Lsu Coach Knew His Time Was Up

It was only a matter of how far LSU basketball would slip at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. Head coach Dale Brown knew he had to go.

LSU basketball has been on a big decline the last three seasons, all losing ones. So, Brown announced Thursday that, after 25 years as the Tigers’ coach, he would step down at the end of the season.

Brown, only 7-6 this season with the Tigers, is the second-winningest coach in Southeastern Conference history with a record of 445-287 behind only Adolph Rupp of Kentucky. Brown took LSU to two Final Fours, 1981 in Philadelphia and in 1986 in Dallas, and to 10 straight NCAA tournaments, from 1984-93.

But LSU is no longer competitive on the national scene. And home crowds often have numbered 3,000 or 4,000 in a 14,164-seat arena. The Tigers have lost all of their high-profile games this season, against Louisville, Kansas, Fresno State and Michigan.

Baton Rouge high school star Lester Earl, a 6-10 forward/center, was supposed to be the salvation. But Earl, just a freshman, has not led the Tigers to the Promised Land. He is more confused than talented. He quit the team Sunday and rejoined it Tuesday, without explanation.

From the standpoint of timing, that appeared to be more than Brown could take - another troubled star who had to be coddled. In preceding months, Brown talked of the currentday player as being spoiled compared with his past players.

But of course, the reasons Brown said he was leaving had nothing to do with any of these developments directly.

At 61, Brown hasn’t lost his gift for gab, even if his coaching recently has been shaky. The head of a crumbling of a basketball program had four reasons for quitting:

Players no longer cared about academics, but the “root of the problem lays in the secondary schools.”

College basketball has become about “making money, and winning big.”

Recruiting “in its present state is absolutely ludicrous.” He said that in the early years he enjoyed it, but as “fast as ‘Shazam,’ it changed. Some high school and even junior high school athletes have agents.”

Athletes are spoiled, and the university has failed to give tenure to coaches like other teachers.

Brown denies he was forced out, saying that he and LSU athletic director Joe Dean have been closer than ever through the adversity. “And even though the numbers have been smaller, the true fans have supported us.”

Brown says he will dedicate himself the next 88 days to this team, because he still believes in it. Then …

“Retirement can either be a rocking chair or a launching pad,” Brown said. “I choose the launching pad.”

To where, no one knows.