What is Clemson basketball getting in its 2 new assistant coaches?

Clemson men’s basketball coach Brad Brownell officially declared the hiring of two assistant coaches Monday: Billy Donlon and Sean Dixon.

The large concern is no matter whether either of the new assistants, who like Brownell introduced their occupation paths at mid-key programs for the most section, will be bringing gamers with them.

Clemson’s roster is a bit slim at the guard posture, significantly supplied the current departures of guards Al-Amir Dawes and Nick Honor and the improve of heart by former Princeton standout Jaelin Llewellyn.

Llewellyn committed to the Tigers out of the transfer portal on April 12. A single week afterwards, the luster experienced faded from that final decision, and he reopened his recruitment “to rethink the very best selections.”

No matter if or not that final decision experienced something to do with the departures of Clemson assistants Antonio Reynolds-Dean to Ga and Kareem Richardson to N.C. Condition remains unclear, but Brownell’s replacements appear to be a pair of guard-pleasant coaches who could shell out dividends in recruiting.

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Billy Donlon, who joins Brownell’s personnel as associate head coach, was a star guard at UNC Wilmington, the place he performed beneath Brownell when Brownell was an assistant there beneath Jerry Wainwright in the late 1990s.

Donlon later on served as an assistant underneath Brownell at UNCW and again in the course of Brownell’s effective stint at Wright Point out. Donlon actually succeeded Brownell as head mentor at Wright Point out immediately after Brownell took the Clemson job in 2010, and Donlon was named Horizon League Mentor of the 12 months following the 2013-14 season, when he guided the Raiders to a school-report 23 victories.

But like in school basketball can be fleeting, and three several years afterwards Donlon was fired.

He landed assistant stints at Michigan and Northwestern before staying hired at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, the place ironically he changed Kareem Richardson. Donlon guided the Roos to a 46-39 report about three yrs, such as a 19-12 mark last year.

Tale continues

Adding a layer of intrigue to Donlon’s using the services of is the likely luring of guard “Boogie” Anderson to Clemson. Anderson, a 6-foot-4 guard who performed at South Dakota previous year, entered the transfer portal on March 16 and introduced April 13 that he’d be signing up for Donlon at UMKC. 4 days in the past he re-opened his recruitment, citing “the coaching alter at UMKC.”

The son of previous NFL Rookie of the Year running back again Mike Anderson, “Boogie” could be a good in good shape at Clemson and with Brownell, who has grown significantly comfortable playing the transfer portal video game.

Brownell’s other new assistant is Sean Dixon, who has some community ties. Dixon is an Atlanta-place item, which is good information on the recruiting front provided the expertise pool there, and performed at Presbyterian, the place he was a 1st-workforce All-Huge South guard in his junior and senior a long time.

He spent four seasons as an assistant at Presbyterian, five seasons at UNC Asheville and the final 4 at Center Tennessee, which gained 26 video games previous season and advanced to the CBI Championship recreation.

The stress has ratcheted up on Brownell in the wake of very last season’s 17-16 ledger, together with an 8-12 ACC mark that precipitated a “did not fulfill our expectations” evaluation from Athletic Director Graham Neff.

With these additions, nonetheless, Brownell appears to have recovered nicely from the program’s the latest losses. And offered the new staffers’ large working experience and understanding with guard participate in and their probable for encouraging fill rapid needs on the court docket and in recruiting, Brownell hopes he’s built a couple of grand slam hires.

Scott Keepfer handles Clemson athletics for The Greenville Information and the United states of america Right now Community.

This short article initially appeared on Greenville News: What is Clemson basketball having in its 2 new assistant coaches?