The great thing about the hire is GarPax can't hire him to replace VDN

_________________
I'm going to bounce from the spot for awhile but I will be back at some point to argue with you about this hoops stuff again. Playoffs have been great this season. See ya up the road.

I'm out.

Walt, those 2 didn't hire Vinny Del Negro. It was Uncle Jerry who owed Scott Skiles $4 million and couldn't afford the $12 million Avery Johnson was owed in Dallas when the Mavericks fired him...

I love how DePaul fans, of all people, are complaining about hiring a coach that won 20+ games in a major conference and reached the tournament each of the last three years.

What did they seriously expect? Ben Howland or Jamie Dixon?

Fixed, anyone who thought that Jamie Dixon was leaving Pittsburgh and/or Ben Howland leaving UCLA for DePaul was kidding themselves. Neither coach was going anywhere, and even though they now have Oliver Purnell on Belden Ave., don't expect a quick fix next year. It's quite a uphill climb ahead, and it's going to take a lot of time for DePaul's once proud basketball program to be rebuilt...

Clemson replaces former Dayton coach with coach from Dayton

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=5080574

Clemson will hire Wright State's Brad Brownell to replace Oliver Purnell, the school announced Tuesday morning.

A 4 p.m. ET news conference has been scheduled.

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 University in Dayton.

Purnell shocked Clemson 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. Purnell also is expected to fill his assistant coaching positions with people familiar with Chicago-area recruiting. That could include members of the former Clemson coaching staff.


Clemson athletic director Terry Don Phillips 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. Other candidates included former Boston College coach Al Skinner and Wofford coach Mike Young, along with Bradley.

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.


Last season, Brownell coached Dayton-based Wright State to a 12-6 record, 20-12 overall -- six games behind Horizon League champ Butler. Wright State also lost in the conference tournament final to Butler.

He coached the Raiders to the NCAA tournament in his first season at Wright State in 2006-07, putting him in consecutive NCAA tournaments with two teams. Wright State won 20 games or more each of his four seasons at the school.


Brownell's move to the ACC is a major step on what has been a steady, but quiet, career climb. But if any coach out of the Horizon League was going to make the jump to a higher-profile league, it was thought to be Butler's Brad Stevens.

Three days after the Bulldogs lost to Duke in the national championship game, however, Stevens signed a 12-year extension with the school.

"Brad Brownell is an unbelievable coach," Stevens said. "He has been a winner everywhere he has been. I am happy to see Brad go to a great school and a great program like Clemson."

Brownell inherits an inexperienced corps of players, and some challenges. Devin Booker, the brother of star Trevor Booker, has talked about leaving. The family of Tigers signee Marcus Thornton had asked the school for a release from his letter of intent after Purnell's departure.

Andy Katz is a senior writer who covers college basketball for ESPN.com. Information from The Associated Press is included in this report.

I miss Steve Lavin's wife.