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Home > Blogs > Wright State University sports > Archives > 2010 > April > 14
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Donlon will get five-year contract at Wright State
FAIRBORN — The financial terms are not officially set, but Billy Donlon will get a five-year contract as Wright State’s basketball coach, athletic director Bob Grant said.
Donlon, who was introduced on Wednesday, April 14, to replace mentor Brad Brownell, will also start recruiting on Friday for six days. Coaches are allowed to visit recruits Friday through April 21.
Brownell, who spent four seasons at Wright State, left to become the basketball coach at Clemson on Tuesday.
Brownell’s first contract, in 2006, was for six years and paid him a base salary of $220,000. In 2008, Brownell received an extension through the 2014 season and a raise to $365,000.
Brownell’s contract also included:
— A bonus of one month’s salary for him and his assistants for each game played in the NCAA tournament.
— A bonus of one month’s salary for him and his assistants for an NIT appearance.
— A $500 bonus for being named Horizon League coach of the year.
— A $750 bonus for being named the Wright State athletic department coach of the year.
— Use of a car.
— Membership at Country Club of the North.
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TweetDonlon has basketball blood, passion for Wright State
FAIRBORN — After Billy Donlon finished the at-the-podium portion of the news conference introducing him as the new basketball coach at Wright State on Wednesday, April 14, he stepped aside for one-on-one interviews.
We asked him how long he had aspirations of being a head coach.
“Probably when I got out of the womb,” said Donlon, 33, who was coach Brad Brownell’s top assistant before Brownell left for Clemson on Tuesday. “I come from such a basketball family. My grandfather played in the first doubleheader for St. John’s at Madison Square Garden, my uncle played at Naval Academy, my dad played at Virginia Commonwealth, my sister played at Fordham. My mom played, my aunts played, my dad was a coach for 35 years.
“But basketball was never forced upon us. It was forced upon us to be around, because it was my dad’s profession, so you went to games and were at games. The only thing ever forced upon us was we were going to work hard in something.”
There was one time he tried another job other than basketball. It didn’t work out.
“I remember at an early age when I said, ‘Eh, I’m not sure if I wanna do this basketball thing,’ and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to any other sport,” Donlon said. “My mom and dad said, ‘Well, you’re gonna get a job.’ So I got a job driving an ice cream truck … I mean, an ice cream bike, had the big freezer on the front driving around in the summers. I was in seventh or eighth grade. So I’m driving around, and it’s hot, riding around, sweating, trying to make money. I said, ‘Hey, being in the gym is a lot more fun, trying to become a good player is a lot more fun.’ “
And Donlon, indeed, was a good player. As a senior at Glenbrook North High School in the Chicago area, Donlon was a second-team All-State pick by the Chicago Tribune. Then he went on to play at North Carolina-Wilmington, where he left in 1999 as the school’s all-time assists leader after averaging 5.6 and 5.2 assists as a junior and senior.
Brownell was an assistant coach at UNC-Wilmington when Donlon was a player — in fact, Donlon still refers to Brownell as “Coach Brownell” — and hired Donlon as a UNC-Wilmington assistant in 2002. Donlon came with Brownell to Wright State in 2006.
It was clear both from his comments at the podium and comments in private that Donlon is passionate about the school. He also said he feels prepared to be a head coach.
“Certainly anytime you’re moved into a new job or a different job, there are some things you’re probably going to have to learn on the fly,” Donlon said. “This is where I’m so appreciative to coach Brownell, (because) any time anything came up in our program, he met with me in his office, and he told me this is what’s going on. He didn’t hide anything from me, and I was involved.”
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TweetDonlon officially named Wright State basketball coach
FAIRBORN — After spending eight seasons as an assistant for Brad Brownell, including the past four at Wright State, Billy Donlon earned his first head coaching job on Wednesday, April 14, when he was introduced as Wright State’s eighth coach in a news conference at the Nutter Center.
“Our players know this,” said Donlon, 33, who became the youngest coach in the Horizon League. “There are two words they’re going to hear me say all the time, hard and work. Just hard work.”
The first congratulations came from baseball coach Rob Cooper, who shook hands with Donlon as he and athletic director Bob Grant emerged into the Nutter Center’s Berry Room from a side room. Donlon replaces Brownell, who left Wright State for Clemson on Tuesday.
“I always have a short list,” Grant said. “I have one on my computer right now for almost any position we could have open.”
In this case, though, the search was short.
“But you know what, many times you don’t need a big, long list,” Grant said.
Donlon, a former UNC-Wilmington point guard, was hired by Brownell as an assistant at the school when Brownell was promoted to head coach in 2002. He came with Brownell to Wright State in 2006.
Almost from that moment, fans of the program have been privately lobbying to keep Donlon at Wright State if Brownell left to take another job, which almost seemed a foregone conclusion. People around the program like his recruiting style, his enthusiasm and his on-court smarts.
It will be Donlon’s first job without Brownell since he served as an assistant at St. Peter’s in 2000-01 before playing professionally in Germany for a year. He held one other job, as an assistant at American University in 1999-2000, his first year out of college.
Wright State should see some similarities between Brownell and Donlon, especially because they were similar enough and together long enough that they sometimes jokingly referred to themselves as acting like “an old married couple.”
Donlon’s hiring clearly signals that the university and athletic administration like what’s happening with the program (after four straight 20-win seasons) and want to keep things moving in the same direction.
“We need to have a borderline arrogance about how great this place is,” Donlon said, “nothing to do with basketball.”
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TweetView from Clemson: Impressive debut for Brownell
So, the people of Clemson might not have jumped for immediate joy when Brad Brownell was hired as basketball coach on Tuesday, April 13:
Brad Brownell isn’t the flashiest or best-known name in college basketball. In fact, I’d be surprised if more than 10 Clemson fans had ever heard of him before Oliver Purnell left for DePaul last week.
That said, they know him now. Brownell, 41, was energetic and impressive in his introductory press conference as the Tigers’ new head coach today.
When Brownell met with reporters in Clemson, S.C., on Tuesday after leaving Wright State after four seasons, we had reporters and radio talk show hosts ringing our phones at the office looking for information and interviews. That said two things: They didn’t know much about Brownell already, and there was intense interest in the hire.
That’s the one question mark with Brownell: How he’ll handle a larger media contingent and different expectations. But from the media reports, he certainly started well in his first get-together.
This from Greg Wallace of the Anderson (S.C.) Independent Mail (linked above):
In some ways, he’s a hardwood version of (football coach) Dabo Swinney — a very energetic, enthusiastic, young leader.
“He and Dabo in the same room,” (athletic director) Terry Don Phillips joked, “there might not be enough oxygen for the rest of us to survive.”
Ron Morris of The (Columbia, S.C.) State, wrote that Butler coach Brad Stevens was one of Brownell’s best references:
While the recruiting question might hang over Brownell’s head for a while, there is little doubt about his coaching skills. Phillips believed he had the right fit for Clemson after he hung up the telephone last week following a conversation with Butler coach Brad Stevens.
“When we start working in October, we’re going to work on things Wright State does because they are so well-coached,” Phillips recalls Stevens telling him.
Travis Sawchik of The (Charleston) Post and Courier talked to several Clemson players, who showed support:
Clemson guard Andre Young said the Tigers must reach out to Brownell after he reached out to the team Tuesday. Young does not think any players will transfer.
“I’m definitely pleased with the hire,” Young said. “I think I can speak for the team when I say I’m excited.”
Scott Keepfer of The Greenville News talked with several other college coaches and got plenty of positive reaction:
“This is a good hire for Clemson,” said Texas coach Rick Barnes, himself a former Clemson coach. “He really wanted the job, and that is important. His teams play a similar style to what we did at Clemson and I feel that style can be successful at Clemson. One of my current assistants (Rodney Terry) was an assistant with Brad at UNC Wilmington. He said Brad will have his teams prepared (for the opposition) very well.”
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