Tiger Rag remembers the great Dale Brown – the man that laid the foundation for the LSU basketball program and touched countless lives along the way. Longtime LSU basketball Sports Information Director Kent Lowe joins the show to recall starting his career in Baton Rouge working with the legendary coach, and Fox Sports broadcaster Tim Brando shares his memories of Coach Brown and his incredible teams. Then, Mike Rodak, who covers Alabama football for 247Sports, discusses the last annual matchup between the Tigers and Crimson Tide on Nov. 7.
Here is the complete transcript of the show from YouTube. Tiger Rag apologizes for any AI generated mistakes:
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Get ready to talk Tigers with producer Case Kishnik and our hosts Todd Horn, Jeff Polmo, and Glenn Gilbo. Tiger
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players are better people than they are players. This is Tiger Rag Radio and good evening everyone. Welcome to
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another edition of Tiger Rag Radio. Jeff Polarmo, news and sports director of Louisiana Radio Network along with the executive editor for Tiger Rag magazine,
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Todd Horn and the editor Glenn Gilbo and Case Kishnik, a reporter for Louisiana Radio Network and Tiger Rag as well.
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He’s our producer tonight. It’s a by week and we are on basically the eve of the start of men’s and women’s
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basketball. We’ll get into all those topics. Of course, talk LSU’s convincing win over Auburn last Saturday. Look
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ahead to the Alabama game, which will kick off at 2:30 on November 7th. In fact, we’re going to hear from Mike Rodak of 247 Sports, who covers Alabama.
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We’ll talk with him later on in the hour. But, uh, also uh, a big part of tonight’s show, we’ll be looking back at
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the great life of Dale Brown, who we lost on Friday at the age of 90, just over a week from his 91st birthday. He
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would have turned 91 on Saturday, Halloween. Uh Dale Brown, a legendary figure, not only in college basketball,
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but in this state, helped so many people during his time and was part of uh some great basketball teams, put together
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some great basketball teams and was a terrific, terrific coach. And Todd, I know he meant a lot to you and you had a very personal encounter with him.
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actually had several through the years, but there was one that was the most meaningful and and and I kind of wanted to remember him in that sense tonight,
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at least at the start, because I know we we’re going to talk about him a lot, but I’ve been thinking about all day about
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how to start this. And uh because when pe when people talk about Dale Brown, they’re going to talk about the Final Fours. They’re going to talk about the
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big wins, the players he coached, the Shaquille O’Neals, the Chris Jacksons, the Rudy Macklin’s,
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you know, just there’s tons of them. And and and of course, what he meant to to LSU basketball. I mean, he was huge. He
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he is LSU basketball. And a lot of a lot of kids today don’t even really know him like Case, you know.
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But but we we’ll get to all that tonight, Case. So, you’ll get a some lessons, I’m sure.
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Uh, but but for me, it starts with a 15-year-old kid. Um, I was the sports editor of the newspaper at Woodlon High
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School here in Baton Rouge my sophomore year. And I wanted to write a a basketball preview on LSU.
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And my teacher, Pearl Johnson, who’s now named Anne Hamilton, that’s a totally different story we’ll have to get into
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one day, uh, told me that I needed a primary source. She said, “You need a primary source.” Well, I was a 15-year-old kid and Dale
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Brown was the head coach at LSU. So, I called his office and asked for an interview. And, uh, about 30 minutes later, his secretary called back and
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said, “Coach Brown could see me on Thursday morning at 10:00.” and he uh she said I’d have 30 minutes.
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And you know what? He gave me those 30 minutes. And he took my questions seriously. He treated me like uh what I
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had to say or what I had to ask mattered.
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Uh and when you’re 15 years old and sitting across from the basketball coach at LSU, you you don’t forget that. Um so
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um sorry. Looking back, I appreciate how easily he could have said, you know, he was too busy or he could have pawned me
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off on one of his assistants or but he didn’t. He took the time. And and honestly, that’s not the story I’ve thought about the most today. It’s it’s
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just one of them. The story I’ve thought about most is one I wrote about earlier this week on Friday, as a matter of fact, when he when he passed away. And
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that happened 11 years later. Uh I was covering LSU basketball for Tiger Rag in February of 1991.
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And I and I was sitting at practice one afternoon and my grandfather, I called him my papa, was in the Our Lady of Lake Hospital up here on Essen Lane and he
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was terminally ill and he was struggling and he was depressed. And to be honest, I was struggling too. And Coach Brown
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sitting in the bleachers watching him shoot free throws just happened to notice something was wrong with me, I guess. And so he asked me about it and I
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told him what was going on briefly and he asked my grandfather’s name and which hospital he was in and that and that was it. We started talking about basketball
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again. They had a big SEC game coming up. can’t remember who they were playing, but it was a big SEC game. And and so practice ended and I went back to
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the office and and I wrote my story. It was our old office of Perkins Road um across from Ivarss.
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And I wrote my story and then I headed to the hospital. And when I got there and opened the door to my grandfather’s room, Dale Brown was already there and
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he was inside. And I just want y’all to think about that for a second because he didn’t call me. He didn’t message, send a message. He didn’t ask somebody else
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to check in for him. He He went himself without even saying anything. And there were no cameras. It wasn’t a publicity stunt or anything like that.
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And I don’t know exactly how long he stayed. I do know it was more than an hour because I was there with him in that room for more than an hour. But I do know what it meant to my grandfather.
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And my grandfather knew he was dying and he was having a hard time. And all of a sudden, LSU’s basketball coach is
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sitting there with him, talking to him and making him feel like he mattered.
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So my papa talked about that visit for the rest of his life. He passed away about six months later in September of
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1991, and I’ve always believed Coach Brown helped make those final months better than they otherwise would have been.
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Years later, I finally told Coach what that visit had meant to our family. And in 2023, Trent Angers
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shared that story with Coach Brown. And Dale Brown emailed me at 1:32 in the morning. And and what struck me wasn’t
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that he remembered the story, which he did. It was that he was still asking questions. He wanted to know about my grandparents. He wanted to know what
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street they had lived on. And all those years later, he was still interested in other people.
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And and that’s really who Dale Brown was.
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Um, in that email, he wrote something simple. He wrote, “Todd, God put us all on this earth to help one another.” And
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when I hear those words, I I don’t think about a speech or a quote. I think about a hospital room because I watched him live those words.
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Tonight, we’ll talk about Dale Brown, the coach.
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But I wanted to begin with Dale Brown, the man.
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Yeah, it’s it’s amazing how a guy like Coach Brown or a coach, how they can have an impact on people like that. Did
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Did your grandfather was he a Dale Brown fan big time before?
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He he l he was an LSU fan through and through and a big Dale Brown fan.
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Well, yeah. To him Dale Brown and and at the time, you know, whoever the football coach was, uh, it would it was it was
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probably Curly Halman at the time. He he may not have liked Curly Halman too much, but but he did it was always the coach was, you know, he was an LSU guy
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through and through and and so he had he had an amazing impact on people when they when they first met him
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or first uh um saw him speak. So I can imagine, you know, when when when they when he wasn’t talking to them individually. So I can
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imagine how it was for your grandfather when he was talking to him oneon one.
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Well, the thing about it was is that he was literally depressed. He was lifeless. I mean, he, you know, nobody was really talking about the fact that
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he was terminally ill, but everybody knew he was terminally ill and he was just despondent. Mhm.
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But from that moment on, and I’m not kidding you, for the rest of his life, he was upbeat and he felt like recognized and like he mattered. And so,
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but my grandfather, my papa was not alone in that. Dale Brown did that a million times.
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Yeah. And you know what? I was thinking these last uh few weeks when we knew Dale was close to the end, he needed
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somebody like Dale Brown to go visit him and and you know, I don’t know if there is somebody like that.
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Well, he he maintained a a close-knit group of friends and and we know some of them very closely. And I mean, he called
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me at different times. I’m not claiming that I was one of his his good friends in that inner circle, but I did get numerous through the years calls after
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11:00 p.m. at night. And the funny thing was I do remember one time he said, “Uh, he would always say, you know, Todd, did
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I wake you?” And yeah, I’d always say because I wanted to.
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Yeah. I’d always say, “No, no, no, coach. I’m fine.” One time I said, “Yeah, no, you did. You You did wake me.
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You really woke me up.” But uh I wasn’t asleep yet and I wrote that in a column.
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But really I just wanted to say that he was a man who he could talk and he would talk the talk but he could also walk the
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walk. And I just wanted to say uh I just want to say thank you. And uh well he was he was a great guy, man.
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There’s no question about it. And uh he was he was really fun to cover uh as a as a sports writer and and uh once once
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he knew you a little bit, you know, he was uh he knew your backstory and got to know your backstory and and uh he was uh
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he was always interesting to talk to. He knew how to do a press conference. He knew how to uh he was cathartic. You
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know, when he was mad about something, he would let it out. And that always made for great press conferences and and when he won a big game, I mean, he he
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let it out, you know, it was it was always fun to see. And people pulled for him. I I remember I worked at different papers while Dale was at LSU, and I
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remember guys who had no background with LSU or Dale, they they they liked him.
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they pulled for him, you know, and uh some some guys did some people didn’t like him, you know, which is
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normal, but he was a he was a very popular coach for the most part na some
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sometimes more nationally than than locally and that’s something uh Tim Brando has talked about and we’re going to have him on the show uh he comes on
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at at uh 7 tonight at 6:30. Kent Low, who was uh Dale’s SID since the 80s, is
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going to be on. So, so it’s going to be a a bittersweet show for Daddy Dale.
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You’re right about that as far as knowing him nationally. I grew up in Chicago, but I knew who Dale Brown was, right?
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Uh he was and college basketball is known for its personality coaches, right? Bobby Knight, Dean Smith,
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Shasheski, um Bob Huggins. I mean, that’s how the sport really was built is by the
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personalities of the coaches and you knew who he was and you knew they had great players, too. Mhm.
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I mean, it it wasn’t the way he would the way he was able to get some of the greatest players to play in college
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basketball and then obviously move on to the NBA was just uh phenomenal. And um
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you know, we’ve just lost two huge giants when it comes to coaching, Skip Bman and Dale Brown. But I got a sense
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and you know even you know hearing Todd’s story and
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Dale Brown really touched people that it’s hard to put into words. I mean he
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really connected with people. Skip was obviously a great mentor, a father figure to a lot of people, but I think
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there there was a Dale was able to really strike a strong emotional connection and I I texted several
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players on Friday. You know, we were trying to get somebody to talk about it and it was too much. It was too much for them.
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Yeah. Yeah. I’ve gotten that feeling, too. some some people aren’t aren’t ready to talk yet. And uh you know
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there’s there’s going to be a um a ceremony for for Dale in a couple of weeks. Uh LSU is going to publish it uh
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tomorrow. All the all the details on it, but that’s usually when when those guys closest to him talk. That I found that
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out after Skip passed away and after Bob Pettit passed away. That that’s when that happens. um cuz they’re they’re a
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little it’s a little too close to it right now. Um but uh you know it’s funny you you grew
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up in the Chicago area. I remember the one of the last NCA tourn I think it was Yeah. The last NCA tournament Dale
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coached at was in the 9293 season and they played up in Rosemont. Yeah. Yeah.
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And uh against Jason Kidd and it was a great game. Jason Kid drove through the whole defense and scored on a layup to win the game. But
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it was a great game. I remember Dale telling us uh a week before just how good Jason Kid was. Yeah.
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But um I mean all these riders from the Chicago area were just crowding around Dale after the press conference and and you know before the game, you know, the
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the the pregame press conference and all all these riders. I mean he was really a a national figure and you really found that out at the NCA tournaments.
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Yeah. I uh when um Jim, our boss, Jim Inkster, called me and told me the u the
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news that he had passed, um one of the things I said is, you know, I’ve been here since 2000 in Louisiana, and one of
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my regrets was never having a chance to cover. I had a few interactions. I know I’ve interviewed him. It’s been a long
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time. Um, but uh I’d never had that opportunity to to uh get to cover him
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and get to to know him. And uh our boss Jim has a very special relationship with Dale. And it’s u you envy that that
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here’s a you know very successful Hall of Fame coach and uh someone that when Jim was a young
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reporter uh he ended up having a a lifelong relationship with him. Yeah, Dale Dale liked young reporters obviously. That’s what Todd Stories and
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he liked all reporters really, but he he did like the guys just starting out. He was really nice to me when I first started at at at Tiger Egg.
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And I bet you I have probably an archive of at least a thousand emails from him. Yeah.
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Which are just words of wisdom just out of the blue, you know, just wants to share.
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It was that energy and it was that that the dynamic personality that he had that gave him the energy and the strength to build this LSU program because that’s
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what he did. Um, you know, a lot of people talk about Pete Maravic and Well, the program was dead whenever Dale Brown walked in the door.
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All right, let’s take a break. Uh, more looking back at the great life of Dale Brown here on Tiger Rag Radio.
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I’m Richard Fner, president of the Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation. My brother and I grow rice, soybeans, and raised crawfish on our farm in Evangelin
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Parish. For a fourth generation farmer like myself, Louisiana Farm Bureau is as much a part of my life as checking traps or harvesting rice. Our organization is
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more than 145,000 members strong, and we’ve been around for more than 100 years. The Louisiana Farm Bureau spans generations, and we want you to join our family.
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Visit lafarmbureau.org. The Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation, the voice of Louisiana agriculture.
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And we’re back with Tiger Rag Radio.
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Back here on Tiger Rag Radio. We’ll get into some football talk a little bit later on, but uh right now we’re spending time remembering Dale Brown,
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who passed away last Friday at the age of 90. We were talking a lot about Coach Brown, the person. Um what about Coach
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Brown, the coach, and the teams that he built here at LSU?
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Yeah, you know, Dale’s teams tended to really play well when the when the lights were on. I I thought um you know,
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like when they would go to Fatville and and play some of those great Arkansas teams, they were always ready to play.
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Now, sometimes his most talented teams, you know, like Shaq almost lost to Northeast. Yeah.
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At home. Clarence Caesar hit a jumper from the corner. They they almost lost that game. And Mike Vining, the coach of Northeast, I was talking to him in
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Nacades over the summer, and he said after that game, I didn’t I didn’t know this story at the time, Dale went outside the assembly center and went
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into the bus of the Northeast team and told him how well they played and they should have beat us, you know, and he was so mad at his team
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that night. But, uh, you know, um, they played really well in the in the tournament a lot of times. uh you know
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they they lost to Jason Kidd and and Cal in his last tournament game, but but that was a great game. And um of of
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course I mean the final four in in ‘ 81 and then a second final four in ‘ 86, almost a third final four
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in 87. uh they they beat they always would lose for a period of time there to the eventual national
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championship either in the final four or the final eight or the elite eight or but the huge nonconference wins UNLV in
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the assembly center Georgetown in the dome Lyola Maramount in the Assembly Center the night the uh the play-by-play
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typewriter caught on fire cuz cuz it was there was it was so much typing going on that was just a classic game with uh Hank Gathers you remember and and Shaq.
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Yeah. Hank Hank those were like NCA tournament games.
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Yeah. And and that you know Hank Gathers died like a week later, right?
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Dro dropped on the court. Um in a Shaq game against Arizona. Uh I never forget Lud Olsen said after the game he said
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he said uh Shaq was not going to foul out. That would have been like magic falling out in the forum.
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Yeah. And and you know, I think we would be remiss not to talk about, you know, we talked about before the break about how Dale really resurrected and built
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the LSU basketball program. I mean, that you know, with Rudy Mlin and and Scales and Ethan Martin and Greg Cook, that
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first team in 90 1981 that made it to the final four. I mean, that was the best team in the country.
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And if Rudy wouldn’t have been hurt, I think they would have won the national championship that year. I think 1986, which was plagued by the chickenpox, but
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ended up winning like 14 straight at the end of the year after having a rough start to the SEC schedule and then ends
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up losing to Louisville in Dallas, who ends up winning the national championship and and Dallas was the final four. That team was good enough to
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win a national championship if they would have just had the right pairing or the right luck.
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But I think the 1987 team that ends up losing to Indiana in the in the team that was the team I think that team could have won the
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national and that would have been in New Orleans. We’ll talk about that with Tim I think a little bit later.
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Right. Well the uh they lost to Michigan State in 1979 right in the second round of the tournament.
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That was Magic Johnson led Michigan State.
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Won it all. 1980 they lost to Louisville in the Elite 8. Louisville won it all.
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That was Daryl Griffith. 1981 they lost to Indiana uh and Isaiah Thomas uh that that team won the national championship
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and then again in uh Keith Smart 86 Louisville won it and then 87 Indiana won it in New Orleans with the Keith Smart jumper.
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How much man I’m going to ask this there’s like 20 seconds though. How much did it hurt him that he didn’t win a national championship? Oh it it haunted him his whole life.
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Yeah. I mean he would he would talk about now he he he was just grateful to have experienced what he
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experienced but he would have loved to have won at least one of those national that’s all he talked about especially you know he came so close in ‘ 87 in
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fact there was some thought that he may retire if he won it in 87 but then he had Shaq and Chris Jackson you know so you thought he was going to have another
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shot but he never did all right we’ll take a break Kent Low will join us when we come back as we continue to remember Dale Brown Here on Tiger Rag Radio, find out what you can
21:56
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make at the 13th annual East Baton Rouge Parish Public Library Maker Fair to be held Saturday, October 17th from 10:00 a.m. to 400 p.m. Bring the whole family
22:04
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for this hands-on making, building, and STEM discovery event. Keep exploring new skills and equipment at library maker spaces throughout the parish, including
22:12
22 minutes, 12 seconds
the newly renovated Scotlandville Branch Library. STEM brings families together in ways that can foster lifelong literacy, new opportunities, and
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pursuits. and your library card unlocks it all. Go to ebrpl.com for more information.
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Now, more Tiger Rag Radio.
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We’re back here on Tiger Rag Radio. Jeff Polmo, news and sports director of Louisiana Radio Network, along with the executive editor for Tiger Rag Magazine, Todd Horn, and the editor, Gwen Gilbo.
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Joining us now, it’s the longtime sports information director for LSU men’s basketball, a man who knew Dale very
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very well, and I know uh like much of Louisiana and the city of Baton Rouge and the college basketball community is
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is saddened over the passing away of Dale Brown last Friday at the age of 90 years old. Kent, thanks a lot for joining us. It’s always great having you
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on our show. uh look forward to uh hearing you reminisce about uh one of the best coaches to uh ever walk through
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those doors there over at LSU and what he did for LSU basketball all those years.
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Uh no doubt about it, Jeff. Great to be with you guys. Thanks for having me tonight.
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Hey Kent, I wanted to ask you, what do you remember about your first meeting with Dale? uh maybe as you got to LSU or
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or when you took over as basketball SID before the 8889 season.
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Well, Glenn, it was actually before that because I was uh here in grad school
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from 79 to 82. And much like you used to write for papers in Louisiana, I was the
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LSU guy for the Shreport Times, which I was working for before I left Shreport
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to come to grad school. So I was very much covering football and basketball.
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So that’s uh really as best I can remember the first time that I interacted with Coach Brown was the
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three years I was in grad school. And it was a pretty good time to be down here because there was uh the only tournament
24:27
24 minutes, 27 seconds
championship in the SEC in LSU history and then of course the final four season
24:33
24 minutes, 33 seconds
in 81. So it was a lot of fun to be down here at that point. What what was he like to to work for particularly that that first year, Kent?
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24 minutes, 43 seconds
Well, the the first year was before I got here in August of 88, of course, was
24:50
24 minutes, 50 seconds
the big uh uh and people may not even remember this, the Prop 48
24:57
24 minutes, 57 seconds
situation where several players were not able to be a part of the team because of their scores and SAT and all that stuff.
25:07
25 minutes, 7 seconds
Uh, I don’t even remember now the exact documentation of how all that went, but players like Harold Budro, Maurice
25:15
25 minutes, 15 seconds
Williamson, uh, Stanley Roberts were here but couldn’t play and everyone
25:22
25 minutes, 22 seconds
expected it to be kind of a sinking ship here at LSU. But, you know, give Dale a
25:29
25 minutes, 29 seconds
challenge and, uh, that was his perfect uh, remedy. He happened to have this freshman coming along named Chris
25:36
25 minutes, 36 seconds
Jackson, Abdul Mahmood Abdul Ro. And Ricky Blandon was a senior. And then there was this stick seven guy out of
25:45
25 minutes, 45 seconds
Mississippi, Vernell Singleton, that pretty much ended up playing center most of the year. Had a pretty good year and
25:52
25 minutes, 52 seconds
beat some team named Georgetown in the Superdome in front of 50,000 plus.
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25 minutes, 59 seconds
Kent. Hey, this is Todd. Um, hey Todd. So I I I I don’t want to depress you any, but you know, all those
26:07
26 minutes, 7 seconds
years of writing for the Shreveport Times, writing probably freelance stuff, and then then writing releases and
26:14
26 minutes, 14 seconds
working with Dale so closely. What was it like to have to write his obit on on Friday or Saturday?
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26 minutes, 22 seconds
Well, it was uh I kind of talked about this in a Facebook post. Uh, you know,
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26 minutes, 30 seconds
we had just finished practicing Friday morning and, uh, Coach Wade was sitting
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26 minutes, 36 seconds
down to do a Zoom interview with the two announcers from the ACC network who were
26:42
26 minutes, 42 seconds
calling the game. Uh, Coach Johnny Jones walked over and told me that he just
26:50
26 minutes, 50 seconds
heard that Coach Brown had passed. And you know at that point and we had like uh like like 90 minutes before we left
26:59
26 minutes, 59 seconds
for Tallahassee you know so for the plane was leaving for Tallahassee. So it was at that point your job
27:09
27 minutes, 9 seconds
kind of puts you on autopilot at that point, you know, and and I am kind of
27:15
27 minutes, 15 seconds
frantically running between the gym and and my office and trying to talk to
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27 minutes, 22 seconds
people, find out what I can. You know, I am a believer that and and I think Verge
27:32
27 minutes, 32 seconds
is as well because we discussed this. I am a believer of we don’t announce it until the family does, you know, and I
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27 minutes, 40 seconds
know a lot of people were calling me, you know, we’re hearing Dale’s died, you know, and I’m like, I can’t
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27 minutes, 49 seconds
give you anything until we know what happened. It was later on once we got to Tallahassee, I could really kind of sit
27:58
27 minutes, 58 seconds
there and try to process it all. And it was at that point a lot of the memories of the nine years with with coach when
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28 minutes, 8 seconds
he was uh when I when he was here and then of course our many conversations
28:14
28 minutes, 14 seconds
along the years after that. I I was kind of the de facto sid still for coach Brown. you know, he needed something or
28:24
28 minutes, 24 seconds
wanted updates on what’s going on with the basketball program. I was I was the one he called, you know, so we talked a
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28 minutes, 32 seconds
lot over the years. Uh talking to Kent Low here on Tiger Egg Radio. Well, Kent was uh how how did he
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28 minutes, 40 seconds
treat you? You know, like uh you you were there with with the great teams and then some some bad teams. Was he always
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28 minutes, 47 seconds
kind of the same or or how was he daytoday, you know, outside of the cameras and the press conferences?
28:54
28 minutes, 54 seconds
Well, Dale was Dale. I mean, you know, he we got along very well. I mean, we
29:01
29 minutes, 1 second
always did. Even when I was here a as a writer and and someone covering the team, you know, I mean, you know, uh
29:10
29 minutes, 10 seconds
there were times he probably went on different directions than I wanted him
29:16
29 minutes, 16 seconds
to. He always hitted that when he knew he’d be he was in trouble with me when I
29:23
29 minutes, 23 seconds
would just kind of uh point my finger out and start question
29:29
29 minutes, 29 seconds
you know come see me you know he’d always jokingly do that at stuff you know and go I’m in trouble Kent wants me
29:39
29 minutes, 39 seconds
you know and so you know that was always his way of uh knowing that he need me to come him to come so I can tell him
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29 minutes, 48 seconds
something, you know, along the way. But, uh, you know, I talked about today we did a podcast, uh, the sports
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29 minutes, 55 seconds
information podcast, and, uh, I was talking about the last year a little bit and, you know, how everywhere we went in
30:03
30 minutes, 3 seconds
the league was a a different celebration of, you know, Coach Brown’s career, uh,
30:10
30 minutes, 10 seconds
when we went to Kentucky and Old Miss and Auburn and places. And it was a year where the record really didn’t matter. I
30:18
30 minutes, 18 seconds
mean, you know, we were just, you know, Dale was being celebrated everywhere in this league at a time when uh, you know,
30:27
30 minutes, 27 seconds
he was a special part of the SEC. And that time in the SEC, guys, there were a
30:33
30 minutes, 33 seconds
lot of big big coaches, big personality coaches that made the league special.
30:39
30 minutes, 39 seconds
Besides all the good players, you know, the Wimps, the Hugh Durhams, you know, those people, Sunny Smith, all those big
30:48
30 minutes, 48 seconds
personalities, you know, Patino, you know, and on and on, you know,
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30 minutes, 56 seconds
Ken, would you mind if we take a break here first and then uh we’ll ask you a few more questions if you don’t mind.
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31 minutes, 1 second
You got some more time to hang on with us. Okay. All right. So, we uh No problem.
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31 minutes, 5 seconds
Thanks, Kent. We continue to talk about the life of coach Dale Brown here on Tiger Rag Radio. We’ll take another break. Kent Low is with us. The LSU
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31 minutes, 13 seconds
sports information director for men’s basketball was with Dale as the SID for nine years. So we’ll talk more about that as we continue on here on Tiger Rag Radio.
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31 minutes, 22 seconds
Tiger Rag Radio is back on the air.
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31 minutes, 27 seconds
We’re back here on Tiger Rag Radio. Jeff Palmer along with Todd Horn and Glenn Gilbo. Glad you uh wanted to ask Kent Low who is our guest here for this segment a question.
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31 minutes, 36 seconds
Kent, earlier we were talking about how Dale took the LSU basketball program literally from nothing. The Assembly Center had just opened. Pete Maravic of
31:44
31 minutes, 44 seconds
course was gone and he came in and you know with with he built the program and like you mentioned in 79 actually 78 79
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31 minutes, 54 seconds
80 81 of course reaching the apex with the final four but and then 86 and 87 we’ve talked a little bit about but then
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32 minutes, 2 seconds
you were there specifically for the for the probably the most exciting basketball time that most people
32:10
32 minutes, 10 seconds
remember because there was Chris Jackson and Shaquille Bill O’Neal and like you said earlier Stanley Roberts and just a plethora of talented players and big personalities.
32:22
32 minutes, 22 seconds
How did Dale handle like Chris and Shaquille because they were so different from each other. How did he handle them
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32 minutes, 30 seconds
those different personalities and an enormous attention around them and that team at that time? I know you were at
32:37
32 minutes, 37 seconds
the center of all that. So, well, I I think uh one thing is that uh in 8889 it was uh Chris shoot the ball.
32:50
32 minutes, 50 seconds
We’ll ask questions later on what type of shots they were. You know, I mean, he had to do that for LSU to be successful.
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32 minutes, 58 seconds
And him and Ricky Blandon and Vernell Singleton formed this kind of trio that worked that blended very well together.
33:05
33 minutes, 5 seconds
Uh, if there was anything that could be said about the the 90 team that I think
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33 minutes, 12 seconds
everyone thought was going to be that next Final Four team, it’s that the only problem sometimes is there’s only one
33:21
33 minutes, 21 seconds
basketball and uh, you know, there was so much talent. You had two sevenfooters.
33:28
33 minutes, 28 seconds
won in Stanley Roberts who was actually better than Shaquille at the start of the year and you still had Chris Jackson
33:36
33 minutes, 36 seconds
Abdul Ro who would shoot the ball and score and it it sometimes didn’t quite
33:43
33 minutes, 43 seconds
work out and other times it really worked out hence Lyola Maramount game and things like that. So it was an
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33 minutes, 51 seconds
interesting dynamic. Coach tried a lot of different ideas. I’m of the opinion that
33:59
33 minutes, 59 seconds
by the time the year was over, I think everyone knew that McMood had to go to the league because
34:08
34 minutes, 8 seconds
it was going to be pass the ball to Shaquille the next year and don’t worry about shooting, which TJ Pew did very
34:16
34 minutes, 16 seconds
well the next year in 91 with 190 some odd assists. But, uh, it was a a
34:22
34 minutes, 22 seconds
fascinating year. Dale tried to work his magic as much as he could, but just the chips didn’t quite fall in the right direction for that team.
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34 minutes, 33 seconds
Yeah, I remember the uh the Tiger Rag season guide going into 8990. The final four was in Denver in 1990 and and the
34:42
34 minutes, 42 seconds
cover of Tiger Rag was Chris Jackson and and Shaq on skis in the snow. I remember that. I remember that.
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34 minutes, 49 seconds
Yeah. Putting a little pressure on Dale there. But, uh, yeah. Well, well, Kent, you know, Dale was a was a unique guy to
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34 minutes, 57 seconds
to work with. Do you remember when he he said he was not going to have any more press conferences? I think that lasted about a week. Do you remember what led to that?
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35 minutes, 7 seconds
I I I’m trying to remember, but I probably trying to remember which time he said that.
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35 minutes, 12 seconds
I remember. Yeah, I was about to say these that happened more than once, you know. I mean, that’s right. And then at the then at
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35 minutes, 20 seconds
the end in his last game in Memphis at the SEC tournament, you know, there was a paper from not there covering the last
35:28
35 minutes, 28 seconds
week of his season. You know, Sam King was doing something huge. You know, he goes, “Cent tell any writers that want
35:37
35 minutes, 37 seconds
to come into the locker room for my pregame speech, come on in.” you know, we had to go get an we had to get an AP
35:44
35 minutes, 44 seconds
reporter to be like the pool photographer for the thing. And the locker rooms in Memphis were so small,
35:53
35 minutes, 53 seconds
you know, and Bob Boyd hardly could get in for the pregame discussion and all.
36:00
36 minutes
It was it was kind of hilarious. But uh you know it’s uh it there’s so many things you know guys I I have to say
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36 minutes, 9 seconds
this if you don’t mind the one thing I am probably happiest about was that the
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36 minutes, 17 seconds
Los Angeles Athletic Club by just the circumstances announced that award you
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36 minutes, 25 seconds
know earlier the on Tuesday of that week last week right and Dale knew he was getting an award name for a guy and a coach he revered.
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36 minutes, 37 seconds
Yes.
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36 minutes, 37 seconds
You know, and so I think, you know, that had to mean the world to him. I know a couple of people who had talked to him
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36 minutes, 45 seconds
that night afterwards that he was so appreciative and so honored award and I
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36 minutes, 52 seconds
know Robin and the family will will gladly, you know, accept that award for
37:00
37 minutes
Daddy Dale uh next April and that’s that’s in Los Angeles, right? Yeah.
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37 minutes, 6 seconds
Yes. Part of the wooden the wooden award festivities. Yeah, that is an awesome and I’m glad he got to go ahead.
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37 minutes, 14 seconds
Yeah, by the way, am I your warm-up act for Brando tonight?
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37 minutes, 17 seconds
Yes, you are. And you’re doing a great job.
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37 minutes, 20 seconds
That’s interesting. Um the uh the uh the question I wanted to ask you, Kent, and and I’m trying to to ask it delicately,
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37 minutes, 30 seconds
but you’ve been around LSU basketball, nine years with Coach Brown as as inside or as an insider, and of course all the
37:37
37 minutes, 37 seconds
other coaches now up through Wade, uh second stint here at LSU, just now getting started. But Coach Brown was
37:45
37 minutes, 45 seconds
often criticized as not being a a strong X’s and O’s guy. Now, me personally, I I
37:54
37 minutes, 54 seconds
didn’t see that. I I thought he was I thought he knew basketball inside and out. He wasn’t always interested in the X’s and O’s as much as other coaches may
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38 minutes, 2 seconds
have been, but when he was, but he was Yeah, I thought he was good.
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38 minutes, 5 seconds
What were your thoughts about that? And in in in retrospect even, you know?
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38 minutes, 11 seconds
Well, I I think like you Todd, I think when he wanted to concentrate on the X’s and O’s, he would be very good at it. I
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38 minutes, 20 seconds
think there was a lot of things that he was in his his mind was moving so fast
38:28
38 minutes, 28 seconds
sometimes. I think it, you know, became he was hoping that his assistants would be able to do some of that. You know,
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38 minutes, 36 seconds
that’s why I think Tex Winner came on board for a while before I got here as an assistant coach, you know, and it was
38:44
38 minutes, 44 seconds
Abernathy and Craig Car came into the program and, you know, Bob Starky was with the program for a couple of years before he went to the women’s program.
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38 minutes, 54 seconds
But, uh, I think Dale knew his X’s and O’s. I mean, I I think, you know, any coach, especially, you know, when things
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39 minutes, 3 seconds
don’t go well, is always criticized for those type of things. But, uh, I think overall the record speaks for itself
39:11
39 minutes, 11 seconds
what coach Brown did. And considering the fact that considering the fact all these years later, he’s still the fourth winningest coach as far as wins at an SEC program is is really pretty amazing.
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39 minutes, 23 seconds
That’s quite That’s true. So, how many times did you have to arrange uh and do, you know, media stints to have a WWF
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39 minutes, 32 seconds
fight with him and and Bobby Knight in a closet?
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39 minutes, 36 seconds
You know, and I was thinking back to the last time when uh Indiana and LSU played in that second round in ‘ 92, Boise in Boise, right?
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39 minutes, 47 seconds
Yeah. And there’s uh Bobby Knight holding uh Dale’s grandson, right? You know, I mean, Right. They and outside the press
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39 minutes, 56 seconds
conference room and we’re all like, “Wait a minute, what’s going on here?” Yeah. Was he kidnapping him or what? That was awesome.
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40 minutes, 4 seconds
You know, they had pretty much as best they could mended fences a little bit by then and
40:11
40 minutes, 11 seconds
uh you know, had gotten onto a better plane uh since that point. But just to see that
40:18
40 minutes, 18 seconds
picture, you know, was just like, am I leaning this right?
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40 minutes, 23 seconds
No. That was funny. What I remember about that, Kent, Vernell Singleton, I said, “Vernel, what do you what do you think of this?” And he goes, he goes, “Yeah, they’re all buddy buddy now, but
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40 minutes, 32 seconds
if something goes wrong in the game, it’s going to be bar.” Speaking about something going wrong in the game, did you have to uh did you
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40 minutes, 39 seconds
have to take like cut the gloves off of uh of Coach Brown in Tennessee one year?
40:45
40 minutes, 45 seconds
Oh, that was fun. That was fun. Yeah, I was hiding under the table for most of that. Uh, luckily it all went luckily it
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40 minutes, 53 seconds
all went toward Jim Hawthorne and Kevin Ford over at the radio table. They almost got taken out. That was uh that was pretty wild.
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41 minutes, 2 seconds
That was memorable.
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41 minutes, 3 seconds
Kent, thanks a lot, man. We appreciate it. Um, we’ll be looking forward to hearing more from you as uh the basketball season goes on and uh I know
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41 minutes, 12 seconds
uh coach Will Wayade and the guys will dedicate this year to him. No doubt about it. We’ll be back after this here. Thanks again for your time, Kent.
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41 minutes, 20 seconds
All right, guys. Thanks.
41:21
41 minutes, 21 seconds
All right, Kent Low here on Tiger Rag Radio. We’ll be back after this. Now, back to Tiger Rag Radio.
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41 minutes, 29 seconds
All right, we got a couple minutes here before the top of the hour break and then we’ll have uh Tim Brando from uh Fox Sports joining us to give us his
41:37
41 minutes, 37 seconds
memories of Dale Brown. But, uh we finished off the interview with Kent Low talking about the big brawl at Tennessee. What was your memories of that, Glenn?
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41 minutes, 47 seconds
Yeah, it was SEC tournament and um LSU was just beating the heck out of Tennessee. Shaquille couldn’t be stopped
41:55
41 minutes, 55 seconds
and Carlos Groves was getting tired of watching Shaq slam dunk after slam dunk and just kind of grabbed him from behind
42:04
42 minutes, 4 seconds
around Shaq’s waist to just kind of slow him down. It was almost like when two wrestlers kind of hug and just kind of stop the action. I mean, it was very
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42 minutes, 12 seconds
kind of a non-aggressive pull and Shaq just kind of threw his left arm back, which is a big strong arm, and just kind
42:20
42 minutes, 20 seconds
of knocked Groves over. Okay. And then everyone kind of converged, but and I watched this many times.
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42 minutes, 28 seconds
I think the refs were about to control the fight, but here comes Daddy Dale, and he’s going after the guy was going after his boy, Shaq.
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42 minutes, 38 seconds
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And and took a swing at at at Carlos and then all Carlos Groves and then all hell broke loose and and and you know there was like a big
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42 minutes, 46 seconds
pile and it started moving toward the uh press table and and it was just a mess and Shaq got tossed and and um Groves got tossed and uh but here’s the thing.
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42 minutes, 59 seconds
We got to hit the top of the hour break.
43:00
43 minutes
Oh, okay. Okay. We’ll we’ll continue after that.
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43 minutes, 3 seconds
Well, we’ll have Tim Brando when we come back. We’ll have to get back to it a little bit later. What was that? The beginning of Hackshack.
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43 minutes, 10 seconds
All right. Well, Tim Brando when we come back. Y’all ready? Y’all ready? Let’s go. Come on. Tiger Rag Radio is on the air. Let’s crank this thing up.
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43 minutes, 18 seconds
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43:26
43 minutes, 26 seconds
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43:29
43 minutes, 29 seconds
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43:31
43 minutes, 31 seconds
And those who cover the Fighting Tigers of LSU and the SEC. LSU is the best job in the world. It’s 2 hours of non-stop LSU talk.
43:40
43 minutes, 40 seconds
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43:42
43 minutes, 42 seconds
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43 minutes, 51 seconds
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43:57
43 minutes, 57 seconds
Get ready to talk Tigers with producer Case Kishnik and our host Todd Horn, Jeff Polalmo, and Glenn Gilbo.
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44 minutes, 6 seconds
Players are better people than they are players. This is Tiger Rag Radio.
44:11
44 minutes, 11 seconds
Welcome back to Tiger Rag Radio going into the second hour. This is Glenn Gilbo, Tiger Rag editor with uh Todd Horn, Tiger Rag vice president, publisher, and producer Case Kishnik.
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44 minutes, 24 seconds
joined by Tim Brando. Tim, how are you?
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44 minutes, 28 seconds
I’m uh hanging in there. Thanks for asking. It’s good to be with you.
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44 minutes, 33 seconds
Well, Tim, uh what what was your initial thoughts as as the news hit uh that that Coach Brown had had passed away last week?
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44 minutes, 43 seconds
Uh it doesn’t matter how old a man can be or how prepared you think you may be
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44 minutes, 50 seconds
for the loss of someone you love. I wasn’t prepared. And you know, the funny thing is, I’ve been telling people all along how unprepared
44:59
44 minutes, 59 seconds
uh I was. And as a matter of fact, um I think maybe the last time I saw you, and I certainly saw a lot of LSU people was
45:07
45 minutes, 7 seconds
at the U Lloyd Cook uh gathering for the Billy Cannon documentary.
45:13
45 minutes, 13 seconds
That was about uh two months ago. And um there uh we had learned not only of the
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45 minutes, 21 seconds
passing of of uh Skip, but also we my my dear friend Joe Dean Jr. had suddenly
45:28
45 minutes, 28 seconds
passed away. And uh you know how that gets when you get older and you start losing people that you’re close to. You you start thinking, okay, who’s next?
45:38
45 minutes, 38 seconds
And um you know, Bob Pettit then passes away. Jerry Selvald then pass and and now Coach Brown. And you know, I I
45:45
45 minutes, 45 seconds
always dreaded that phone call, you know, that I knew I would get at some point in time. Uh, and I got it of all people, John Brady is who reached me.
45:56
45 minutes, 56 seconds
And I was at the Minnesota Golden Gopher football practice inside Huntington Bank Stadium on Friday morning when I got the
46:04
46 minutes, 4 seconds
call. And I literally had to walk out of the off the field and and compose myself
46:10
46 minutes, 10 seconds
because I, you know, I lost it. And uh I knew I would uh but there was no
46:17
46 minutes, 17 seconds
stopping that that sometimes emotions are just too strong. And um you know
46:24
46 minutes, 24 seconds
Dale was Dale was this close to a lot of people. I’m not alone. You know there there are probably a 100,000 people that
46:31
46 minutes, 31 seconds
feel the same way I do about Dale that are as passionate about him and and what he meant to their lives as as I do. And
46:39
46 minutes, 39 seconds
there’s probably even more than a 100,000 people that he helped along the way in other, you know, some form or fashion. You I used to introduce myself
46:47
46 minutes, 47 seconds
to friends of Dale as um welcome to the uh Brother Brown’s Love Club. There’s only about a million and a half, maybe
46:55
46 minutes, 55 seconds
two million of us around the globe. Um and that’s really true, you know. Uh I just wasn’t, you know, and John John
47:05
47 minutes, 5 seconds
sort of helped me with it. I thought to myself, isn’t this amazing? It’s John Brady calling me to tell me this.
47:10
47 minutes, 10 seconds
That is amazing. Tim Tim, this is Todd Horn. Uh when you when you think about Dale right now, what’s the first memory that comes back for you?
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47 minutes, 22 seconds
Him driving to Pla, no to Port Allen, Louisiana to do my radio show,
47:30
47 minutes, 30 seconds
uh which was the first ever daily sports talk radio show in Baton Rouge history.
47:35
47 minutes, 35 seconds
Uh, so I guess everyone can blame me for that, whatever you’re having to endure now, right?
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47 minutes, 41 seconds
And it wasn’t on and it wasn’t on the station that carried LSU games. I worked at WIBBR,
47:48
47 minutes, 48 seconds
not at WJBO, which for years, um, the Manship Family, radio station, newspaper, and television station. They
47:56
47 minutes, 56 seconds
pretty much carried the the day at all things broadcasting at LSU. that I was working for Bob Earl, a mom and pop uh
48:03
48 minutes, 3 seconds
owned uh singular AM radio station, and I was trying to build a a brand in Baton
48:11
48 minutes, 11 seconds
Rouge. And uh the regular gig was a a disc jockey gig. It wasn’t even a full-time sports gig, but I was going I
48:18
48 minutes, 18 seconds
was determined that I was going to forge a career in sports broadcasting. And I was going to by virtue of being in Baton
48:25
48 minutes, 25 seconds
Rouge, where the state university was at age 23, I was going to do this. And Mr. Earl, who was a great man, uh I
48:35
48 minutes, 35 seconds
convinced him uh that um and he knew a little bit about my past. He knew that my my love for sports and he also knew
48:42
48 minutes, 42 seconds
my father who was also a radio television pioneer in Shreport. I said I want to do a sports show. When you go
48:49
48 minutes, 49 seconds
down in power from uh in wattage to like um 5,000 watts at night at sundown. I’d
48:57
48 minutes, 57 seconds
like to do a sports talk show. And uh I said I I I’ll sell it. You know, I’ll do whatever I have to do.
49:05
49 minutes, 5 seconds
Right. and he he allowed me to do the show and and I started just going into the LSU community to to to build a brand and interview as many people as I could.
49:15
49 minutes, 15 seconds
And you’d be amazed how the wrestling coach, the tennis coach, the gymnastics coach, all of them, you know, everyone at LSU, uh because they wanted some
49:23
49 minutes, 23 seconds
attention and and Dale was kind of the leader of the band of all things not football that felt like we deserved other sports
49:32
49 minutes, 32 seconds
deserved attention in Baton Rouge. So, he he loved the fact that I was doing this and he also loved the fact that I loved basketball and that I treated I
49:41
49 minutes, 41 seconds
treated college basketball with the same um vigor and uh and zeal as I did football.
49:49
49 minutes, 49 seconds
And that was not something that a lot of people in 1979 did. Yeah.
49:54
49 minutes, 54 seconds
So, we we it was like a love affair uh to start and for him to drive all the way out. I mean, he’s he’s in the midst
50:02
50 minutes, 2 seconds
of uh trying to win the first um uh conference championship in 25 years. And here he is driving by himself, you know,
50:10
50 minutes, 10 seconds
from LSU’s campus, his office, to my little station and in a sugarcane field in Port Allen on a little highway, you
50:18
50 minutes, 18 seconds
know, lobell, you know. I mean, that’s what he did. That’s crazy.
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50 minutes, 22 seconds
Can you imagine anyone today doing something like that? No, I I can’t.
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50 minutes, 26 seconds
So, yeah. And that and and it just built from there, you know. It it just built from there our relationship.
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50 minutes, 31 seconds
That’s great. So for Tim, for listeners who didn’t get to experience Dale Brown coaching LSU basketball in its heyday,
50:40
50 minutes, 40 seconds
which would be from like 1978 to like, you know, the early 90s. Can you describe for them what that was
50:48
50 minutes, 48 seconds
like, not just here in Baton Rouge, but on a national scale and what what his persona was like? Well, during most of
50:56
50 minutes, 56 seconds
that time, I’ll be honest with you, um, he was more appreciated for his success
51:03
51 minutes, 3 seconds
outside Baton Rouge than he was inside Baton Rouge. I mean, he was right.
51:09
51 minutes, 9 seconds
Uh, some of the great writers, national writers, um, Glenn, remember some of these names? Larry Donald was basketball
51:17
51 minutes, 17 seconds
times. um Charlie Pierce who was a controversial big- time sports writer slash now he’s
51:25
51 minutes, 25 seconds
more into politics but he and uh William Rhoden Bill Rhoden with the New York Times these guys they they were
51:33
51 minutes, 33 seconds
fascinated by Dale uh and I think the reason was because they believed in him that they they knew that he was a genuine article.
51:43
51 minutes, 43 seconds
So many I think uh in and around the Baton Rouge area just never in the beginning they thought this guy can’t be real. And by the way that wasn’t
51:51
51 minutes, 51 seconds
something that was their skepticism and cynicism was shared in other burrows around the south that had never seen
51:59
51 minutes, 59 seconds
anything like him. He was uh uh he was a national treasure, but at a young version of Dale was sort of hard to
52:07
52 minutes, 7 seconds
believe that how could this guy really believe these things and how can he spend so much time talking about things
52:15
52 minutes, 15 seconds
beyond basketball as he’s trying to build his career because, you know, coaches are supposed to talk X’s and O’s. Dale was bored by X’s and O’s. He
52:25
52 minutes, 25 seconds
he he had he knew them, but he didn’t he didn’t he didn’t feel like he needed to dwell on them at any point in time. So,
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52 minutes, 33 seconds
his reputation for being a motivator and for being um uh you know, charismatic and and you know, the Billy Graham of
52:41
52 minutes, 41 seconds
basketball and uh you know, all those things that got him national attention allowed a lot of skeptics to believe he
52:50
52 minutes, 50 seconds
really wasn’t that good of a coach. Tim, he didn’t mind he he didn’t mind that, you know, he didn’t mind people thinking he was not that good of a coach.
52:58
52 minutes, 58 seconds
Tim, that’s that’s a great point. A good way to slip up on people.
53:01
53 minutes, 1 second
Always always thought that when when Dale did decide to coach X’s and O’s, which was only every now and then, he was actually he was actually pretty
53:09
53 minutes, 9 seconds
pretty good at it. I remember he beat Eddie He beat Eddie Fogler one time. But I want to I want to ask you the the game he lost to Bobby Knight in 1987 with the
53:19
53 minutes, 19 seconds
Final Four on the line. If he somehow wins that game, he goes he goes to New Orleans. I mean, you think he’d have won the national championship that year?
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53 minutes, 28 seconds
No question. And you know, people talk a lot about because 81 was the best team, Glenn, and it was. The 81 team was the
53:36
53 minutes, 36 seconds
best team, most talented and hottest team going into the Final Four. And and I know a lot of people will bemoone the
53:43
53 minutes, 43 seconds
fact that Rudy Mlin, you know, got that that uh that finger fractured and and was not himself and he wasn’t. And
53:52
53 minutes, 52 seconds
they’ll say if that hadn’t happened, I I’m I’m I’m not one that necessarily buys into that because, you know, Bob
54:00
54 minutes
Knight’s also a great a great coach. And by putting Landon Turner, who was 4 in
54:08
54 minutes, 8 seconds
taller, maybe five inches taller than than Rudy, I don’t know if Rudy had been healthy if he would have been able to get free for a shot in that game. I
54:16
54 minutes, 16 seconds
mean, it was just a uh it was a mismatch that that and with with with R with Rudy
54:23
54 minutes, 23 seconds
not hurt, not not at his best, not not able to play to his best, it only added to the frustration in the second half
54:30
54 minutes, 30 seconds
when the ball just wouldn’t go through the hoop. You know, that game was mono ammono with LSU leading, I think, by three at halftime, but but Rudy was the
54:40
54 minutes, 40 seconds
the catalyst, all things good that were going to happen in a half court game.
54:43
54 minutes, 43 seconds
And Indiana was going to make LSU play a half court game. LSU was never going to be able to get up and down the the floor the way they liked at that time. Uh so I
54:53
54 minutes, 53 seconds
you know Indiana may still have won that game is my point uh because of the matchup itself but the 87 team
55:01
55 minutes, 1 second
absolutely had uh the magic that made that carried over really from 86 you
55:09
55 minutes, 9 seconds
know and uh Nikita Wilson was not on the 86 team because of an academic issue he’s back he’s playing and even though
55:17
55 minutes, 17 seconds
that 87 team did not get to the final four the games leading up to the Elite 8 matchup with Indiana, they were playing
55:25
55 minutes, 25 seconds
at a higher level. And I and I will I’ve often times said, “No, no, no. It was not that the the 87 Final Four in New
55:33
55 minutes, 33 seconds
Orleans, if they had gotten there, there’s no way there’s no way they would have lost in my mind. Not after the way
55:40
55 minutes, 40 seconds
Dale’s teams always played there, whether go back and look at the Georgetown game, which I think was 89. I go back and look at the other times and
55:48
55 minutes, 48 seconds
whenever they played there, the regional finals in 81, okay, there’s no way he was not going to get to the final four that year with that national title being
55:57
55 minutes, 57 seconds
in Superdome. To me, that would have been as automatic as an LSU football Sugar Bowl game for the national championship. Uh, except the the one
56:06
56 minutes, 6 seconds
they lost with with with less in 2011. I mean, that that that’s the only one that did not fit that, you know, that script.
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56 minutes, 14 seconds
Um, Ces Irvin had a one-on-one if he makes that. And by the way, I’ve seen Fes recently. Um, I was in um Milwaukee.
56:24
56 minutes, 24 seconds
You know, he works individually with with players now as a coach. And, uh, I saw him in Milwaukee after I did a
56:31
56 minutes, 31 seconds
Marquette game last year. And, um, you know, it it’s it it’s it follows him to
56:38
56 minutes, 38 seconds
this day. You know, it does. But if Fes makes that one and oneonone, they win.
56:42
56 minutes, 42 seconds
flat out win and um deal could have exercised the Bob Knight demons from the past and I think they would have gone on
56:50
56 minutes, 50 seconds
to win the national championship. his career his career with three think about it would have been three final fours in
56:57
56 minutes, 57 seconds
six years that that in itself sounds a lot better than two correct but I believe three final fours in a national
57:05
57 minutes, 5 seconds
title which is in my opinion is what he would have gotten had Fes made that one and one and they controlled that game
57:11
57 minutes, 11 seconds
and they did so with their freak defense defense was was it was again proof that
57:18
57 minutes, 18 seconds
the guy knew how to coach he had smart enough guys, all role players really. Uh that team was not made of stars. Uh you
57:27
57 minutes, 27 seconds
know, John uh Williams was gone and and yet they continued to play at this really high level and and they did so as
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57 minutes, 35 seconds
a team. Uh it was just the kind of team that Dale would maximize with. Okay. Um from a coaching standpoint, he absolutely did.
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57 minutes, 44 seconds
Thank you, Tim. Uh yeah, if there was one game that that that I could just have God change the result to, it would
57:51
57 minutes, 51 seconds
be it would be the loss to Indiana. But but Dale’s up there right now in in heaven with God. And uh we thank you for
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57 minutes, 59 seconds
uh for joining us here on this special uh issue of the of the special uh broadcast of the Tiger Egg Radio Show.
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58 minutes, 6 seconds
Thanks a lot, Tim. We’ll talk to you soon back with more Tiger Egg Radio right after this.
58:11
58 minutes, 11 seconds
I’m Richard Fnoo, president of the Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation. My brother and I grow rice, soybeans, and raised crawfish on our farm in Evangeline Parish. For a fourth
58:19
58 minutes, 19 seconds
generation farmer like myself, Louisiana Farm Bureau is as much a part of my life as checking traps or harvesting rice.
58:26
58 minutes, 26 seconds
Our organization is more than 145,000 members strong and we’ve been around for more than 100 years. The Louisiana Farm Bureau spans generations and we want you to join our family.
58:35
58 minutes, 35 seconds
Visit lafarmbureau.org. The Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation, the voice of Louisiana agriculture. Let’s go.
58:42
58 minutes, 42 seconds
We now return to Tiger Rag Radio.
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58 minutes, 46 seconds
All right, back here on Tiger Rag Radio as we continue to remember the life of Dale Brown. And uh before we had Tim on,
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58 minutes, 54 seconds
we were talking about the big brawl at the Tim Brando, by the way. Um beforeh we had Tim Brando on uh we had we were
59:02
59 minutes, 2 seconds
talking about the big brawl at the SEC tournament in Tennessee involving the Tennessee Volunteers where
59:10
59 minutes, 10 seconds
you know basketball fights are just not like how they you know today’s basketball fights are not like how they used to be right that was in the 1992
59:18
59 minutes, 18 seconds
SEC tournament in Birmingham. It was Shaquille’s junior year his last year at um LSU before being the first pick of
59:26
59 minutes, 26 seconds
the draft. And um I I thought that they had the fight under control until Dale came out and went after Carlos Groves
59:34
59 minutes, 34 seconds
and all hell broke loose. And I wrote that in a column a few days later in the Alexandria Town Talk because if Shaq
59:41
59 minutes, 41 seconds
doesn’t get thrown out of that game, they beat Kentucky in the SEC tournament finals the next day and they get a better seed in the NCA tournament and
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59 minutes, 49 seconds
they wouldn’t have had to play Indiana in the second round. Okay. So, they go out to uh Boise and they they play uh
59:56
59 minutes, 56 seconds
they have to play BYU, which they beat, and uh then they lost Indiana. But before the BYU game, a couple LSU people
1:00:04
1 hour, 4 seconds
had said, “Hey, Dale’s upset at your column, so he’s probably going to talk to you before the press conference.” So, I’m out there in Boise and I’m just kind of waiting around and here comes the
1:00:12
1 hour, 12 seconds
basketball team. They walk in, Dale walks right up to me, shakes my hand, and he says, “Glenn, thanks for your apology.”
1:00:21
1 hour, 21 seconds
I never apologized, but that was how we handled it and we never talked about it again. You know, Dale did not carry grudges toward most Yeah. writers. He
1:00:30
1 hour, 30 seconds
was he was so much fun to uh to deal with. But that was a that was a memorable weekend. And they played really well against Indiana in that uh
1:00:38
1 hour, 38 seconds
second round game. Shaq made every one of his free throws 10 of 10, but they they lost by about 10. Yeah, that was tough. Uh Dale won
1:00:47
1 hour, 47 seconds
four SEC regular season titles and he really was a thorn in the side of Kentucky. The first thorn.
1:00:54
1 hour, 54 seconds
No question about it. He uh LSU only had two wins over Kentucky when Dale took over. And he beat them about 18 times
1:01:03
1 hour, 1 minute, 3 seconds
during his career. And through the late 70s and 80s, he was ahead in that
1:01:09
1 hour, 1 minute, 9 seconds
series. Dale Brown verse Jo Hall at that time. and he gave Kentucky their worst loss ever at home in the 1987 season.
1:01:18
1 hour, 1 minute, 18 seconds
They beat him by like 35 points. But the biggest win ever was when Eddie Sutton and Kentucky were the number one team in
1:01:26
1 hour, 1 minute, 26 seconds
America, number one seed at the NCA regional in Atlanta. And Kentucky had beat LSU three times that season, twice
1:01:35
1 hour, 1 minute, 35 seconds
in a regular season, one in the SEC tournament. And Dale and Ricky Blandon and Don Redden upset them.
1:01:43
1 hour, 1 minute, 43 seconds
uh uh and and went to the final four and and that was the the best team. A lot of people say that was the best team Kentucky had that never made the final four.
1:01:52
1 hour, 1 minute, 52 seconds
Wow.
1:01:53
1 hour, 1 minute, 53 seconds
That’s the game where you see Ricky Bllandon going down the court after he makes a putback. I think it was just going I wish we had video
1:02:02
1 hour, 2 minutes, 2 seconds
windmill his arms are windmilling and so forth. Yeah. Yeah.
1:02:05
1 hour, 2 minutes, 5 seconds
Don Redden fed him. Yeah. It was something else. Wasn’t there a game where he got Dale got ejected at Kentucky and he threw his sports coat?
1:02:14
1 hour, 2 minutes, 14 seconds
Well, Bobby Knight threw a sports coat and a chair. Um, maybe not threw a sports coat or
1:02:22
1 hour, 2 minutes, 22 seconds
I I’m not I’m not sure. I don’t know if Dale got uh ejected at Kentucky, but boy, those those home games against Kentucky in the early 80s, man, when
1:02:31
1 hour, 2 minutes, 31 seconds
Joby Hall would would come in, they Dale just owned Joby Hall. And and what was so amazing about that, you were in
1:02:38
1 hour, 2 minutes, 38 seconds
Chicago, so that’s why I’m telling you that like like I’m telling you, but Kentucky, this was the era of dynasties
1:02:46
1 hour, 2 minutes, 46 seconds
in college basketball. You had UCLA with John Wooden. You had Bobby Knight in Indiana that would, you know, had an undefeated season among his repertoire.
1:02:54
1 hour, 2 minutes, 54 seconds
And Kentucky every year won the SEC outright blow blowing them away. There was no one really close to them.
1:03:02
1 hour, 3 minutes, 2 seconds
Tennessee every once in a while could give him a game. Uh but that was about it. And then all of a sudden Dale Brown comes and he’s this hustler.
1:03:10
1 hour, 3 minutes, 10 seconds
Yeah.
1:03:11
1 hour, 3 minutes, 11 seconds
Out of out of, you know, the the North and he’s he’s got this team of hustlers
1:03:17
1 hour, 3 minutes, 17 seconds
and they start just not beating Kentucky every once in a while.
1:03:22
1 hour, 3 minutes, 22 seconds
They start beating them on a regular basis. like they would play twice a year then and like Glenn said, sometimes in
1:03:29
1 hour, 3 minutes, 29 seconds
the tournament occasionally, but it was always a close game. It was a nip and tuck. It was a nip and tuck or sometimes
1:03:37
1 hour, 3 minutes, 37 seconds
LSU would beat him pretty bad. I think I think Dale beat Kentucky under Joby Hall. The worst loss that Kucky’s ever had at rubber
1:03:45
1 hour, 3 minutes, 45 seconds
that was that was under Eddie Sutton 7641 January 18th, 1987.
1:03:52
1 hour, 3 minutes, 52 seconds
Does that still That’s Kucky’s worst home loss ever still to this day. Yeah. Yeah.
1:03:58
1 hour, 3 minutes, 58 seconds
Wow. Good stuff. Really good stuff. All right. Uh we’re going to take another break here on Tiger Rag Radio. We’ll focus in here on football the remainder
1:04:07
1 hour, 4 minutes, 7 seconds
of the show. We’ll start talking about the LSU Alabama game on November 7th. A rare day game between these two teams.
1:04:14
1 hour, 4 minutes, 14 seconds
We’ll talk about that and much more when we come back here on Tiger Rag Radio.
1:04:17
1 hour, 4 minutes, 17 seconds
Find out what you can make at the 13th annual East Baton Rouge Parish Public Library Maker Fair to be held Saturday, October 17th from 10:00 a.m. to 4 pm.
1:04:26
1 hour, 4 minutes, 26 seconds
Bring the whole family for this hands-on making, building, and STEM discovery event. Keep exploring new skills and equipment at library maker spaces
1:04:34
1 hour, 4 minutes, 34 seconds
throughout the parish, including the newly renovated Scotlandville Branch Library. STEM brings families together in ways they can foster lifelong
1:04:42
1 hour, 4 minutes, 42 seconds
literacy, new opportunities, and pursuits, and your library card unlocks it all. Go to ebrpl.com for more information.
1:04:53
1 hour, 4 minutes, 53 seconds
Tiger Rag Radio is back.
1:04:56
1 hour, 4 minutes, 56 seconds
Back here on Tiger Rag Radio. Jeff Polalmo along with the executive editor for Tiger Rag Magazine, Todd Horn, and the editor, Glenn Gilbo. Let’s talk some
1:05:04
1 hour, 5 minutes, 4 seconds
football, Mike Rodak, who covers Alabama for two 247 Sports joins us now. Mike, thanks a lot. We appreciate your time.
1:05:11
1 hour, 5 minutes, 11 seconds
How you doing today?
1:05:13
1 hour, 5 minutes, 13 seconds
Doing pretty well. Thanks for having me on. Oh, it’s great to have you on. Well, this uh it’s going to be sad when these two teams do not play next year, but uh this game should be a heck of a battle.
1:05:24
1 hour, 5 minutes, 24 seconds
And do you look at it as a as an elimination game, Mike, or do you feel like, hey, even with three losses, one
1:05:32
1 hour, 5 minutes, 32 seconds
of these teams could potentially get into the college football playoffs?
1:05:36
1 hour, 5 minutes, 36 seconds
Yeah, I think it’s probably a little bit too early to call it an elimination game. Um, you know, I think there’s a lot of other moving parts, especially in
1:05:44
1 hour, 5 minutes, 44 seconds
the Big 12 in the Big 10. Um, you know, does UCLA lose another game or two? Does Indiana lose a game? Um, you know, what
1:05:51
1 hour, 5 minutes, 51 seconds
happens with Utah and BYU and Texas Tech. So, you know, I I I do think there’s a chance a 9 and3 SEC team could get in, especially if a lot of those
1:06:00
1 hour, 6 minutes
things happen in those other conferences. Um, but it’s not guaranteed and I I don’t think either team can look
1:06:07
1 hour, 6 minutes, 7 seconds
at it as, hey, we can lose this game and um, you know, we still feel good about our playoff chances. I think you would be in a a pretty tough spot at that
1:06:14
1 hour, 6 minutes, 14 seconds
point, especially, you know, in Alabama’s case, and I would have to look at LSU’s resume, but if Alabama loses this game, they would have lost this,
1:06:22
1 hour, 6 minutes, 22 seconds
Georgia, and Tennessee. Like, their best win would be Kentucky. And I I think that would be, you know, you look last year, Alabama got in with three losses
1:06:30
1 hour, 6 minutes, 30 seconds
after the SEC championship game, but they had that road win at Georgia, and that was a big big piece of their resume. I don’t know if they would have that this year.
1:06:37
1 hour, 6 minutes, 37 seconds
Well, LSU is still looking for its first big win this year. I mean, they’ve won in convincing fashion here the last couple weeks, but none of the teams that
1:06:45
1 hour, 6 minutes, 45 seconds
LSU has beaten this year out of the power four teams are going to finish with a winning record in conference play. Well, and that’s interesting because the the a couple of them were
1:06:53
1 hour, 6 minutes, 53 seconds
ranked highly whenever LSU played them, but they’re no longer ranked highly and they’re not going to be U. But Mike, you mentioned the two losses backto back to
1:07:02
1 hour, 7 minutes, 2 seconds
Georgia and Tennessee for Alabama and then they follow that up by trailing a not too good Texas A&M team late in the
1:07:10
1 hour, 7 minutes, 10 seconds
third quarter last week. Um, did did they solve anything in that game or is Kalin Boris still at his wits end with
1:07:18
1 hour, 7 minutes, 18 seconds
that team? Yeah, you know, I think, you know, he’s he’s a very positive coach and I think he he liked kind of the
1:07:25
1 hour, 7 minutes, 25 seconds
fight and the um uh the resilience, you know, adversity that they faced, you know, those sort of things in that game.
1:07:31
1 hour, 7 minutes, 31 seconds
So, I think he had some positive takeaways from that that last game against&M. I think for a lot of the fans in the stands, it was it was kind of a
1:07:39
1 hour, 7 minutes, 39 seconds
frustrating game where they saw a lot of continuation of the problems from um Georgia and especially&m. So, um, yeah,
1:07:47
1 hour, 7 minutes, 47 seconds
I I definitely don’t think everything is solved. I think the the running game is is still an issue for this team. And I I do think, you know, to K Libbor’s
1:07:55
1 hour, 7 minutes, 55 seconds
credit, he said that was something that was disappointing from, you know, the&m game was, I think, 68 total yards rushing. And that was obviously a big
1:08:02
1 hour, 8 minutes, 2 seconds
problem for Alabama last year. And, you know, Keyn Russell got better as the game went on. He he made some throws in the fourth quarter that helped them win
1:08:09
1 hour, 8 minutes, 9 seconds
that game. and their defense settled down a little bit too when there was some some plays that they allowed um earlier against&m. So, you know, I you know, they did what they needed to do.
1:08:19
1 hour, 8 minutes, 19 seconds
They needed to win the game. Otherwise, it would have been, you know, pretty bad for them. Um but I don’t know if if they’re going into this game as
1:08:27
1 hour, 8 minutes, 27 seconds
confident as they were going into Georgia, you know, when they were 5-0 and coming off that big win over Mississippi State. Well, that that’s my
1:08:35
1 hour, 8 minutes, 35 seconds
next question kind of uh if if LSU and Alabama force each other into a a tight game that’s going to be decided in the fourth quarter, late in the fourth
1:08:43
1 hour, 8 minutes, 43 seconds
quarter, which team do you actually trust more right now?
1:08:48
1 hour, 8 minutes, 48 seconds
Yeah, you know, it’s a good question. I I think, you know, Keelin Russell has shown some some real um playmaking
1:08:55
1 hour, 8 minutes, 55 seconds
ability and it’s been a little bit hit or miss in terms of, you know, even within a play. We saw it last week
1:09:01
1 hour, 9 minutes, 1 second
against&M where he escapes a bunch of pressure and is kind of doing this Houdini act and then runs around and then throws a pick. Um, so you can see
1:09:10
1 hour, 9 minutes, 10 seconds
the ability and you can see the potential with him and the ceiling is so high for him as a quarterback. Um, but then there’s, you know, a lot of moments
1:09:17
1 hour, 9 minutes, 17 seconds
that just he he really wants back. Um, and so in the fourth quarter of a tight game in Baton Rouge, I could see it
1:09:25
1 hour, 9 minutes, 25 seconds
going either way with him. I could see him crumbling and and you know having a turnover and and having the game go against Alabama, but I can also see
1:09:32
1 hour, 9 minutes, 32 seconds
Keelin Russell making a big play with his legs or making a big play with his arm. Um you know that’s that’s kind of the roll of the dice when you start a
1:09:40
1 hour, 9 minutes, 40 seconds
younger quarterback like him and a really talented quarterback like him.
1:09:44
1 hour, 9 minutes, 44 seconds
Hey Mike, this is Glenn. Thanks for joining us tonight. Um well this is Kalin’s third season at Alabama. just
1:09:51
1 hour, 9 minutes, 51 seconds
what do you think of him at the job he’s doing based on what you thought going in to the job? Is this his best team or do
1:10:00
1 hour, 10 minutes
you think he’s going to have some great teams down the road or just where do you see him as far as his uh status report right now? Yeah, I mean I think if you
1:10:09
1 hour, 10 minutes, 9 seconds
asked me that three weeks ago, I think a a lot of people would say this is his best team, you know, especially coming out off of that big win against
1:10:17
1 hour, 10 minutes, 17 seconds
Mississippi State and they had a, you know, big win over South Carolina. Um, and at that point, it seemed like the running game was improved. It seemed
1:10:24
1 hour, 10 minutes, 24 seconds
like, you know, the defense was playing pretty well. They had this exciting young quarterback and Keelin Russell.
1:10:30
1 hour, 10 minutes, 30 seconds
They had some weapons at at receiver and tight end. And I I absolutely would have thought and people were talking about
1:10:36
1 hour, 10 minutes, 36 seconds
it. That is kind of what Kaylin Dbor needed to do. It was his roster at that point. He brought in the players that he wanted. He was running his system.
1:10:45
1 hour, 10 minutes, 45 seconds
Everything was looking good. And then these last three games, it’s really kind of gotten away from him. And a lot of
1:10:52
1 hour, 10 minutes, 52 seconds
those good vibes are gone. So, uh, I don’t know if this is his best team. I think it has a chance to be. I think it has the the talent to be, but they
1:11:01
1 hour, 11 minutes, 1 second
haven’t been healthy and they haven’t been consistent and they’ve let some, you know, not so great teams hang around with them at times as we saw with&m and
1:11:11
1 hour, 11 minutes, 11 seconds
as we saw going back even the Florida State game in September. So, um, you know, I think that’s kind of just it’s it’s confused some people. I I don’t
1:11:19
1 hour, 11 minutes, 19 seconds
know if they are sure what to think about Kaylin Dbor at this point and it’s, you know, like you said, it’s two and a half years in. Um, and I think
1:11:27
1 hour, 11 minutes, 27 seconds
this is this is a big game that kind of, you know, sets the tone of of what’s going to be next for him. Is this going to be a team that kind of slides into
1:11:34
1 hour, 11 minutes, 34 seconds
the the playoff and and and can, you know, maybe do some damage as they get healthier or is this a team that loses and then, you know, you’re talking about
1:11:43
1 hour, 11 minutes, 43 seconds
a nonplayoff bowl game and u people are calculating his buyout, which is still very big by the way. It’s almost $70 million. You know, every time I see
1:11:52
1 hour, 11 minutes, 52 seconds
Kalin speak like at halftime or or after a game or in a press conference, he seems uncomfortable or nervous, but yet
1:12:00
1 hour, 12 minutes
I remember I covered Washington in that Sugar Bowl when they beat Texas and he was nervous and seemed uncomfortable and he was kind of nervous and uncomfortable
1:12:08
1 hour, 12 minutes, 8 seconds
at the press conference when he was named the Alabama coach. Is that just kind of his uh personality or or you know, what do you read there?
1:12:17
1 hour, 12 minutes, 17 seconds
Yeah, I think that’s fair. you know, he’s not um he’s not the the sort of like you think of the Alabama coach, you
1:12:25
1 hour, 12 minutes, 25 seconds
think of Nick Sabin, you think of Bear Bryant, like he’s not that sort of personality in terms of just commanding the room.
1:12:31
1 hour, 12 minutes, 31 seconds
Um just having the right words at the right time, right? Exactly. Yeah. It’s just it it’s
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not the most traditional football coach persona. Um, and you know, I think Alabama fans have have tried to kind of
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wrap their heads around that a little bit and you know, the fact that he’s not from the South, I think probably adds to
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that a little bit. Um, but, you know, it it’s tough sometimes with him because they have some of these great moments
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and I think he he deserves a lot of credit at at those times for uh holding the team together. you know, going on
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the in on the road in the playoffs last year at Oklahoma. They’re down 17- nothing and they come back and they win that game and you can kind of sense the
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confidence and the relief and um just this whole idea from him that his his way of doing things is working. And then
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you go out the next game against Indiana and you know sometimes it’s the things that he says that that kind of drives people nuts around here. And after the
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Indiana game he said it’s a fine line between winning and losing and they lost 38-3.
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Mhm. And then that that same line he used after the Tennessee game two weeks ago and that was, you know, not a particularly close game as well. And
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sometimes, you know, his words kind of drive people nuts. He’s a very positive um, you know, reassuring. He wants his
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players to kind of rally around one another. He’s not the sort of coach who’s going to walk into the room and start, you know, ripping people apart.
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Uh, that’s just not his personality. And again, I think Alabama fans have had to adjust to that. Mike, what’s would how
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would you characterize Alabama fans sentiment towards Lane Keifin at LSU? I know he was the
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offensive coordinator for Sabin, very successful there for a couple of years, but but what do they think about him now as the head coach at LSU?
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I think it’s there’s a lot of mixed opinions there. It’s a lot of complicated thoughts because, you know, we obviously have a lot of people on our
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message board that remember what he did at Alabama um offensively and turning that offense around where it became
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something that was much more modern, you know, 10 or 11 years ago under Nick Sabin. And the fact that Nick Sabin wanted him and the fact that Nick Sabin
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hired him and has a lot of respect for him, I think carries weight with Alabama fans and they believe that he knows the culture of Alabama under Sabin. he knows
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the culture of of football in Tuscaloosa. Um, which, you know, I think sometimes is a criticism of Kayla Debor, you know, does he know that? Um, but at
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the same time, I think they they see everything else with Lane and in some of the movement. Um, going from Old Miss to
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LSU, etc. They read John Talty’s book and they read some of those stories.
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They they understand that there’s probably a lot more. if there was a world where Lane Keifin was the Alabama coach somehow somewhere that there would
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be a lot more that would come along with it. Uh especially, you know, compared to a guy like Kaylin Dbor who’s just kind of boring and um you know, and safe.
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Like there’s nothing you have to worry about with with Nick with uh with Kayla Dbor. So, you know, I think it kind of
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goes both ways. I I think there’s definitely a it’s almost like an intrigue. I don’t know if respect or admiration is quite the word, but it’s an intrigue. Like
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what would it look like if Lane Keifin one day somehow was the coach here? You never know. It might happen, Mike.
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You never know. That’s right. You never know.
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Boy, that would just send all LSU fans to the bridge. Not again.
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What’s What’s interesting is is I was asking it from a perception of him staying as the LSU coach and how they thought about facing him, but you
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immediately took it to him becoming the Alabama coach.
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Hey, there’s people on our message board, they they have already called for it that they want to pay the $70 million, get rid of Kayla Deborah and go
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find Lane Kein. I’ I’ve seen it on our own board, Mike. Uh Nick is not from the South, by the way. West Virginia. I don’t count West Virginia as the South. Do you?
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Uh no, no, but Kaylin Dbor is from uh from South Dakota. And I think uh I think there’s there’s just it’s it’s at some points I
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think people are just you know they there’s not one of us. It’s like you want a southern coach to be the coach at Alabama. That’s a little bit silly. Um
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but I think it’s it’s still something he has to fight a little bit.
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Well, Brian Kelly’s available and he has a good southern accent.
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It’s true.
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All right, Mike. Uh it should be a fascinating game a week from Saturday.
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Thanks for chatting with us about it tonight.
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Yeah, you got it, guys. Thank you. All right, Mike Rodak who covers Alabama for 247 sports. We’ll be back after this here on Tiger Rag Radio.
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We’re back to Tiger Rag Radio.
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We’re back here on Tiger Rag Radio. Jeff Polalmo along with Todd Horn, Glenn Gilbo. LSU ranked number 15 in the AP
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poll. It just seems like they are, especially the way they’ve played.
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Granted, a Mississippi State team that didn’t have its two best offensive weapons and then a Auburn team that was
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that was overmatched. And I give you a lot of credit, Todd. You you called it last week. You felt like LSU would go
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into Jonah Harris Stadium and win that game convincingly. I believe that’s that was your take last week and they could have won it by a lot more, but Lane kind of called the dogs.
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And and I also want to take credit for my South Carolina prediction over Tennessee, too.
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Yeah, I figured you would. We we kind of had that that debate right before the game. I would like to if we’re going to throw credit around, I’ll take some on
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Texas miss. I was questioned pretty heavily on that. Yes, you were.
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All right. Well, LSU’s uh while it’s been complete chaos the last two weekends in college football. I mean, LSU has handled its business and they
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they look like a team that’s just kind of lying in the weeds right now. People have forgotten about them because they lost to Old Miss. I’m talking about people nationally maybe and that’s why
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you look at this number 15 ranking. Um they lost to Miss, they lost to Kentucky. I think there’s a lot of people that they look at the schedule
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coming up and they say, “Oh, they got Alabama, they got Texas, they got Tennessee, there’s maybe another loss or a second loss there, but they really
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haven’t seen how well they have played here these last two weeks.” Uh here’s some interesting comments from Peter Burns with the SEC Network.
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Grabbing this product and making it look like that on the field. It’s taken a couple weeks to do it and you can tell he said when we don’t shoot ourselves in
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the foot, i.e. the turnovers that Levit had when we don’t make bad decisions, i.e. not going for it on fourth and one to salt the game against Kentucky. They
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are the most dangerous team in college football. I’m not saying they’re the best, but I think that their agame surpasses anybody else’s agame in this conference and maybe the sport.
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I would say that I would agree with you that they have the highest ceiling. I think of the teams that are competitors to get in the college football playoff, they have the lowest floor as well where
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they do have the the tendency to to have self-inflicted errors that cost them ball games. But I’m with you.
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I I think LSU I mean they really have a good chance of winning out. Uh the the only game I think is that’s dangerous is
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that Tennessee game and and I don’t think is Tennessee is that great. It’s just it’s on the road.
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Brandon Walker had um a similar take from Bar Stol. He said that he believes that LSU will be the last team from the
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SEC standing this year. He he’s not predicting a national championship, but he thinks the last team that will still be alive in the college football playoffs will be LSU.
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Well, I I kind of share that sentiment right now, too, because I do believe that they are playing really good football right now, and I think it’s
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only just begun. I think that, you know, Levit coming off of the injury, not practicing in the spring, la we’ve heard
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it all before, but these are also, as Glenn has pointed out numerous times during the preseason and in the early part of the season, 60 new players.
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They’re all coming together and and they’re not just coming together in the sense of, oh, they’ve they’re they’re feeling good about each other. They’re
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executing and they’re executing at high high level right now compared to what they were when they blew Clemson out,
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you know, even whenever they beat uh Texas A&M a couple of weeks ago. They’re they’re they’re playing a different level of football right now. And if
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they’re able to take down Alabama, which I think they will because I think they’re better than Alabama and I think they’re better than Texas,
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I agree with Glenn. Tennessee is scary because it’s on the road. Yeah, but it’s what what scares me the most
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about Tennessee is that physical defense that they have, but they have no offense.
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Plus the shade orange, the shade of orange that they wear. Disgusting.
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I tell you what fears me more um or scares me more in it is the fact that it’s November and crazy stuff happens in
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November. meaning that some teams at the end of a season or whatever it may be,
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you just crazy bounce whatever it may happen. Um, but they certainly when they
1:21:45
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are, as Peter said, when they are playing at the top of their game and and Levit is doing what he’s doing and this defense is smothering opposing offenses
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like they’ve been doing, it’s hard to imagine that anybody’s going to want to face this team in the college football playoffs. Yeah. And uh they got Tradez Green back.
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Yeah, that’s the biggest thing. I mean that that’s your third down guy. I mean he is such a huge player and Lane even said that’s why I went into the tank, you
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know, lost. That was an amazing comment. And you know the defense has gotten so much better, right?
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And you I tell you what, you miss could lose their next two games. They got they got Auburn at Miss and then they got Georgia at Miss and and they they lost
1:22:26
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to a pretty average Texas team last week. They’re fixing to be out of it, I think. But, um, you know, and I I like,
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uh, I almost like LSU’s chances better against a good defense like, uh, Texas because I just think Lane can figure those guys out.
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But Alabama’s offense, they got a lot of weapons, you know? So, this is a big test for Blake, but he’s been doing well.
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The the other thing is is that when you look at all the schedules, this is it.
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This is it for Alabama. if they beat if they can get past LSU, they’ve they’ve got to cruise the rest of the way because they don’t play anybody else.
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On the other hand, LSU has a really very rough schedule.
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All right, let’s take a break. We’ll wrap up the show when we come back here on Tiger Rag Radio. This is Tiger Rag Radio.
1:23:13
1 hour, 23 minutes, 13 seconds
All right, wrapping up the show here on Tiger Rag Radio. Was a good show. Uh, a lot of great stuff regarding the life of
1:23:21
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Dale Brown. I want to thank our guest here tonight, Kent Low, uh Tim Brando, and then obviously uh got an opportunity
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to uh talk about the Alabama game as well with Mike Rodak from 247 Sports.
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And we’re a little over a week away. You feel good about LSU beating Alabama?
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I do. I think Alabama is not as good of a team as LSU is right now. And I I mean that from a matchup standpoint, more
1:23:46
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than a schematic standpoint. I am interested to see LSU’s defense. And I’m not saying that I don’t trust LSU’s defense, but when we when they have
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faced um when they have faced a one-dimensional offense, they have just absolutely
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crushed it. Let’s see when there’s a few more weapons out there how they’re able to handle it.
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Yeah. Well, but Alabama again is struggling with the running game.
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They’ll probably turn it around a little bit coming in here after a week off. But the other thing is is Tennessee just beat the crap out of them physically and
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I think LSU has a little bit of physicalness in them. Yeah.
1:24:25
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Quick note on Daddy Dale Brown from 78 to 81. He was 6 and2 against Kentucky.
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Eight his 18 wins over Kentucky in his career. 32 33 losses, but his 18 wins over Kentucky most by any other SEC coach over Kentucky.
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All right, that’s a good way to end the show. Thanks guys. For the latest in LSU sports, check out tiger.com. For Case, for Glenn, for Todd, I’m Jeff Polarmo.
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Thanks for listening. We’ll be back with you again next week as we’ll preview LSU and Bama and look ahead to a huge weekend of college football on November
1:24:58
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7th. Until then, have a great night, everyone.
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1 hour, 25 minutes, 2 seconds
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1:25:06
1 hour, 25 minutes, 6 seconds
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