Vitale clarifies Dale Brown Court name change remarks
BATON ROUGE, La. – ESPN college basketball analyst Dick Vitale clarified his thoughts on LSU potentially altering the name of its basketball court – Dale Brown Court – to include former women’s basketball coach Sue Gunter on Sunday.
Vitale tweeted on Friday that he believes it is “absurd” Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards wants to change the name of the court after LSU had named it after former men’s basketball coach Dale Brown in January 2022.
“(Brown) has unbelievably earned that opportunity through his incredible years of developing such great PR for LSU basketball. I mean, bringing in guys like Shaquille O’Neal and some of the greats. It’s just unreal for all the years of what he did. And he got honored,” Vitale said to The Daily Advertiser, part of the USA TODAY Network. “It has nothing to do with (Gunter). Sue was, from what I know and heard over the years, was an outstanding coach, very deserving of being honored.”
Vitale believes that Gunter should still be honored but not at the expense of changing the court’s name.
“Honor her in her own individual capacity in some way. Create something that she can feel good about (and) they can feel good about,” Vitale said. “But don’t take away from a man who’s been named (and had) the court dedicated after him already. I mean, it’s just not right. It’s not fair.”
According to WAFB, a vote will be held this Friday among LSU’s board of supervisors to alter the name of the court to include Gunter’s name. Fox Sports broadcaster Tim Brando, who also strongly disapproves of the potential change – has said that LSU President William V. Tate and Edwards have been pushing to change the name of the court.
Brown won 448 games in 25 years at LSU. He reached two Final Fours with the Tigers in 1981 and 1986 while also winning four Southeastern Conference championships. Gunter won 442 games in 22 years at LSU, leading the Tigers to three Elite Eight appearances and to the NCAA Tournament 14 times before she died in 2005.
“I have great respect for Sue or anybody that does a great job at a university,” Vitale said. “But, gee whiz. To come now and change something that was done, it’s just not logical. It’s not realistic.”