Wednesday December 17, 2008

Rare Air

Rare Air
When the Tigers entered the basketball poll this week, it marked just the second time in school history that Clemson had been ranked three consecutive seasons.

So I began to wonder about Purnell and how he compares to former Clemson coaches. When thinking about what Oliver Purnell has done in a little more than five years here at Clemson, I am starting to think of him as the best basketball coach in Clemson history.

First, it’s not like the roll takes a long time to call in the class that should be under consideration here. Clemson has had only 21 head basketball coaches in the sport that dates back to 1912.

Also it is not like the situation we have in football where the school has Hall of Famers and legends like Heisman, Howard, Neely and Ford.

In fact, of the 20 head basketball coaches that came before Purnell only eight had winning records. Therefore you can eliminate the 12 coaches with losing records from the argument.

Of the eight coaches before Purnell who had winning records, I can eliminate four based upon longevity. Frank Dobson (1912-13) was the school’s first coach and he had a winning record but 13-5 does not get him in the conversation. Courtney Morris coached the Tigers in 1917 and 1920 and had a winning overall record but 16-8 does not merit the honor. Jiggs Donohue (1918-19) was 6-3 in his two years and obviously is not a candidate. Larry Conover’s 1921 team went 10-4 in his only season as head coach but that also is not the kind of material that could lead us to put him in the lead group.

So, only five guys should be considered in this argument.

Joe Davis coached the Tigers from 1932 to 1940. He had a 101-86 record. He was known more for his football coaching skills as he teamed with Hall of Famer Jess Neely at Clemson and Rice. Davis did lead the Tigers to their only post-season tournament championship when Clemson won the 1939 Southern Conference title.

Bill Foster led the Tigers from 1976 to 1984. He compiled a 156-106 mark. Took the Tigers to their best NCAA tournament finish when Clemson came within one game of going to the Final Four in 1980. Foster has the highest winning percentage of any Clemson basketball coach.

Cliff Ellis ran the show from 1985 to 1994 and was 177-128 during his days in Tigertown. Those 177 wins make him the winningest coach in Clemson history. Ellis also led the Tigers to their first regular season ACC title.

Rick Barnes had four glorious years here from 1994-98 when his clubs went 74-48. All four of his teams were ranked at some point and he lead the Tigers to their highest ever ranking (number 2 in the AP Poll in 1997).

Purnell is now 105-68 in his five plus years at Clemson. He has accomplished so much in his time and the program appears to be in better shape than ever before. He is just the second coach to lead the Tigers to the championship game of the ACC tournament.

Clemson’s basketball history is the worst of any ACC school. Consider that the first basketball poll came out in 1951 and Clemson was not ranked until 1975. There have been over 1000 weeks of basketball polls since 1951 and this past week was just the 115th time the Tigers have been ranked.

Only six head coaches have seen their Clemson teams in the polls. Barnes had Clemson ranked 38 weeks. If Clemson is ranked next week Purnell will tie Foster with 23 weeks being ranked. Ellis had the Tigers ranked 16 weeks, Larry Shyatt accomplished the feat nine times and Tates Locke did it seven times.

Some of these coaches have padded their wins early and struggled late. Purnell is already second in school history with 14 wins in March and if he can win two March games this year he will set the school record in this category as well.

Clemson has only won 16 ACC tournament games in school history and Purnell has three of those and is tied for the lead in school history with ACC tournament wins with Ellis.

Last season the Tigers came into the NCAA tournament as a fifth seed under Purnell. Only two Clemson teams had better seeds in the NCAA tournament.

The numbers and facts show us two things. First, Clemson’s basketball history has been pathetic. Second, Purnell is doing things that no other coach in Clemson history has done. He is actually building a program where each year the team is better and the future is always brighter. This year Clemson came into a season where it lost three very good players and most Tiger teams would have to face a rebuilding project. That is not the case for Purnell. This team may be better than last year’s squad. Basketball people I talk to think when Milton Jennings gets here next season, the program will explode to an entirely new level.

Purnell has done it with hard work and he has done it the right way. Some Clemson coaches took short cuts. Others built teams instead of a program. But Purnell has done it the right way and he has done it without an ego. He rolled up his sleeves and worked hard to brand Clemson basketball not Oliver Purnell.

Going to Littlejohn is fun now. His players play hard. They stay out of trouble. They do well in school. The style of play is fun to watch. He does not act like a maniac on the sidelines. They win and he is committed to growing the brand of Clemson basketball instead of Oliver Purnell. The future gets brighter every year. Those things add up in my mind to the greatest Clemson basketball coach of all-time.

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