89 - 82 Clemson’s magical tournament run finally came to an end in a barrage of 3-pointers against a very good Alabama team. Clemson showed fight and stayed with Alabama until the final minutes. In the end, the Tide were just a little bit better. It was arguably the greatest season in Clemson history matched only by the 1980 Elite 8 team.
Shockingly there are still Clemson fans that think Brownell’s future should be in doubt. There is an actual debate on this on Clemson’s Tigernet message board.
Let’s make it clear to them. Clemson’s Elite 8 run vindicated Brad Brownell as a coach. Clemson will finish the season in the top 12.
It is true Brownell has coached 14 years at Clemson with just 4 tournament appearances. You may have an argument as a total body of work, but that’s not how it works. It is a what have you done for lately world, and lately, Brownell has been pretty darn good.
The time to truly debate BRownell’s tenure was after the 2016-2017 season. At that time Brownell had been at Clemson for 7 years with 1 NCAA appearance and 0 NCAA tournament wins. There were 2 NIT appearances and 4 without any post-season at all. In the next 7 years, there 6 were post-season eligible seasons, and Brownell has 3 NCAA tournaments, a Sweet 16, and an Elite 8, 2 NIT appearances with just 1 missed postseason.
How would Brownell would be viewed if his last 7 sevens were his first? I guarantee he’d be looking at an extension after year 7.
The question is now not whether Bronwell is back. He will be, and would have been with just a NCAA appearance. The real question is how long will his extension be. He just proved he is capable of making Clemson a top 15 team. It should be at least 2 years of missed NCAA appearances before the topic of Brownell at the hotseat should come up again.
He’s earned that right after vindicating himself and his program with this historical season.
