WSU coach insists he's 'not a known commodity'

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WSU coach insists he's 'not a known commodity'
Success with Raiders, combined with several coaching vacancies, leads to speculation.
By Marc Katz

Staff Writer

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Wright State's sudden and stunning success in men's basketball has put a lot of smiles on the faces of the school's administrators and followers.

It also gives them pause.

Several coaches around the nation have already been fired — from New Mexico to Minnesota to Marshall — and replacements are needed.

That means Wright State's Brad Brownell is being mentioned in several board rooms. On his resume: three NCAA tournament appearances in five years, two at North Carolina-Wilmington plus Thursday's Wright State game against Pittsburgh.

Has he been contacted by anyone?

"Not really," Brownell said.

WSU athletic director Mike Cusack said that he has not been contacted by any schools hoping to talk to Brownell.

"I'm not a high-profile coach," Brownell said Tuesday after he and his team arrived in Buffalo by charter flight. "I didn't play at a big school (DePauw) or coach as an assistant at a big school. I'm not a known commodity."

He's becoming one after leading the Raiders to the regular-season and Horizon League tournament championships on the way to a 23-9 record and the school's first NCAA tournament since 1993.

Supporters in his hometown of Evansville, Ind., think he's a natural for the vacant job at Evansville University, a member of the Missouri Valley Conference.

Brownell said he isn't looking.

"It's fickle," he said. "I'm not worried about any of that. Wright State's been a good place. I don't think that's what you're after, to move your family around.

"I'm not going to talk publicly about contracts and all those kinds of things. The people here (at WSU) have been great. We've enjoyed it."

Rewards are already built into Brownell's six-year contract, which features a $220,000 base salary this season. The biggest addition to that is a month's salary for him and each of his assistants for each NCAA tournament game played.

Once the season ends, Cusack said he will ask his coach what he needs to ensure continued success.

"We'll talk about the program as they (the coaches) see it and how to make this the best program it can be," Cusack said. "I'll ask if he has all the resources he needs. Have we delivered as promised? It's the same things I ask all my coaches."

Cusack doesn't think salary will be an issue, although he is aware of sharks in the water. At least one WSU booster said Brownell probably will obtain a nice raise.

"Brad went out and did exactly what we were paying him to do," said Bob Mills, whose name is one of three on the team's practice facility. "But, you know, he went a little bit overboard. He did more. I really think you have to have a system that will reward clearly outstanding behavior in job performance.

"We may not be able to keep Brad (and his assistants) forever, but let's try to keep him as long as we can, knowing he's going to leave this place in a better situation than he found it."

For now, Brownell expects to be here next year.

"Yeah," he said, "Why wouldn't I be?"

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Wright State coach Brownell going above and beyond
'He'll return every phone call, every e-mail,' says one former colleague.
By Kyle Nagel

Staff Writer

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

FAIRBORN — Two e-mail printouts were waiting for Brad Brownell when the Wright State University men's basketball coach got back to his office after Saturday's practice.

They were interview requests. Or, more interview requests.

"They're both radio?" Brownell said.

Since the Raiders won the Horizon League tournament to advance to the NCAA tournament, radio, television, newspaper and Internet reporters have all wanted a piece of Brownell. Put simply, the 38-year-old, first-year Wright State coach is hot.

"It's been busy," Brownell said, almost sheepishly.

By taking a Raiders team low on scholarship members and with one player taller than 6 feet 6 and leading it to a No. 14 seed in the NCAA tournament, Brownell has improved his career record to 106-49 in five seasons.

WSU will play third-seeded Pittsburgh on Thursday.

It has been another season of proof for those who watched him guide North Carolina-Wilmington to two NCAA tournament appearances in four years before he took the WSU job last spring. Brownell, they say, has officially moved himself into the group of best young coaches nationally.

That's why, for the past week, so many have asked for his time.

"He'll return every phone call, every e-mail and every text message," said Mike Vaccaro, UNCW's radio play-by-play broadcaster who worked with Brownell during his final two seasons at the school. "He's a very unique guy for being a Division I head coach."


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Brownell has always put the team first
By Kyle Nagel

Staff Writer

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

In his first months on the job, Brad Brownell found his clothes fitting loosely. Either from the stress of changing jobs or not eating, Brownell dropped a few pounds as he started his Wright State coaching career.

"I would see people for the first time in awhile and they'd say, 'Man, you've lost weight,' " Brownell said. "I guess I really looked different."

On a basketball floor, though, those who knew him saw the same coach. As Brownell led the Raiders to a 23-9 record, a Horizon League championship and their first NCAA tournament appearance in 14 seasons, friends, players and former bosses say the 38-year-old displayed the same principles he learned as a player and assistant coach.

From the gym to the local wings place, almost everyone Brownell has touched — from his early years to his four seasons as the head coach at North Carolina-Wilmington — has a favorite Brownell story.

And, they're anxious to share.

Bob Brownell

father

As a high school basketball coach in Indiana, Bob Brownell did his share of scouting. By the time son Brad was 8 years old, he was begging to tag along.

"A lot of kids would be happy with popcorn and a drink, but he demanded to help," Bob Brownell said. "I gave him the shot chart, and he kept that for me from the time he could write numbers."

A high school point guard, Brownell was considered at every level the perfect coach on the floor. Former coaches and teammates all said he understood the game at a freakish level, cutting off passes and seeing lanes before others did.

"I don't want to brag, but I could see it from the time he was 6 years old," Bob Brownell said. "He was always a very cerebral player."

Billy Donlon

assistant coach

In 2000, Donlon was part of the staff at American University that was fired. At that season's Final Four, Donlon sat with Brownell in a coffee shop as Brownell (an assistant at UNCW when Donlon played there) told Donlon, "If I become a head coach, you're my first call."

Two years later, Donlon was playing in Giessen, Germany, when his team went down 2-0 in a best-of-five series. Because the team was near a U.S. Army base, he picked up American Forces Network on the drive home and heard that Brownell had been hired at Wilmington.

Sure enough, Brownell called not two hours later. In two days, Donlon hopped a plane to Wilmington and was there for the 6 a.m. morning run.

"If he says something to you, he means it," Donlon said. "Not a lot of guys would follow through with something like that. But if he tells you something, he's going to make it happen. You can always count on him."

Greg Gibson

former practice observer

Each year Brownell was coach, UNCW ran a promotion in which fans could bid on a chance to be "Coach for a day." The winner would spend the day before the game at practice, go to meetings and sit on the bench for the game.

Gibson, a Wilmington-area insurance agent, won the experience several seasons ago.

"It gives you a good perspective on what they have to do," Gibson said. "He prepares better than anybody for a game. We'd know the opposing team's plays better than they knew their plays.

"I've got a good friend who's a die-hard fan with me and also a North Carolina State fan. We played the Wolfpack one year, and this friend told me Herb Sendek said he would never play Wilmington again because they're too well-prepared. Brad's just a coach you don't want to see on the other bench."

Chris Glendenning

Former Celebration Buddy

After home wins, when Brownell was finishing his post-game interviews, a group of about eight UNCW fans would give the signal to head to Harry's.

"We got wings with sauce on the side, because it was too hot," said Glendenning, a Wilmington ophthalmologist. "We would add some pistachios and Killian's beer."

The group would analyze the stat sheet and celebrate the victory. Brownell would join his friends, Glendenning said, not because he was obligated by the school but because he enjoyed their company. Glendenning said he saw the same attitude when he and his wife traveled to watch Wright State play Cal State-Fullerton on Feb. 17 and stayed with the Brownell family.

"He has an uncommon consistency in life," Glendenning said. "You see that from his teams. They're uncommonly consistent on the court. Seriously, watch them closely. You know what you're getting."

John Goldsberry

Former player

When Goldsberry left Vandalia Butler High School in 2002 to play for Brownell at UNC-Wilmington, he was a solid but quiet prep point guard. That frustrated Brownell, who some time later pulled Goldsberry aside and told him, "I'm not trying to be your friend, but I need you to respect me."

In going through those difficult Brownell practices, Goldsberry battled with his coach about being vocal on the court.

"His knowledge of the game is unbelievable," said Goldsberry, now playing in Germany. "He was begging me to be a more vocal player, and I didn't see what difference it made. I didn't think it was part of the game. But then, when I started really accepting what he said, it made me a better player."

Mitch Laue

former player

At Bishop Lynch Prep in Dallas, Laue was a good basketball player. But, basically for one reason.

"I was 6-7 and 230 pounds," Laue said. "I just posted up. I beasted people in high school."

That changed when he arrived in Wilmington in 2002 to play for Brownell. Even though they butted heads while Brownell hammered his defensive philosophy, Laue improved tremendously, he said. By his senior season, when UNCW made its second NCAA tournament appearance in four seasons, Laue was a complete basketball player.

"I watched Wright State play the championship game ... and I laughed," Laue said. "That was the UNCW defense. Everyone helping one another. His big thing is, if someone scores, it's everyone's fault. If a teammate loses his man, you help pick him up and recover. It's like five guys guarding every guy."

Chris Lowery

former schoolmate

Lowery, now the Southern Illinois basketball coach, was a freshman at Evansville's Harrison High School when Brownell was leading the team as a senior point guard.

Lowery said he is most impressed by Brownell's ability to convince the current Raiders to play passionately for him, just as Brownell was forced to do as a senior when his high school hired a new coach.

"He understands kids," Lowery said. "He went somewhere no one knew him and got kids to buy in to what he's saying. He has convinced them to be winners."

Jerrill Vandeventer

former high school coach

Vandeventer moved from Boonville to Harrison beginning with the 1986-87 season, when Brownell was a senior. It was a talented team, including a sophomore named Calbert Cheaney. He found Brownell to be a defensive-minded player from the start.

"He would handle the ball on the point and guard their biggest player on the other end," said Vandeventer, now the superintendent in Jasper, Ind. "He was so versatile."

In the middle of that season, Harrison played city rival Memorial, which was ranked No. 1 in the state. Brownell was assigned to Memorial's best player, whom he guarded closely in the first half.

Near the beginning of the second quarter, offense entered his mind.

"I could see him getting itchy," Vandeventer said.

Brownell took a shot and met a heated Vandeventer at the next timeout.

"I told him not to worry about offense," he said. "I told him to trust me, play tough defense and everything would be fine. We upset them.

"As much of a worker as Brad was, I think he was a smarter player. He figured out defense is the key to winning games."

Jerry Wainwright

former boss

To understand what Brownell learned from Wainwright, you have to understand the former UNCW and Richmond coach and current DePaul coach. He wants the epithet on his tombstone to read, "Here Lies A Good Practice Coach."

"I wanted a basketball guy," Wainwright said of Brownell's 1994 hiring, "not someone slick working his way up the chain."

Wainwright respected Brownell's ability to teach the game so much that he paired his own son, Scott, with Brownell at camps so Scott could learn the proper methods for coaching fundamentals.

But this is his favorite story:

After a few years at Wilmington, Wainwright had a spot open on his staff. Brownell at the time wasn't a full-time employee, instead working as a restricted-earnings coach. Wainwright chose not to move Brownell into the full-time position.

"I went into his office and said, 'I know this will be hard to take, but I'm not moving you into that spot,' " Wainwright said. "He looked at me and said, 'I can't tell you I'm happy, but I'm with you, coach.' He's never called me by my name to this day, just 'coach.'

"Well, he never brought it up again, still worked just as hard with the same passion. Not everyone can do that. That tells me that guy is with the team, no matter what. He demands that from his players as well."

DaShaun Wood

player of the year

At halftime of WSU's season opener against Miami, the Raiders trailed 25-20. Brownell held his assistants out of the locker room and had what he described as "a heart-to-heart, only louder."

Brownell didn't discuss offensive plays or defensive match-ups, but instead he talked about his bench. He was furious that the reserves weren't showing enough passion.

"Oh, yeah," said Wood, the Wright State senior guard and Horizon League player of the year, "he was hot."

The episode showed Wood what is important to Brownell — effort and enthusiasm. Wood then led the Raiders comeback and canned the winning shot with two-tenths of a second left for a 57-56 victory.

"He said he wasn't going to tell us we had to slap high-fives to guys coming off or do anything particular on the bench," Wood said. "That was up to us. No rules. But, he said we had to be excited about the team and the game. I think everyone can see what happened."


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