By William Qualkinbush.
By William Qualkinbush.
The truth about Brad Brownell is this: He’s had the worst luck of any coach in America since he got to Clemson.
Seriously, think about it. His best recruit in his first full recruiting class had an asthmatic condition that stunted his growth. The best recruit in the next class basically re-broke his leg weeks before the start of practice in improbable fashion. The best recruit in the next class didn’t play because of a rare degenerative hip issue.
Then you have to consider an Achilles injury to Devin Coleman that stunted his growth prior to his sophomore season. His Clemson tenure might have ended differently had that not happened.
When his top assistant—Rick Ray—took the Mississippi State head coaching job, he hired James Johnson from the staff at Virginia Tech to take his place. It was a super hire, but it lasted all of ten days before the Hokies called Johnson to replace Seth Greenberg, who had been fired just a few days after Johnson left for Clemson.
Note the buzzer-beating losses to Pittsburgh and Duke that ended in controversial fashion from this past season. Note the loss of a two-star project recruit a year early to the NBA.
Now, we can add to the list a staff change mere weeks before the start of practice that has cost Brownell two of his assistant coaches. Lucas McKay got a much-deserved bump into the Director of Ops role when Earl Grant took Dick Bender with him to the College of Charleston, while Brownell poached rising star Richie Riley from UAB to fill his on-court staff position.
Any one of these things would be considered unlucky, fluky, improbable. But all of these uncontrollable circumstances have marred Brownell’s brief Clemson tenure so far.
Still, with the odds significantly stacked against him, Brownell has had to fight negative perceptions of his style and system that pervade the Clemson fan base. Many of these perceptions are simply untrue or misguided, and lately, the Tigers have become good at proving them wrong.
Here are just a few of them:
Brad Brownell’s style of play is boring. This is a fun one because there are different ways to look at this issue. Brownell’s teams have been among the slowest in the country, and last year’s team was the slowest yet, barely cracking 60 possessions per game. However, K.J. McDaniels was a human highlight reel developed and utilized by Brownell to get results. The team also led the ACC in blocked shots and became known around the nation as a squad who loved playing above the rim.
Brad Brownell can’t get players ready for the next level. This one started going away after McDaniels showed out on the Nike summer circuit last year. His pro prospects became a real thing and led to him being an early second-round selection. Brownell and his staff have continued getting their players in front of the eyes of scouts, as both Rod Hall and Landry Nnoko enjoyed some success on the same Nike circuit this summer. Neither has the upside of McDaniels as a prospect, but they could both become solid contributors overseas, as several other Brownell products have been.
Brad Brownell can’t put players into the NBA. See McDaniels, K.J.
Brad Brownell just doesn’t have the staff his competition does. This might be my favorite myth about Brownell’s program. All the guy does is get guys ready for head coaching jobs. Over the past half-decade, the coaches at Wichita State (Billy Donlon), Mississippi State (Ray), and now the College of Charleston (Grant) have come from Brownell’s staff. That doesn’t include Johnson, who technically was a Clemson assistant when Virginia Tech hired him back. That’s a pretty good track record right there. It suggests athletic directors around the country might feel better about Clemson’s assistant coaches than the fan base does.
Brad Brownell can’t recruit top-flight athletes to Clemson. First of all, one could make the argument nobody can really recruit top-flight athletes to Clemson on a consistent basis. It can be a tough place to sell. However, without going into great detail, I’ll summarily say Brownell hasn’t recruited any worse than Oliver Purnell over his tenure. He’s had top 100 players, four-stars, and three-stars in similar quantities and is still in on two of ESPN’s top 100 prospects for 2015 in Tevin Mack and Rayjon Tucker. Plus, Nnoko was wanted by schools like UConn and Florida, and Donte Grantham was coveted by both West Virginia and Michigan.
It’s just ridiculous what Brownell has been able to do considering the myriad of roadblocks he’s encountered. This recent staff change is sure to be just another minor speed bump as the program continues to grow.
God Bless!
WQ