Joe Dean Jr., who followed in his father's footsteps to become an SEC basketball broadcaster and who also had a successful career as a coach and athletic director, has died at the age of 71.
Dean Jr. played basketball for the Mississippi State Bulldogs under coach Kermit Davis Sr. and parlayed that into a coaching career, first as an MSU graduate ***** istant, then as an ***** istant coach at Kentucky. He was a member of the coaching staff on the 1978 national championship squad.
Dean served as head coach at Birmingham-Southern from 1983-89, putting together a 137-45 record and two trips to the NAIA Tournament. He later coached UCF from 1989-93, compiling a record of 37-73.
After that, he started broadcasting SEC games for Jefferson-Pilot Sports (later Raycom Sports) and Fox Sports, as well as the SEC Network, often working alongside Tim Brando. He popularized the catchphrase "string music," which was also a tribute to his father, Joe Dean Sr., who was also an SEC broadcaster.
"Joe Jr. was a walking talking memorial to his legendary father, and he loved that," Brando wrote in an X post. "Now, he's done suffering and is with his best friend 'Mr. String Music' for eternity. We shared some awesome moments together covering SEC basketball."

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