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April 2010
Wiffle Ball during dreaded practice turns around WSU softball season
The Wright State softball players were no doubt dreading their practice on April 15.
The Raiders had just lost six consecutive games, including a sweep by Horizon League leader Cleveland State during which WSU lost by 2, 1 and 1 runs. Then the team blew two leads against Marshall in another pair of defeats and … well, there was plenty of conditioning expected.
Instead, first-year coach Linda Garza pulled out the Wiffle Balls.
“We just had to lighten it up,” Garza said.
After that playful practice, the Raiders have flourished. Boosted by a sweep of visiting Valparaiso this week, WSU (23-24-1, 14-7) has won nine of its past 11 games and jumped into second place in the Horizon League behind Cleveland State (16-2).
With three league games remaining — a road series against Illinois-Chicago on May 8 and 9 — Wright State seems set to take the No. 2 seed in the league tournament, which begins May 13. That would give the Raiders a bye into the semifinals.
WSU will play its final home game on Friday, April 30, against Urbana and close a weeklong homestand during which it has so far gone 5-1. For that streak, the Raiders can thank Garza’s past playing Wiffle Ball in the streets of Fresno, Calif., growing up.
“It was the thin yellow bat and baseball-sized balls,” Garza said of the defining practice. “No runners, just hit it past this line and it’s a single, past this line it’s a double, up to a home run. I think everyone really had fun.”
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TweetWSU assistant coach interviews could begin this weekend
Wright State basketball coach Billy Donlon hopes to begin interviewing candidates for three open positions on his staff as soon as this weekend.
In all, Wright State has posted five assistant coaching jobs on its website, including two for men’s basketball and three for women’s basketball for new coach Mike Bradbury, who was hired from Morehead State on April 21.
After he was promoted from assistant to head coach on April 14, Donlon promoted former director of basketball operations Scott Woods to assistant coach. By law, a promotion from within can occur without a search, Donlon said.
That leaves Donlon with two assistant spots and a director of basketball operations job to fill.
“I’m pleased about the many candidates,” Donlon said. “The pool is filled with qualified people that are excited about both Wright State University and our men’s basketball program.”
The updated Wright State basketball roster and coaching list does not include Victor Ebong, an assistant under former coach Brad Brownell.
“Vic, who is a dear friend and a great teammate, is exploring several options, including options outside of basketball,” Donlon said.
Brownell has included former WSU assistant Mike Winiecki on his staff at Clemson, which opened one of the assistant coaching spots.
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TweetNew WSU recruit to face future teammate in revered all-star games
Vance Hall, a guard from Franklin County High School (Frankfort, Ky.) who gave his commitment to Wright State on Monday, April 26, is on the Kentucky roster for the Kentucky/Indiana All-Stars Basketball Classic.
That means he’ll be going head-to-head against future teammate Kegan Clark of Jeffersonville, Ind., a member of the Indiana roster, in the two-game series. The states will play a home-and-home event on Friday, June 11, at Bellarmine University in Louisville and on Saturday, June 12, at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
Hall, a 6-foot-4 guard, was also a member of the Kentucky all-star team that faced Ohio on April 10. Kentucky lost 92-84, and Hall was the Kentucky MVP, leading the team with 12 points. Clark is another 6-4 guard.
The Indiana roster includes two Butler recruits in 6-1 Chrishawn Hopkins from Manual High School in Indianapolis and 6-9 Erik Fromm from Bloomington South High School. Another Horizon League recruit, Wisconsin-Green Bay’s 6-6 Daniel Turner from Mount Vernon High School, is on the Indiana roster.
Here are the rosters:
Player, School, College commit
DeShaun Thomas, Bishop Luers, Ohio State
Terone Johnson, North Central, Purdue
Chrishawn Hopkins, Manual, Butler
Travis Carroll, Danville, Purdue
Russell Byrd, Blackhawk Christian, Michigan State
Donnie Hale, New Albany, Purdue
Jake Kitchell, South Central, Indiana State
Erik Fromm, Bloomington South, Butler
Julian Boatner, Bloomington North, William & Mary
Kegan Clark, Jeffersonville, Wright State
Michael Harris, East Chicago Central, Undecided
Neal Beshears, Winchester, Undecided
Daniel Turner, Mount Vernon, Wisconsin-Green Bay
Tyrae Robinson, Bowman Academy, Undecided
Elisha Justice, Shelby Valley, Louisville
Ricardo Johnson, Holmes, Ohio U.
Colt Barnhill, East Carter, Undecided
Keisten Jones, Ballard, Bellarmine
Taylor Epley, Trinity, Undecided
Tanner Peurach, Lexington Catholic, Undecided
Will Evans, Lexington Christian, Ashland
Elijah Pittman, Holmes, Chipola College
Vance Hall, Franklin County, Wright State
Josh Sewell, Trinity, Miami (Ohio)
Ashley Hatfield, Shelby Valley, Undecided
Aaron Watts, McCreary Central, Undecided
Thomas Jackson, Jeffersontown, Kankakee Junior College
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TweetKentucky guard commits to Wright State
Vance Hall, a 6-foot-4 senior point guard from Frankfort, Ky., has given his commitment to play for Wright State beginning next season, Hall’s high school coach said Tuesday, April 27.
Hall, a three-year starter at Franklin County High School, averaged 24.5 points, 8.1 rebounds and 4.5 assists as a senior and called WSU coach Billy Donlon to give his commitment on Monday night, said Franklin County coach Scott Chalk.
Hall was the MVP of Kentucky’s 11th region, which includes Lexington schools, and was a second-team All-State selection, Chalk said. Hall was also the MVP for the state’s East-West All-Star game and MVP for the Kentucky team in the Ohio-Kentucky All-Star Basketball Game on April 10, as he led the Kentucky team with 12 points. He has been selected to be on the state’s roster for the Kentucky/Indiana All-Stars Basketball Classic on June 11.
“He’s very strong and very athletic,” Chalk said. “He gets into the lane well and is a good rebounder, but he can also shoot. He made about 40 percent from 3-point range for us this year.”
Franklin County finished 20-8 this season and lost in a regional semifinal, during which Hall scored 27 of the team’s 43 points, Chalk said.
With Hall’s commitment, Wright State has two open scholarships remaining for next season.
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TweetWSU baseball: 60 runs in 5 games, now in first place
Wright State entered a Friday doubleheader against Valparaiso second in the Horizon League standings. Valparaiso was first.
Close games, right?
WSU bullied Valpo with wins of 11-1 and 10-4 to jump into first place in the league with two more key games to come Saturday. The Raiders (18-15, 8-3) travel to Illinois-Chicago (12-21, 7-5), which is the league’s third-place team.
Alex Kaminsky allowed five hits in a complete-game effort in the first game to improve to 3-3 on the season, and three pitchers combined to allowed four runs on eight seconds in the second game.
But offense, like it has for the past few games, shined. The Raiders scored double digits in runs for the fifth straight game, all WSU wins. Left fielder Casey McGrew (now hitting .431) combined to go 8-for-9 in the two games in leading the power lineup.
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TweetWright State player arrested for allegedly stealing condoms
FAIRBORN — A Wright State basketball player faces a hearing next week following his arrest on a charge of stealing condoms from a convenience store.
Paul Darkwa, 27, is scheduled to appear in Fairborn Municipal Court on April 29 to face a charge of petty theft, a first-degree misdemeanor, following his arrest on Monday, April 19.
“I’m aware of the situation, and we’re gathering the facts,” said Wright State coach Billy Donlon. “We’ll certainly make just decisions based on the facts at the appropriate time. I’m disappointed Paul has put himself and our program in this situation.”
A manager at the CVS location at 900 N. Broad St. called police at 7:46 p.m. Monday and said she believed a man had taken condoms out of a box inside the store, according to a Fairborn police report. The man bought and paid for other items, including a separate box of condoms, she told police. The manager provided the officers with the empty condom box, the report said.
Police located Darkwa, a 6-foot-7, 235-pound freshman who joined the Raiders after spending eight years in the U.S. Navy and matched the description the manager provided, nearby and brought him back to the CVS. There, they found 12 condoms without a box inside a second box of 12 condoms. Darkwa had also purchased a gallon of water and a gallon of bleach, the report said.
“Paul dropped his head into his hands and advised me that what he had done was stupid,” the report said. “We spoke for a few minutes about it and he advised me that he shouldn’t have taken the condoms and that he was very apologetic for it.”
Darkwa was booked into the Fairborn Police Department Jail and released under his own recognizance soon after, police said.
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TweetGuard to leave Wright State
Walter Offutt, a 6-foot-3 guard who transferred to Wright State from Ohio State in the winter, will leave WSU when the current quarter ends, Offutt said today, April 21.
Offutt said he is considering walking on to the roster at Indiana or possibly joining former OSU assistant coach John Groce at Ohio University, where Groce is the head coach.
He was scheduled to sit out the fall quarter of 2010 and have two seasons of eligibility remaining.
A product of Warren Central High School in Indianapolis, Offutt played in 102 minutes in 21 games for OSU as a freshman in 2008-09. He appeared in two games this past season before leaving the Buckeyes.
The transfer will leave Wright State with three open scholarships for next season.
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TweetNew WSU women’s basketball coach Bradbury introduced
FAIRBORN — Wright State made its second coaching hire in eight days when it announced Mike Bradbury as its new women’s basketball coach at a news conference on Wednesday, April 21.
Bradbury, Morehead State’s head coach for three seasons, was one of three finalists for the post that opened when WSU let go of Bridgett Williams on March 15 after nine seasons.
“It’s a dream of mine to get back to this area,” said Bradbury, a former assistant coach at Cincinnati and Xavier.
At Morehead State, Bradbury’s teams compiled a 50-44 record, including a school record in wins as part of a 22-11 showing this past season.
“I’ve always felt like best predictor of future performance is past behavior, and that continued to lead me back to one candidate,” said WSU athletic director Bob Grant.
Bradbury was an assistant coach at Tennessee-Chattanooga (1991-94), East Tennessee State (1994-95), Virginia Commonwealth (1995-96), Cincinnati (1996-2002) and Xavier (2002-07). At Xavier, Bradbury helped assemble a team that finished 30-4 with an appearance in an NCAA tournament regional final this season.
About his team’s style, Bradbury said, “I’ll keep it kind of simple. We want to play as fast as we can.”
Bradbury’s introduction ended an eight-day period during which Wright State athletic director Bob Grant hired both men’s and women’s basketball coaches. Grant promoted top men’s assistant Billy Donlon on April 14 to replace Brad Brownell, who left for Clemson.
“I guess we should plan on meeting here next Wednesday at about the same time,” Grant cracked.
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TweetHow’s this for a baseball week?
Wright State sophomore Garrett Gray was named the Horizon League’s batter of the week today, April 19.
And what a week he had in five games:
— 9-for-18 hitting (.500)
— 3 home runs
— 4 RBIs
— 9 runs scored
Gray improved his hitting streak to 13 games, during which he’s hitting .453. He’s also one of three WSU starters hitting better than .370 on the league’s best batting club.
They are: Casey McGrew (.388), a senior from Delaware, Ohio, Jake Hibberd (.381), a sophomore from Miamisburg, and Gray (.373), a sophomore from Lewisburg and Tri-County North High School.
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TweetAfter WSU recruit joins Brownell, a fight to keep another
New Clemson basketball coach Brad Brownell gained a Tigers recruit this week when Springfield, Tenn., point guard Cory Stanton said he would get a release from his Wright State letter of intent to join Brownell in South Carolina.
But, for those Wright State fans who don’t like the move, Brownell is facing the same struggle at Clemson.
Marcus Thornton, a 6-foot-7 senior at Westlake High School near Atlanta and Georgia’s Mr. Basketball, gained a release from his Clemson letter of intent after coach Oliver Purnell left the Tigers for DePaul is now the subject of an intense recruiting battle.
Thornton’s family told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that Clemson is still in the mix, and that Brownell has talked with them:
What’s the latest with Clemson? New coach Brad Brownell and Thornton have talked over the phone. “We had a good conversation,” said Thornton’s father, Billy. “He really just wanted to introduce himself, and to tell us that he is very interested in Marcus still coming to Clemson, and that he did not plan on rushing us.”
“Coach Brownell is a very personable, and seems like a great guy. We didn’t talk about any of the tough stuff because we want to do that in person.” Thornton signed with Clemson last November, but was granted a release from his letter-of-intent after former Clemson coach Oliver Purnell took the top job at DePaul on April 7.
Brownell also faced a similar situation when he first became a head coach in 2002 at North Carolina-Wilmington. The school’s most highly decorated recruit didn’t go to UNC-Wilmington but instead went to Richmond to follow Jerry Wainwright, who changed jobs.
Recruits moving is simply part of change, on all sides.
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TweetWSU recruit to follow Brownell to Clemson
Cory Stanton, a 5-foot-11 point guard from Springfield, Tenn., will be granted a release from his Wright State letter of intent to follow former WSU coach Brad Brownell to Clemson, Stanton said this afternoon, April 16.
Stanton was one of five players expected to join the WSU program next season, along with Kegan Clark (Jeffersonville, Ind.), Cole Darling (Holt, Mich.), A.J. Pacher (Vandalia Butler High School) and Matt Vest (Chaminade Julienne).
Billy Donlon, who was promoted from associate head coach to replace Brownell, said during his introductory news conference Wednesday that four of the five recruits had committed to still come to Wright State.
“It just goes back to coach Brownell, taking nothing away from any of the assistants at Wright State,” Stanton said. “That was my main reason.”
Brownell praised Stanton when he signed with Wright State in November:
“Cory is an explosive combo guard who can score in a hurry as well as distribute the ball to his teammates,” said Brownell. “He has an infectious personality which we feel will make him a leader in our program one day.”
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TweetBrownell: ‘There was no negative’ about Wright State
I had a chance to catch up with Brad Brownell this morning for a 30-minute conversation about his interview process with Clemson, his reasons for taking the job and his thoughts on the future for Wright State under new coach Billy Donlon.
The interview will be incorporated into a story for Sunday’s Dayton Daily News, with plenty of details about the process not reported before.
Brownell underscored that his move was not made because he was looking to leave Wright State. Instead, he said, the right opportunity came up.
“We had great friends, great neighbors, great kids in our program, we loved living in Beavercreek,” said Brownell, who left Wright State after four seasons as head coach to take the Clemson job on Tuesday, April 13. “It’s a great spot, a great place to raise your family. There was no negative.”
Brownell has stayed in Clemson, S.C., since flying there Tuesday for his introductory news conference. He has already held workouts with his new team and laid some groundwork for recruiting, which begins immediately.
Brownell also expressed optimism for Wright State’s future under Donlon, who for eight years was an assistant for Brownell, including four years at WSU.
“They’re just gonna keep moving,” Brownell said. “There’s just a new guy, so everyone kind of moves over an office. He’ll certainly see some things differently, but the cornerstone of the program I’m sure will stay the same, and that’s what will keep it successful.”
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TweetBrownell already leading Clemson workouts
Former Wright State coach Brad Brownell held his first workouts with the Clemson basketball team on Wednesday, April 14, just one day after he was announced as the school’s new coach.
The eight-photo gallery on the Clemson Web site shows Brownell meeting players and being hands-on in the workout sessions.
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TweetWSU’s Donlon no longer league’s youngest coach
Billy Donlon, 33, was the youngest basketball coach in the Horizon League when Wright State promoted him from his assistant position on Wednesday, April 14.
It lasted one day.
On Thursday, Wisconsin-Green Bay promoted 30-year-old assistant coach Brian Wardle to head coach.
Wardle had been a Green Bay assistant for five seasons and replaced Tod Kowalczyk, who left Green Bay for Toledo. He was an all-Conference USA guard at Marquette and remains the school’s sixth-leading career scorer at 1,690 points.
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TweetDonlon 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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TweetWright State, Clemson and money
Wright State athletic director Bob Grant said basketball coach Brad Brownell turned down overtures from “at least a half-dozen schools” during his four seasons at Wright State, even though the jobs offered “much more money than Wright State was paying him.”
So, perhaps Brownell’s decision on Tuesday, April 13, to leave Wright State for Clemson wasn’t totally driven by money.
But, the money certainly will be different.
Although full contract information has not yet been disclosed, Brownell is sure to get a significant raise from the $365,000 base salary he was making at Wright State, which was a handsome sum for the Horizon League school. Brownell’s current contract ran through April 2014, and it included a $50,000 buyout if Brownell took a job at one of the six “power” conferences.
Brownell’s predecessor at Clemson, Oliver Purnell, was paid $1.35 million per year, although Brownell almost certainly won’t make that much. Multiple media reports stated Clemson was searching for a new coach that commanded a lower salary.
But Brownell’s compensation package will likely near $1 million.
Plus, Clemson also has more money to put into the basketball program. According to the most recent figures, Clemson spent $4.1 million on the program in 2008-09, while Wright State spent nearly $2 million. Clemson made $7.5 million from basketball, while Wright State broke event with about $2 million.
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TweetBrownell: ‘I’m proud of the fact I’m a self-made coach’
Brad Brownell is meeting the media in Clemson, S.C., as the school officially announced the former Wright State basketball coach as the Tigers’ new coach.
Here are a few of his initial quotes:
“I’m proud of the fact I’m a self-made coach.”
“My next goal as a coach is to get a team to the Final Four.”
“I’m humbled by this opportunity. This is a wonderful university, and I’m taking over a program that’s in good shape in the best basketball league in the country.”
“My family is a laid back family. My wife was excited to come back for sweet tea.”
“One of my daughter’s first questions was, ‘Do we have football?’ Yeah, honey, we’ve got 80,000 in Death Valley, we’re good.”
“I was an Indiana fan, I watched the championship teams, in ‘76, ‘81, ‘87, I had them all, knew all the players, and I thought of myself as a Big Ten man. But when you come to North Carolina or come to this part of the country for 12 years and see the ACC, you see how they love their basketball in the ACC.”
(On potential assistant coaches): “I’m taking names, I’m listening, my phone is ringing off the hook.
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TweetClemson media reacts to Brownell
Reporters who cover Clemson University will meet Brad Brownell is a little more than an hour when the former Wright State basketball coach is officially introduced as the Tigers’ new coach at a news conference.
But the media in the area is already trying to digest the hire. This from Greg Wallace of the Anderson (S.C.) Independent Mail:
He’s a better X’s and O’s coach than Purnell was, although a very different one. Purnell ran a fast-paced, pressing, breakneck speed game.
Brownell runs a slower-paced, half-court offense kind of game.
I’m very interested to see how it translates to the ACC, and if he can hang onto lone signee Marcus Thornton, as well as returning sophomores Devin Booker and Noel Johnson, both who raised doubts about playing time in the wake of Purnell’s departure.
And can Brownell - a guy who has never coached at a high-major level - recruit at one? We’ll see.
Clemson fans commenting to The (Charleston) Post and Courier indicated they want NCAA tournament wins:
His first job will be to stop the bleeding…Purnell laid the ground work, hope Brownell can take them to the next level. Or at least win a dang tourney game!
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TweetBrownell to leave Wright State for Clemson
UPDATE: Clemson made the announcement official on its Web site and added Brownell will hold a news conference in Clemson, S.C., today at 4 p.m.
Wright State basketball coach Brad Brownell will leave the school to become the coach at Clemson, WSU athletic director Bob Grant confirmed on Tuesday morning, April 13.
Brownell went 84-45 in four seasons with Wright State and has a 167-85 record in eight seasons as a head coach, including four seasons at North Carolina-Wilmington.
Brownell reportedly became Clemson’s main focus after Mississippi State coach Rick Stansbury turned down the school on Monday. Brownell will replace Oliver Purnell, who took the DePaul job last week. Purnell left the University of Dayton in 2003 for Clemson.
An earlier report on the Web site CBSSports.com said Brownell had “agreed in principle” to be Clemson’s next basketball coach.
Sources told reporter Gary Parrish that an official announcement was expected later Tuesday, April 13.
Brownell did not return messages seeking comment.
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TweetClemson reportedly focusing on Brownell
Several media outlets covering Clemson have reported the school has turned the focus of its men’s basketball coaching search to Wright State’s Brad Brownell.
The (Charleston) Post and Courier was one of the newspapers with a story Tuesday, April 13, saying Clemson has Brownell at the top of its list after Mississippi State coach Rick Stansbury turned down the position.
From The Post and Courier’s Travis Sawchik:
Brownell fits the criteria of what some believe Clemson athletic director Terry Don Phillips is looking for in his search: Brownell is relatively young (41), cheap ($365,00 base salary) and is a productive recruiter.
Gary Parrish of CBSSports.com reported late Monday night that Brownell spoke with Clemson officials for a second time on Monday, according to a source. Parrish reported Brownell could receive a job offer on Tuesday.
Brownell does not comment on coaching searches, but he was on the Wright State campus Monday to meet with a finalist for the open Raiders women’s basketball coaching position.
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