Clemson Close to Rewarding Brownell

AMELIA ISLAND, Fla. — Coming off the heels of an Elite Eight appearance in the NCAA Tournament, Clemson athletic director Graham Neff said it is extremely important for Clemson to work on a new contract for men’s basketball coach Brad Brownell.

The two sides are getting close to getting that new contract worked out.

“We can’t be more excited. We are working on contract stuff with him,” Neff said to The Clemson Insider Tuesday from the Ritz-Carlton at the ACC’s Spring Meetings on Amelia Island. “We want to be very committed to Clemson basketball, the men’s and women’s teams, but specifically to Brad and what he has earned and developed here at Clemson.”

Heading into his 15 ^th season, Brownell revealed last week he was in negotiations with Neff regarding a new deal.

The Tigers are coming off an incredible season which saw the program reach the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1980. In the process, Brownell became the first Clemson coach to take the program to two appearances in the Sweet 16.

Prior to this year, the Tigers also advanced to the 2018 Sweet 16 under Brownell.

“Certainly, where the program is at and the consistency of success and what is anticipated ahead, he earned that level of commitment from Clemson,” Neff said.

Neff did not discuss when the two sides will reach a deal or what the terms of the deal are at this time.

Clemson became the first team this past year to win three games as an underdog in the NCAA Tournament since 1985.

For the first time in school history, Clemson beat four Associated Press Top 25 teams on the road in one season. The Tigers also set a single-season-record with 12 wins away from Littlejohn Coliseum.

The Tigers .625 ACC win percentage over the last two years is the best conference win percentage in the program’s history.

It does not end there, Clemson’s 47 wins since the start of the 2022-’23 campaign are the most wins by the program in a two-year stretch. Clemson won 23 games in 2023, and then 24 games this past season.

“Brad has always been a leader within the ACC,” Neff said. “The league has had a changing of the guard a bit in regard to the handful of coaches that retired in Coach (Mike) K, Coach (Roy) Williams and Coach (Jim) Boeheim, now Brad is one of the longest tenured coaches.”

Brownell is currently the third longest tenured coach in the ACC, behind Florida State’s Leonard Hamilton (22 years) and Virginia’s Tony Bennett (15 years).

“Brad has always had that respect among his coaching colleagues and within the industry and administrators and such,” Neff said.

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