist and influence LSU to take on not only a center piece to his controversy at the close of his time at LSU, but an under-qualified candidate that had no business being hired at LSU. In the end, it not only hurt the program, but has sent it to a point where the fan base has never been so unenthusiastic.

No matter what great things you've done as a person or in your job, it only takes one royal screw up or bad judgment/action to destroy all of that in how you are perceived.

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Dale Brown stayed 4 or 5 years too long and that tarnished his legacy. Him pushing for Johnny as HC as hard as he did also tarnished his legacy.

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That is ludicrous to think a person should be judged by their worst four years while virtually ignoring an incredible run over 17 years.

At worst Brown maybe stayed two years longer than he should have . The 1994 and 1995 seasons would have been a whole lot different with a healthy Randy Livingston.

Then the Lester Earl departure following the Hawaii tournament was probably the final straw.

As for Johnny Jones, Dale did not force anyone to hire him even if he advocated for it. Again, you lack perspective, it was not a terrible hire and there was some level of success. It just did not turn out as well as we hoped. T

Based upon the results of the 20 years since Brown retired most LSU fans would be very pleased to have the next 20 seasons match what Brown accomplished from 1976 to 1996.

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it was not a terrible hire and there was some level of success.

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Hiring a guy who never won the fricking sunbelt in 11 fricking tries and needlessly doubling his salary was a terrible hire. Sorry, no other way to slice it. A cautionary tale about why you shouldn't hire those who are unqualified by accomplishment because they are "one of us" or whatever bullshite you want to say.

Trent resigned after the NCAA tourney so the choices were all relative to Jones. It was not a disastrous hire but overall success eluded him. If you were objective the Jones Era was a C to C+. He was 42-30 SEC his first four years and finished in the upper half of hte league, as high as 3rd and 5th so not all bad.

My pretend vote is "Yea" we should rename the court but it's nothing I'd argue in circles about. If the masses vote "Nay," m'eh.

You got the game stuff right except Dominique Wilkins was playing in the NBA at the time. I was at the game and John Williams by the way one of the greatest players ever to play at LSU threw it in.Dumb mistake but I think Big John more than made up for it the next year in the 86 tournament run.

Dale lost some games he should have won but he also beat a hell of a lot of more talented teams as well. As far as Bobby Knights comment A. Bobby should have already been thrown out of the game and B. Bobby had a way more talented team than Dale that night and Dale had him on the ropes right to the buzzer so who outcoached whom?

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You got the game stuff right except Dominique Wilkins was playing in the NBA at the time. I was at the game and John Williams by the way one of the greatest players ever to play at LSU threw it in.Dumb mistake but I think Big John more than made up for it the next year in the 86 tournament run.

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Right...it was Cedric Henderson. I was there as well. Williams could have literally tossed it to a Georgia player and we'd have likely still won. When someone ever says "LSU has this wrapped up" in a close game, no matter what the sport, I always come back with "I remember this one time back in 85 with one second left...."

LSU was abysmal and no one ever cared about basketball at LSU other than Pistol before Dale Brown. If you hope or expect LSU to be good in basketball, it's because of Dale Brown, even if you don't know it.

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I started LSU in 93. My first 4 years (I took the long route) Dale Brown was the coach. We sucked every year. 4 straight years either last place or next to last in the conference. I love basketball, but wasn't a fan of the school until I started going there. So none of that earlier history really means that much to me. I just remember that we sucked and he was pretty much the cause of it all. You can't blame the younger generations for not worshiping him or paying homage like people who experienced those times do.

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In the five years before you graced LSU with your attendance LSU basketball featured Chris Jackson and Shaquille Oneal, two of the greatest college basketball players to ever play the game along with other outstanding players. Yet, this did not even draw passing interest from you?

As for your student years it might be helpful to keep things in perspective. Yes the program declined, but you cannot lay all the blame on Dale Brown. Dale signed the number one recruit in the country, Randy Livingston in 1993. That summer Livingston sustained a devestating knee injury and was never really the same again. When he was able to play Liivngston was at about 75% of his true ability and was still the best player on the court. Unfortunately, injuries continued to derail his seasons at LSU and the program began to slide.

Then Brown signed top ten recruit Lester Earl and top 30 teammate Cory Powell from Glen Oaks . In what should have been an NCAA violation Roy Williams recruited Lester during a holiday tournament the two teams played in and he transferred in mid season. Powell was unable to qualify academically. A healthy Livingston and a more grounded Earl would have totally altered the records of Brown's last four years.

We all begin to follow sports or certain schools or teams at different ages, but it does not take a lot of effort to develop some historical perspective and appreciate the past accomplishments of coaches and players. When Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth's home run record we did not have to have seen Ruth play in person to know he must have been a great player.