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YOUR BALANCE
Who are your top three basketball coaches at Clemson
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Who are your top three basketball coaches at Clemson


Feb 22, 2021, 1:57 PM

Mine are:

1 Rick Barnes
2 Cliff Ellis
3 Bill Foster

Who are your top three?

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Re: Who are your top three basketball coaches at Clemson

1

Feb 22, 2021, 2:02 PM

1. Oliver Purnell
2. Rick Barnes
3. Cliff Ellis

Left out Bill Foster, just because I’m barely not old enough to remember watching his teams.

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Re: Who are your top three basketball coaches at Clemson


Feb 22, 2021, 2:02 PM

Brownell
Barnes
Ellis

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Re: Who are your top three basketball coaches at Clemson


Feb 22, 2021, 2:38 PM

1 Ellis - dude could recruit HS and JC. So much so didnt we get a little probation when he left and took his talents to Auburn?

2 Barnes - dude could coach

3. Brownell - just to #### off the anti-BB crowd

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Re: Who are your top three basketball coaches at Clemson


Feb 22, 2021, 2:45 PM

1. Purnell
2. Barnes
3. Ellis

Barnes and Purnell both did a great job turning around the program and got us to the tourney 3 times. Had Barnes stayed as long as OP he would have surpassed OP. Ellis has to get consideration because he won the ACC and got us to the tourney at least twice.

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Mine are:


Feb 22, 2021, 2:53 PM

(1) Brad Brownell
(2) Amanda Butler

I think those are the only two basketball coaches at Clemson. Unless you're including assistants as well? If so, then throw Dick Bender in there for good measure.

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Hey Bob what do you think after we swept the Reds this past weekend?


Feb 22, 2021, 2:57 PM

Are we finally going back to Omaha this year?

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The Big Red Machine ain't what it used to be. Having said


Feb 22, 2021, 3:34 PM

that, if we can sweep the Reds, I see no reason the Monte train won't be pulling into Omaha.

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Re: Who are your top three basketball coaches at Clemson


Feb 22, 2021, 2:59 PM

Ellis
Barnes
Purnell

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Re: Who are your top three basketball coaches at Clemson


Feb 22, 2021, 3:07 PM

Barnes and Purnell would be at the top, if they had left Clemson respectfully, like men, instead of denigrating pretty much everything about Clemson after they snuck away in the dead of night.

Ellis is up there simply for the only championship of any kind ('89 regular season), plus his players like Grant, Davis, Campbell.

Brownell gets at least honorable mention for breaking the UNC 0-fer streak.

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Re: Who are your top three basketball coaches at Clemson


Feb 22, 2021, 3:13 PM

Barnes
Ellis
Foster
maybe Bobby Roberts haha

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Re: Who are your top three basketball coaches at Clemson


Feb 22, 2021, 3:14 PM

I only have a top one and that is Brownell. The other two im still angry at for leaving us high and dry even though we supported them heartily. Good grief i completely left out womens basketball. So updated top 3

Jim Davis
Brownell
Amanda Butler(who could move to the top quickly)


Message was edited by: Rally119®


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Re: Who are your top three basketball coaches at Clemson


Feb 22, 2021, 3:18 PM

IN terms of recognition in the profession probably Barnes, Foster and Purnell. As far as # wins at Clemson it is probably Brownell, Foster, and Purnell. So many ways to judge it.

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Fosters tenure at Clemson was before my fandom...


Feb 22, 2021, 3:50 PM

but I remember him well at VT. I know he took us to the Elite Eight, coached a long time and has a good reputation for his career, however...its worth noting that he coached D-1 at 4 different schools and only made two NCAA Tournaments and never won a conference title. Granted, he coached the Tigers in the pre-64 team NCAAT era but he might have made it one more time with an expanded tournament.

Just thought it was interesting as I never really looked at his record until today.

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Re: Who are your top three basketball coaches at Clemson


Feb 22, 2021, 3:26 PM

1. Rick Barnes
2. Jim Davis
3. Cliff Ellis
4. Oliver Purnell

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Re: Who are your top three basketball coaches at Clemson


Feb 22, 2021, 5:33 PM

Rick Barnes Cliff Ellis Oliver Prenell Brad Brownell

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Re: Who are your top three basketball coaches at Clemson


Feb 22, 2021, 6:47 PM [ in reply to Re: Who are your top three basketball coaches at Clemson ]

Barnes
Purnell
Locke

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Re: Who are your top three basketball coaches at Clemson


Feb 22, 2021, 4:02 PM

Barnes
Purnell
Ellis
Brownell because the Judge says so ;)

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You can't leave Frank Dobson out because he is the only


Feb 22, 2021, 4:09 PM

Clemson coach to go undefeated in his first year or any year in Clemson history.

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Re: Who are your top three basketball coaches at Clemson


Feb 22, 2021, 5:06 PM

Rick Barnes
Oliver Purnell
Jim Davis

Fourth place Honorable Mention Tie Cliff Ellis and Brad Brownell.

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That's Bill "Cub" Foster, not to be confused with


Feb 22, 2021, 5:35 PM

Bill "Chick" Foster that was at USuK.

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Re: Who are your top three basketball coaches at Clemson


Feb 22, 2021, 6:11 PM

1. Purnell
2. Barnes
3. Ellis

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1. Tates Locke


Feb 22, 2021, 6:50 PM

2. Tates Locke
3. Tates Locke

Only coach to start a fake fraternity on campus and have a Nick Nolte movie based on him.

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Re: Who are your top three basketball coaches at Clemson


Feb 22, 2021, 7:09 PM

I like your list.

Barnes
Ellis
Foster

These guys were competitive when it was the real ACC.

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I think it depends on how we are defining it.


Feb 22, 2021, 8:36 PM

If it's the coach with the best individual seasons:

1. Bill Foster
2a. Rick Barnes
2b. Brad Brownell

Foster gave us our best season in program history based on NCAA Tournament performance, since that team was our only Elite 8 team (so far). Both Barnes and Brownell gave us our only two Sweet 16 teams.

And no, Cliff Ellis's 1990 Sweet 16 team doesn't count. NCAA sanctions wiped it from the record book, so it basically never happened.

***

If it's the coaches who built our program the best, then it has to be:

1. Rick Barnes
2. Oliver Purnell
3. Brad Brownell

I put Barnes slightly above Purnell in this category, because he made the NCAA Tournament in his second year with us. In Barnes's four years here, we made NIT, then three straight NCAAs. Unfortunately, we were one and done in postseason play in three of his four years, but the one year we advanced was one of our best teams in program history.

Purnell was known as a program builder, and he did just that here. It took him a little longer than it did Barnes, as he didn't make the postseason in his first year, but then took us to three straight NITs followed by three straight NCAAs. The problem with Purnell is that he never won an NCAA Tournament game (at Clemson, or anywhere else amazingly).

Like Purnell, Brownell took over a situation where the cupboard was largely bare starting in year 2 due to poor recruiting. Shyatt didn't leave Purnell with much, and Purnell did not leave Brownell with much. Brad hasn't had the consistent upward trajectory Barnes and Purnell had, but I do feel that he has done a lot of good for us. And making postseason play is arguably more difficult now with all of the good mid-major programs as well as the recent additions to the ACC (Louisville, Syracuse, etc.).

***

If it's based on wins as Clemson's basketball coach, it is:

1. Brad Brownell
2. Cliff Ellis
3. Bill Foster

This is pretty obvious, as it directly relates to a coach's longevity at Clemson. Brad is our all-time wins leader.

***

As quickly as Barnes and Purnell got us to the NCAA Tournament, and gave us a few seasons in a row of making the Big Dance, both fizzled out with recruiting and bailed on us while they could. Other than finding two diamonds in the rough with Buckner and McIntyre, Rick Barnes didn't really recruit that well here. And although Purnell signed some really good players during his tenure, such as Booker, Rivers, and Hammonds, his last couple of recruiting classes were very disappointing. The coaches who succeeded Barnes and Purnell - Shyatt and Brownell, respectively - had a much tougher situation than many people here are willing to acknowledge.

What gets glossed over is this: Barnes and Purnell bailed on Clemson. Both were looking to use Clemson as a stepping stone. Neither gave Clemson a chance to match the offers they received elsewhere. So not only did they receive what they thought was a better offer from someone else, but they clearly weren't even wanting to stay at Clemson or else they would've had a conversation with the AD to try to work something out. As much as I enjoyed aspects of both Barnes and Purnell while they were here, I can't forgive the way they left and for that I have to downgrade them some.

Cliff Ellis was a good coach, and gave us our only ACC regular season championship. He also gave us our only ACC Player of the Year. Unfortunately, he relied too heavily on marginal student-athletes. We got in trouble with the NCAA while he was our coach. I do think he's a good coach, as he has been successful everywhere he's been with some memorable seasons. But he's also left a trail of NCAA compliance issues everywhere he's been. It's hard for me to put him at the top of my list.

Bill Foster was a good coach who did some very good things for us, including our best season ever as mentioned before. It was always odd to me that he preferred to resurrect a defunct basketball program at Miami rather than stay at Clemson. As we know, basketball coaches not wanting to stay at Clemson is a pattern.

And then we have Brad Brownell. All-time wins leader, great guy, and has led our program with class and integrity. He has prioritized the off-court aspect more than any basketball coach we've had, as evidenced by our record team GPAs and team graduation rates during his tenure. His players are also very involved in the community. For me, that counts for a lot.

Although he's our all-time wins leader, Brad hasn't had the success we all want him to have in terms of postseason play. I do feel that he is getting us to the point of yearly NCAA Tournament appearances. And I believe he is building us not just to make it consistently, but be able to win and advance once there. I believe our ceiling under Brad is higher than it was under any previous basketball coach, and that our patience will pay off here. Not only do I see us having unprecedented basketball success with him as our coach, but I am confident that he wants to be Clemson's basketball coach. He won't bail on us like so many other coaches have.

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"All those 'Fire Brownell' guys can kiss it." -Joseph Girard III

"Everybody needs to know that Coach Brownell is arguably the best coach to come through Clemson." -PJ Hall


Re: I think it depends on how we are defining it.


Feb 22, 2021, 9:36 PM

Judge

Can’t really argue with your thorough analysis. However, I think you’re being too harsh on Ellis. The 1989 situation with Wayne Buckingham was nothing close to a Tate’s Lock or Charlie Pell situation. It had to do with a transcript situation and completely unintentional. Clemson was completely upfront when it was discovered. Ellis was at Clemson for almost a decade and other than that, never had a hint of NCAA trouble.

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Cliff Ellis is a nice guy, but there was a lot more to his tenure


Feb 22, 2021, 11:37 PM

here than has been posted.

For now, I’ll just leave this article here:

https://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/25/sports/ncaabasketball/25coastal.html


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"All those 'Fire Brownell' guys can kiss it." -Joseph Girard III

"Everybody needs to know that Coach Brownell is arguably the best coach to come through Clemson." -PJ Hall


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