Former LSU AD JOE DEAN died early Sunday in Baton Rouge at 83. Dean served as LSU AD from '87-'00. During a marketing stint with Converse earlier in his career, he signed promotional contracts with the top coaches nationally and with numerous future HOF players, including MAGIC JOHNSON and LARRY BIRD (LSU). In Baton Rouge, Ross Dellenger notes Dean during his LSU tenure oversaw "the basketball team's five national championships and hiring of former football coach NICK SABAN." He improved the facilities and "instilled a strict money-managing structure that fixed LSU's budget mess in the late 1980s." Dean's 14-year tenure as AD "is the longest in LSU history" (Baton Rouge ADVOCATE, 11/18). The AP noted Dean during his tenure played a role in $50M in facility improvements and saw LSU teams win 27 national championships, along with 40 SEC titles. From '69-'87, Dean also was "an analyst on SEC basketball broadcasts" (AP, 11/17). Dean's son, Birmingham-Southern AD JOE DEAN JR., said, "We didn't expect it, so it's really tough." SEC Associate Commissioner HERB VINCENT, who was hired by Dean as LSU SID in '88, said, "I'm not sure if anybody has had a big impact over several generations on LSU like Joe Dean did, and I don't know if anybody had a deeper love for LSU as Joe Dean did" (New Orleans TIMES-PICAYUNE, 11/18). In Baton Rouge, Scott Rabalais writes there was "no one in LSU athletic history quite like Joe Dean, and his legacy at the school he loved and throughout the sports world is certain to endure." Few had "as much of an impact on SEC basketball and sports overall." CBS' TIM BRANDO said, "I can't think of anyone who impacted intercollegiate sports on more platforms than Joe Dean" (Baton Rouge ADVOCATE, 11/18). NBC's TOM HAMMOND said Dean, his former broadcast partner, "was hugely important in popularizing basketball in the south" (Baton Rouge ADVOCATE, 11/18).
