It’s no secret or surprise that Brad Brownell had interest in the Indiana men’s basketball head coaching vacancy. And he did speak to the Hoosiers during their coaching search.

As a native of Evansville, Ind., who grew up a Hoosiers fan, Brownell says he always viewed Indiana University as “the job.” However, Clemson’s longtime head coach also admits he was never “the guy” for Indiana and the job also “didn’t feel right” for him at the time.

Brownell didn’t desire to leave Clemson, where he and his family feel “really at home.”

“The Indiana job was ‘the job.’ I interviewed for it when I was younger at Wright State one time. And I spoke with them. I was never ‘the guy,’ and so that was fine,” Brownell said to the media on Tuesday.

“I was really happy with what was going on here [at Clemson]. Obviously the timing of all those things going on is never great because you’re in the middle of a hard season that’s at an important time, and you’re trying to do well in finishing that. But it didn’t feel right for me at that time. It just didn’t. It was one of those things you talk about it with your family a little bit – where do you see yourself and what do you want to do, and we just felt really at home here. I’m grateful to be the coach here.”

The sunny weather in Tiger Town and the fact Brownell lives by the lake certainly didn’t hurt the appeal of staying at Clemson, either.

“There’s a million factors of why you would stay here. The warm weather and the lake, those aren’t bad,” Brownell said with a big smile.

Brownell is the winningest coach in Clemson history with 292 wins and earned the 2017-18 Sports Illustrated National College Coach of the Year Award. The Tigers have reached the NCAA Tournament five times, including four in the last eight seasons that have culminated in a Sweet 16 appearance in 2018 and an Elite Eight in 2024 – one of just 20 schools to accomplish those in separate seasons since 2018.

The Tigers won a school record 27 games in 2024-25, including wins over AP Top 5 Kentucky and Duke. Clemson finished 18-2 in the ACC – the most conference wins in school history, including a record 15 by double-digits (third-most in ACC history). The Tigers finished 9-1 on the road in league play, four more ACC road wins than any previous season.

Clemson has won 74 games over the last three seasons, the most in program history, while also posting a .717 (43-17) win percentage in the ACC over that same period – the highest in consecutive seasons in program history. Since 2017-18, the Tigers are fourth in the ACC in wins (168) and fourth in league wins (90).

Brownell and Clemson officially agreed to a new six-year deal worth $27.5 million on April 25, 2025, and he says he’s “extremely grateful to be the coach at Clemson.” Next season will mark his 16th at Clemson.

“I’ve poured my heart and soul into this place for 15 years, and there has been a lot of blood, sweat and tears,” he said. “There’s been everything. There’s been tremendous highs. There have been difficult lows. But through all of it, there have been unbelievable life experiences and relationships with people that have meant a lot to me, and still do. And I’d still like to keep going here. We still have a lot of exciting things happening.”