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ACC QUESTION of the WEEK : Is Brad Brownell underappreciated by Clemson fans?
When assessing whether a coach is underappreciated, the main question I ask myself is this: Are fans expecting too much of a coach, relative to the history of the program and the performances of other coaches at the school?
Clemson is not an easy place to win, so I can say right off the bat that a discussion of Brad Brownell is not going to be easy. The answer will not be clear in one direction or another.
I see a lot of frustration on Twitter after Clemson loses a winnable game. I see some people who realize how hard it is to win at Clemson and therefore cut Brownell some slack. We are going to get a lot of reactions to Brownell this next week, as Clemson carries a bubble identity into a classic bubble game on Wednesday against North Carolina State. If Clemson makes the NCAA Tournament, a lot of Clemson fans will warm to Brownell. If Clemson misses the Big Dance, you know a firestorm of criticism is coming.
Is fan reaction to Brownell fundamentally fair?
When a program misses the NCAA Tournament in six straight seasons, as Clemson did from 2012 through 2017, fan unrest is completely reasonable. When Brownell made the 2018 NCAA Tournament and then reached the Sweet 16, he earned gratitude, but more primarily, he earned more time on the job. It was widely felt that if Brownell missed the Dance in 2018, he would have been out, and it would have been hard to argue against such a move on the merits.
In this follow-up to the 2018 season, Clemson fans are obviously very interested in seeing if Brownell can keep the momentum going. I’m not sure CU fans view this season as a defining test for Brownell, but clearly, the need to make back-to-back NCAA Tournaments is acutely felt in the Palmetto State. Brownell is sitting on the fence, and the fine line between making or missing the NCAAs in many ways represents the fine line between whether he is appreciated or not.
With the sole exception of Rick Barnes — who didn’t stick around very long at Clemson as he moved up the coaching ladder — the other Clemson coaches who have done well are coaches who also went several years without making the NCAA Tournament. Oliver Purnell, Cliff Ellis, and Bill C. Foster (differentiated from another ACC head coach of the late 1970s, Bill E. Foster) all went through prolonged NCAA droughts at Clemson. Brownell is therefore no different.
Are Clemson fans expecting too much? I completely understand where Tiger fans are coming from here, and I think their FRUSTRATIONS are legitimate and understandable. Yet, yes, I ultimately do sense that CU fans expect Brownell to be better and more consistent than he has been.
It’s not outrageous for fans to think this way, but the Clemson job just isn’t as easy to master as some think.
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