GLENN GUILBEAU, Tiger Rag Editor
In the end, it was worth the speeding ticket John Brady got near Bunkie in the spring of 1997 shortly after being hired as LSU men’s basketball coach.
He and assistant coach Butch Pierre were on their way to the future, and to Shreveport, to see Fair Park High sensation Stromile Swift, a 6-foot-9 forward/center who was one of the top players in the nation.
They desperately needed him for the 1998-99 season and beyond.
Brady would finish 9-18 and 2-14 in the Southeastern Conference that first season in 1997-98 with a rag-tag team. LSU basketball was in the dark ages at the time. Legendary coach Dale Brown had announced his retirement in January of his 25th season in 1996-97, which ended up at 10-20 (3-13 SEC). That was his fourth straight in which he had losing ledgers overall and in the SEC.
That after 10 straight trips to the NCAA Tournament from 1984-93 with his second Final Four in 1986, an Elite Eight in 1987, his third SEC regular season championship in 1985 and a fourth in 1991 with Shaquille O’Neal. No other non-Kentucky SEC coach won more than four league titles after 1991 through 2010 before Florida’s Billy Donovan won his fifth in 2011. Brown also was the SEC’s second all-time winningest coach behind Kentucky’s Adolph Rupp (876) with 448 for nearly 20 years after he retired before Donovan passed him in 2014 and left the SEC in 2015 with 476.
Brady’s 12-15 and 4-12 season in his second year in 1998-99 was LSU’s sixth straight losing ledger both overall and in the SEC, which was the most since seven straight like that from 1955-61.
Brady also inherited an NCAA investigation from the Brown era that would result in a three-year probation and significant scholarship limitations from 1999 through 2002. He took a job that other more high-profile candidates turned down. But to Brady, who was 42 and in his sixth season as coach at tiny Samford in Birmingham, Alabama, LSU was his big chance.
He immediately hired two graduate assistants and friends from his time as a Mississippi State assistant coach from 1982-90 – Kermit Davis, who was a head coach at Idaho, and Texas A&M in the 1990s, and Pierre, a talented recruiter and coach who was an assistant at Kentucky State, Louisiana-Lafayette and UNC-Charlotte. Brady also hired young Donnie Tyndall, who was an assistant at Iowa Central Community College and the head coach of St. Catharine College in Kentucky.
As he and Pierre sped through rural central Louisiana, little did he know it would be darkest before the sweetness. But he did know that Swift could be the next best thing to Shaq.
“When we signed Stromile, it changed the whole trajectory,” Brady said at a press conference last Jan. 31 with Swift at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center in conjunction with a 25-year reunion that weekend. The players, coaches, family and friends had a party that night at Walk-Ons near the LSU campus and were honored the next day during the LSU-Texas game at the Assembly Center.
“One of the best players to ever wear an LSU basketball uniform,” Brady told Swift, who was picked second overall as a sophomore by Vancouver in the 2000 NBA Draft. “He’s the guy who changed it for us.”
Another season or two of Swift, who was the SEC Player of the Year in 2000 with averages of 16.2 points, 8.2 rebounds and 2.7 blocks, and Brady wouldn’t have missed the lost scholarships as much. And Swift might be literally next to Shaq.
“If he would’ve stayed another year, he may have a statue out there,” Brady said in reference to the four statues behind the Assembly Center – Bob Pettit, Pistol Pete Maravich, Shaquille O’Neal and Seimone Augustus.
But it didn’t look good for Brady and Pierre when they arrived at the Swift’s home that morning in 1997 not long before lunch with a ticket and on NCAA probation.
“Stromile was asleep when we got there,” Brady said. “I’m like, “This isn’t going to work.’”
STROMILE SWIFT’S MOTHER, MARY SWIFT, SWAYED HER SON TO LSU
But Brady and Pierre had Stromile’s mother, Mary Swift, in their corner.
“His mother was behind what we were doing and trying to do for Stromile,” Brady said. “That was a big part of the equation – when the parents are supporting what the coaches are trying to do. Stromile had no out, nowhere to go, and he adjusted.”
“I tried to leave later,” Swift interjected laughing, because his freshman season of 1998-99 did not go great before he exploded in 1999-2000.
“His mother was a tremendous lady, who saw the bigger picture,” Brady said of Mary Swift, who has passed away. “She allowed us to challenge him and coach him. And he responded. And just a good humble guy. He was raised right.”
Brady and Pierre also would have another recruiting advantage they were not aware of at the time of their run-in with Bunkie Law in 1997. Several months after Brady’s home visit and after he almost got another ticket on the way back through Bunkie, LSU Football would pull in Swift. He just happened to visit the LSU campus on the weekend of the Tigers’ monumental, 28-21 upset of defending national champion Florida in Tiger Stadium on the night of Oct. 11, 1997.
“Coach doesn’t know this, because I never told him,” Swift said. “But on my recruiting trip, LSU was playing Florida – the No. 1 team in the country. That night, I said, ‘I’m coming to LSU.’”
It was a slam dunk choice by Brady and his staff to pick that weekend for the recruiting visit.
“It was like I lost my mind in Tiger Stadium,” Swift said. “Before I knew it, I had done run out on the field. I was hanging on the goal post. When I got back to the stands, my mom was like, ‘Boy, what the hell’s wrong with you? I ain’t never seen you that crazy.’”
Swift decided he wanted to duplicate that Saturday night in Tiger Stadium in the Assembly Center.
BOOGER MCFARLAND AND KEVIN FAULK RECRUITED STROMILE SWIFT
“That feeling of just being in that atmosphere, it was amazing,” he said. “I was supposed to be with basketball players that night. I ended up being with Kevin Faulk, Booger McFarland, other football players. It was cool.”
And Swift desired to be Louisiana proud even before that night in Death Valley.
“Always one of my main things was I wanted to see our best talent stay at home,” he said. “Just to see how what we did in the Sweet 16 season impacted Baton Rouge and the state of Louisiana was so great. And then see guys like Tyrus Thomas and Glen Davis and Tasmin Mitchell stay in Baton Rouge for school and do something special and build off of what we started. It was always good to see. It always made me proud.”
Thomas, Davis and Mitchell were all Baton Rouge area high school superstars who had their pick of colleges across the nation several years after Swift left LSU. But as Swift did, they stayed home along with Darrel Mitchell of nearby St. Martinville and Baton Rouge’s Garrett Temple – younger brother of Collis Temple III, who was a freshman on the 1999-2000 team. And they won the SEC and reached the Final Four in the 2005-06 season under Brady.
From the 2002-03 through 2005-06 seasons, LSU reached the NCAA Tournament three times in four years and had one of the best records in the SEC over that span.
“That Sweet 16 team set the table for us being able to get those players from Louisiana for those teams and the 2006 Final Four team,” Brady said. “It showed that we could get the best players from Louisiana and win. If Stromile would come to LSU, then Glen Davis and Tyrus and the others figured they could, too.”
The 1999-2000 Tigers had only nine scholarship players, but Brady and staff chose well. In addition to the 6-9 Swift, the team had 6-11 senior center Jabari Smith of Atlanta, 6-8 junior forward Brian Beshara of Dallas, 6-4 freshman guard Torris Bright of Slidell, 6-4 junior guard Lamont Roland of New Albany, Indiana, 6-6 freshman forward Ronald Dupree of Biloxi, Mississippi, and 6-8 sophomore forward Jermaine Williams of Baton Rouge.
“It didn’t take no damn NIL to get those guys,” Pierre said. “We recruited them hard, and they wanted to play at LSU. Brian Beshara was the toughest white guy in college basketball. It was a special team.”
LSU rallied from a 1-3 start in SEC play that season to finish 12-4 and win the program’s first SEC regular season title since Shaq’s and Daddy Dale’s in 1991. The Tigers were No. 4 seeds in the West Region in Salt Lake City and beat Southeast Missouri State in the first round, 64-61, on a three-pointer in the final seconds by Beshara.
LSU then beat Texas, 72-67, to advance to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1987. In Albuquerque, New Mexico, fell 61-48, to Wisconsin, which went on to the Final Four. LSU finished 28-6 with the program’s most wins since Brown’s 24-15 Elite Eight team in 1987 and the fewest losses since Brown’s first Final Four team in 1981 that went 31-5.
“We should’ve won the national championship with Stromile and Jabari,” Pierre said.
“The common denominator with that team was the competitive spirit that flowed through it,” Brady said. “I mean these guys thought they could beat anybody. And they matched with work ethic what they said they could do. When that happens, you can really win. It was a special year for a group of special guys that really cared about one another.”
And they were led by Swift.
“Stromile was a quiet leader,” said Dupree, who went on to become a star forward and lead the Tigers to the 2002-03 NCAA Tournament, said at the party. “It was terrific for me to see and witness how he did that.”
Bright was a co-freshman of the year in 1999-2000 with 15 double-figure scoring games and 10 games with six or more assists.
“I had fun at LSU. I probably slept three hours in four years,” Bright said. “But the coaches got the most out of us.”
Brady had issues with Bright at times and other players here and there during his time at LSU as he was a disciplinarian, but he had virtually no trouble in the Sweet 16 season.
“When you coach and your best player is one of your lowest maintenance guys, it’s great,” Brady said. “You didn’t have to tell Stromile to go to class or to work hard. He was always on time. And that sets the tone for your whole team and enables you to coach the other players. He was not a distraction. He wasn’t a diva. And he knew he was the best player on the team. And everybody else knew it, too.”
WALK-ONS WAS PERFECT LOCATION FOR THIS REUNION
LSU picking Walk-Ons’ back deck for the reunion dinner and party that Friday night was the perfect choice. Because that restaurant – now a vastly successful national chain with 75 locations in 15 states – was started by two walk-ons from that Sweet 16 team – guard Jack Warner, who was born in Baton Rouge, and guard Brandon Landry of nearby White Castle who played at Catholic High.
Many of the players on the team and all the coaches took a microphone and spoke of their memories in front of a crowd of family and friends.
“We named the restaurant Walk-Ons because that’s what Brady called us,” Landry said at the party. “He couldn’t remember our names. So, he’d say, ‘Hey, walk-on, get your butt in there!’”
But Brady is yet to garner any financial kickback.
“It’s a little disappointing to me that I used to call them walk-ons all the time, and I’m not in the deal, you know,” Brady said. “Doesn’t make any sense to me.”
Brady does have an emotional bank account from that team no franchise could match. Swift felt the same way.
“It’s an absolute pleasure and honor to be here,” Swift said at the party. “LSU wasn’t my first choice. Georgetown was. But they gave up on me. and so did a lot of other schools because of my ACT scores. But LSU waited on me, and my scores went up. Then I went to that football game.”
Swift didn’t see eye-to-eye with Brady at first.
“He got on me my freshman year,” he said. “After I had a terrible game at Florida, especially. I had never had a white guy talk to me the way Coach Brady did. I was steamin’ hot after that. I wanted to leave.”
But Brady had stayed in contact with Stromile’s mom, so she would know what happened.
“And she convinced me to stay,” Swift said said. “I’m glad she did. It was one of the best decisions I ever made.”
For Swift and for Brady.
“Louisiana players knew if they came here, you could do something really significant. This guy to my left did us all a favor. I’ll never forget it. And I’m appreciative of it,” Brady said at the party as his voice cracked with emotion.
“I appreciate you coach,” Swift said and also got choked up. “I needed a coach like you. When I got here I didn’t know what to expect. My high school coach was not aggressive with me. He didn’t hold us accountable. He just told me everything I wanted to hear.”
That wasn’t the case at LSU.
“When I got here, it was a different story with coach Brady, coach Pierre, coach Kermit, coach Donnie Tyndall – those guys pushed me to a level that I didn’t know that I could reach,” Swift said.
Davis went on to reach three NCAA Tournaments as the head coach at Middle Tennessee State and another NCAA Tournament as Ole Miss’ head coach. Pierre remained at LSU with Brady.
“Coach Davis was such a defensive genius. He and coach Brady always had us ready to play,” Swift said. “And the friends that I made here and my teammates, it’s just been a blessing for me.”
Everything clicked with this team – the talent and the coaching.
“I want to thank the coaching staff because they don’t get enough credit for that season,” said Smith, who averaged 12.5 points 7.0 rebounds with 33 blocked shots to Swift’s 95 in 1999-2000 before going in the second round to Sacramento. He played four seasons in the NBA. His son, Jabari Smith Jr., was the third pick of the 2022 NBA Draft out of Auburn by Houston.
“Coach Brady just said he was an a– hole when he was coaching,” Smith said. “But he wasn’t. He was a tough coach, and he made us better.”
At one time, Beshara may have agreed with Brady’s assessment of himself. The two feuded at times. There was even an unfriendly chest bump during a win over Oklahoma State at the Sugar Bowl Classic in New Orleans on Dec. 30, 1999.
“The next time we were at practice, coach Brady just comes up to me,” Beshara said at the party. “He goes, ‘We good?’ And I go, ‘We good.’ And that was about it. We had such a unique mix of talented guys. We were competitive and fiery, but we got along.”
It just worked.
“I appreciate all you guys for coming here,” Brady said at the party. “I was in coaching for 41 years. And sometimes it just happens. And sometimes you just never know if a team is going to hit. Well, we hit it that year in 2000.”
THE 1999-2000 SWEET 16, SEC CHAMPION LSU TIGERS
-STROMILE SWIFT, Sophomore, F … 16.2 points, 8.2 rebounds, 2.7 blocks
-JABARI SMITH, Senior, C … 12.5 points, 7.0 rebounds
-BRIAN BESHARA, Junior, F … 11 points, 5.1 rebounds
-LAMONT ROLAND, Junior G … 10.9 points, 4.6 rebounds
-TORRIS BRIGHT, Freshman G … 10.0 points, 4.3 assists
-RONALD DUPREE, Freshman F … 4.9 points, 3.3 rebounds
-JERMAINE WILLIAMS, Sophomore F … 4.7 points, 2.4 rebounds
-COLLIS TEMPLE III, Freshman G … 4.0 points, 1.6 rebounds
-BRAD BRIDGEWATER, Sophomore F … 1.7 points, 1.2 rebounds
-JACK WARNER, Junior G … 0.9 points, 0.2 rebounds
-BRANDON LANDRY, Sophomore G … 0.8 points, 0.1 rebounds
-BRIAN GREEN, Freshman G … 0.4 points, 0.4 rebounds
-EDMOND DAVIS, Freshman G … 0.9 points, 0.1 rebounds
HEAD COACH: John Brady
ASSISTANT COACHES: Kermit Davis, Jr., Butch Pierre, Donnie Tyndall
ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT: Scott Osborne
HEAD TRAINER: Andrew Shea
FINAL RECORD: 28-6
SEC RECORD: 12-4 co-champions with Florida, Tennessee and Kentucky
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