http://www.daytondailynews.com/s/content/oh/story/sports/college/wsu/2008/04/06/ddn040708spbrownell.html
Report: Brownell in Marquette's final four
By Sean McClelland
Staff Writer
Dayton Daily News
Monday, April 07, 2008
While it's not clear whether he has even been contacted, Wright State men's basketball coach Brad Brownell is among the final four candidates being considered for the Marquette vacancy, a Milwaukee TV station reported over the weekend.
Bob McKillop of Davidson, Marquette assistant Brent "Buzz" Williams and Chris Lowery of Southern Illinois join Brownell on Marquette's ever-shrinking short list, according to the report, which made no mention of University of Dayton coach Brian Gregory.
Brownell has declined to comment about the Marquette job since it opened last week when Tom Crean left for Indiana.
Williams, who has one year of head coaching experience at the University of New Orleans, already has met with Marquette officials. He and McKillop, who led Davidson to the doorstep of the Final Four, are termed "major" candidates in the report.
If judged solely on record, Brownell would seem to dwarf Williams, who went 14-17 in his one season at New Orleans. Brownell has taken North Carolina-Wilmington (two) and WSU (one) to three NCAA tournaments in six years.
But Williams would offer continuity, having been an assistant to Crean.
McKillop, 57, has a 311-218 record in 19 seasons at Davidson. Lowery is 78-26 in four seasons at Southern Illinois with three NCAA tournament appearances.
I'm an UNCW fan/alum and have been touting Brownell's genius to anyone that would listen since 1998. At that time I was a student at UNCW and my buddy talked me into taking Coaching Basketball. He took it the semester before under Jerry Wainwright (DePaul's Head Coach) and said the class was a riot. I registered and the first day of class and some unknown assistant named Brad Brownell walked in and told us he would be teaching the class that semester. I was so disappointed. Probably how many of you guys feel right now if he's was possibly named y'alls head coach.
Well, it took all of about 5 minutes to known that I was in the presence of greatness. Not to be melodramatic, but that's the honest truth. This guy had special written all over him. Over the course of the semester I was blown away with Coach Brownell's knowledge of the game.
Heck, I fancied myself as quite the basketball man at the time. Grew up around the game. Dad was a coach. Older brother played college ball. Big time gym rat. Heck, I even spent time as a manager at another D-I institution the year before. But let me tell you: nobody, absolutely nobody that I've ever been around can hold a candle to his coaching/basketball knowledge. It's not even close. He could/can just see things that the majority of coaches can't see. Plus, he's a disciplinarian. Firm but fair. No shortcuts. Go about doing things the right way. Fundamentals first. In your grill D. Values. Valuing the basketball. Team. Etc. and etc. Basically he was/is a young Bobby Knight without the extracurricular baggage.
The only thing that I would question about his coaching style is his extraordinary belief in his players and his system. IMO, this belief sometimes leads to the game getting away from him at times. Don't get me wrong these instances are very, very minor complaints/flaws and very few and far between. Like I said, he just believes in his players so much he lets them play and gives the kids a chance to figure it out on their own sometimes in tight situations. The same thing Bobby Knight and Coach K have been doing for years. The thing is Coach Brownell hasn't exactly had Indiana and Duke type of talent at UNCW and Wright State to get away with it sometimes.
Bottom line: he's special. And Marquette and/or any other program would be lucky to have him.
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Thanks for allowing me to post. I hope my personal perspective will give you guys a bit more information to digest when y'all start adding up the pluses and minuses of the rumored candidates.
Thanks for the post. I just became a Brownell fan!
Brownell is my number one choice. Thanks for sharing.
Quote from: TGM3 on April 07, 2008, 12:37:47 AM
The only thing that I would question about his coaching style is his extraordinary belief in his players and his system. IMO, this belief sometimes leads to the game getting away from him at times. Don't get me wrong these instances are very, very minor complaints/flaws and very few and far between. Like I said, he just believes in his players so much he lets them play and gives the kids a chance to figure it out on their own sometimes in tight situations. The same thing Bobby Knight and Coach K have been doing for years. The thing is Coach Brownell hasn't exactly had Indiana and Duke type of talent at UNCW and Wright State to get away with it sometimes.
Sounds like Bo Ryan. Seriously, he would be kind of the anti-Buzz pick. Sounds like a great Xs and Os guy, but I would be worried on the recruiting end.
Brownell and Lowery should be the top two guys. If we get one of them, I'd be pleased.
Are you serious. Some guy comes on the board saying how much he loves Brad Brownell and you want to give him the coaching job??? He's coached at UNC wilmington and Wright St. for chr*st sakes....Not saying he isn't a good coach, but to base you decision on some guys man crush seems a bit ridic.
I've been saying I prefer Brad Brownell for several days now.
* Winningest coach under 40
* Has won at every stop, and wins immediately
* Unlike Lowery or Gregory, his current fans don't bag on him
* Even though we worked under Wainright, Jerry's best years were when Brownell worked for him
* Has recruited quality players to his program, as two of his players this year were Horizon "all-newcomer"
* Was impressive enough that IU almost hired him
The two primary concerns on Brownell are that he's never been affiliated with a major program for recruiting and his style of play (it's a slow tempo). However, there are plenty of coaches that have transitioned successfully from the Horizon to a BCS conference.
Henry, those are two MAJOR concerns. Brownell may be fine; but, I just can't get excited.
You need to lower your expectations, and I'm actually serious.
Any candidate that would get us excited, such as Miller, Bennett, or Grant, has already declined!
So who are we left with? Brownell, Lowery, Buzz, McKillop? Don't all of those guys have some type of concern?
It really is a misconception that Brownell plays a slow pace game. He does what he has to do based on the players he has. The years were we had a better level talent at the mid-major level we averaged around 70-72 pts. a game. Will he ever running up and down the floor like Tark's UNLV teams? Probably not. But his teams get up and down the court when it is beneficial to the team. Not just to do to do it.
I understand some of y'alls concerns about recruiting at that level. I personally don't feel that's a really fair assessment considering he's never had the benefit of recruiting with what a major program like Marquette's has to offer. At the level he's been at he's brought in quite a few good, hard nose players that have grown to understand their roles and competed at a high level. Y'all have got to understand that Brownell's team system is more important than individual accolades/skills of each player. If he got the job at MU would he recruit McDonald's All-American's? Probably not. But you never know. But he'll take the kids that he does sign and make him the best that he can be for the overall good of the team.
Quote from: esotericmindguy on April 07, 2008, 09:26:01 AM
Are you serious. Some guy comes on the board saying how much he loves Brad Brownell and you want to give him the coaching job??? He's coached at UNC wilmington and Wright St. for chr*st sakes....Not saying he isn't a good coach, but to base you decision on some guys man crush seems a bit ridic.
There's no need to knock the UNCW program. We have/had a nice thing going here: 4 NCAAs and a NIT in the past decade. I understand if you're not versed in our history, but it is stupid to knock our program just like it is stupid for people to knock MU's program when their programs have never reached the heights of a National Championship and Final Four in the past 30 seasons.
Quote from: Niv Berkowitz on April 07, 2008, 09:17:40 AM
Brownell and Lowery should be the top two guys. If we get one of them, I'd be pleased.
If you can believe it, Brownell and Lowery attended the same high school. Lowery's a few year younger but I think he was a Freshman while Brownell was a Sr. along with fellow classmate and future IU star Calbert Cheaney. Pretty neat.
I've known of Brownell, not just because of some guy's post.
But also, my expectations are now lowered after the flame outs we've had. Hence, my satisfaction with Lowery or Brownell. Rather have Lowery first, Bennett second, Brownell third (based on the guys' names being floated).
Obviously, if others were/are interested better, I'd change the order.