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Clemson Tigers Basketball Boss Reaches Career Milestone with NC State Victory

The Clemson Tigers have a men’s basketball coach that is working his way up the career victories list.

Matt Postins

Clemson Head Coach Brad Brownell in the game with Florida State University during the second half at Littlejohn Coliseum in Clemson, S.C Saturday, January 11, 2025.
Clemson Head Coach Brad Brownell in the game with Florida State University during the second half at Littlejohn Coliseum in Clemson, S.C Saturday, January 11, 2025. / Ken Ruinard - staff / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
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Clemson men’s basketball coach Brad Brownell led the Tigers to a victory over NC State on Saturday. It not only kept the Tigers in the ACC title hunt, but it meant a bit more to him personally.

The 68-58 win over the Wolfpack was No. 450 for Brownell’s career.

He is already the all-time winningest coach in Clemson history. That puts him ahead of well-known coaches like Bill Foster, Cliff Ellis and Rick Barnes, the last of which is still coaching at Tennessee.

Ellis finished his career as the ninth-winningest coach in history with 909 victories. Barnes has cleared the 800-win mark for his career recently and has the Volunteers in the AP Top 10.

Brownell, now 56 years old, has a good chance of reaching an echelon of Division I coaches that have reached 600 all-time victories. That list includes 125 coaches.

The Tigers are 18-4 this season, with an 8-1 record in ACC action. They’re a game behind Duke in the league standings and play the Blue Devils next Saturday. Before that, Clemson has a rematch with Georgia Tech on Tuesday at Littlejohn Coliseum.

Brownell took over the program in 2010 and has won 282 games, which includes six 20-win seasons. Clemson has made four NCAA Tournament appearances and four NIT appearances under him.

Last season was a high point for the Tigers under Brownell. They finished the season 24-14, with an 11-9 record in ACC action. In the NCAA Tournament, the Tigers reached the Elite Eight for the first time since 1980 under Foster.

The Tigers have never been to a Final Four.

Before Clemson, the Evansville, Ind., native was the head coach at Wright State from 2006-10. In four seasons he won 84 games, winning at least 20 games each campaign, and led the Raiders to the Horizon League title and the NCAA Tournament in 2007.

His first head-coaching job was at UNC-Wilmington, where he took over the Seahawks in 2002 and lasted four seasons. While there he won 83 games, led them to a pair of Colonial Athletic Association titles and two NCAA Tournament berths.

He was an assistant at UNCW from 1994-2002 and was elevated to the head-coaching job. Before that, he was an assistant at Indianapolis from 1992-94 and at Evansville from 1991-92.

He played his college basketball at DePauw, a Division III school in Greencastle, Ind.

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Matt Postins
MATT POSTINS

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