The LSU Board of Supervisors voted to name the basketball court of the Pete Maravich Assembly Center after former head-basketball coach Dale Brown during their Sept. 10 meeting.

The decision passed with 12 votes in favor of the resolution and 3 votes against.

Brown, the most successful basketball coach in the history of the university, led the team for 25 years between 1972 and 1997 and coached several notable players, including Shaquille O’Neal. Former basketball players made public statements at the board meeting praising their former coach as a friend and champion against inequality. 

Brown spent 5 years of his career at LSU leading a letter-writing and phone calling campaign to reform NCAA rules. Thirty-four of the 43 rules he sought to change were changed or removed. Brown’s rule changes affect 800,000 student athletes annually including low-income students and women athletes, according to former NCAA official David Didion.  

Among the dissenting votes were Supervisor Mary Werner. Werner argued that the court be named after female basketball coach Sue Gunter for her contributions to the university, including a 1984-85 post-season invitational championship season. Gunter has a statue in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. Brown has yet to be honored in the arena. 
A notion was proposed to name the court after both coaches. It was defeated with 12 members voting against it and three voting for it.