Dean was born on June 1, 1968 in Ruston, Louisiana to Walter, a concrete company dispatcher, and Betty Dean, an administrative secretary at Grambling State University. He also has a younger brother who played soccer, Keith, who was one of Louisiana's leading interscholastic players, and with whom he shared a bunk-bed according to their mother. Walter Dean attended Grambling State University Laboratory High School in Grambling, Louisiana and turned down offers from major college football programs such as Nebraska and Louisiana State in order to attend Grambling State. Dean said, "I wanted to go to a college where everybody I knew wouldn't have to sign up for a frequent-flyer program in order to see me play."