brad brownell

Brownell is familiar with the region after coaching at UNC-Wilmington for four seasons, including an NCAA tournament appearance in 2006. He was 84-45 in four seasons at Wright State.Purnell Clemson shocked when he abruptly left April 5 for Big East cellar dweller DePaul. Top assistant Ron Bradley was a candidate to replace Purnell, and had remained at Clemson during the search for a new coach.

Bradley has a job waiting for him with Purnell at DePaul. So Purnell is expected to fill his assistant coaching positions with people with familiar Chicago-area recruiting. That could include members of the former Clemson coaching staff.Clemson hired Brownell after initially going through a list of candidates, including Mississippi State's Rick Stansbury, who received a quiet offer Monday.

Stansbury decided against the move to stay with the Bulldogs.Clemson was 21-11 last season, 9-7 in the ACC. The Tigers lost to Missouri in the first round of the NCAA tournament.At Clemson, Purnell was 138-88, including three straight first-round losses in the NCAA tournament.