Award-winning columnist Tom Archdeacon — an old-school storyteller in a brand-new venue — writes about sports, the city, southwest Ohio and anything else that catches his fancy… or yours.Home > Blogs > Through the Arch > Archives > 2008 > April > 02 > Entry
Brownell: Front Runner at Marquette?
A source close to the Marquette University basketball program has said Wright State’s Brad Brownell is on the short list of Golden Eagles athletics director Steve Cottingham as a replacement for departed coach Tom Crean.
Crean was introduced Wednesday as the new head coach at Indiana University.
According to ESPN.com and at least two other national sports web sites late Wednesday night, Brownell is considered one of the front-runners to replace Crean. Earlier in the day, ESPN”S Andy Katz reported that IU had been set to go after Brownell had it not been able to lure Crean.
One basketball insider at WSU said he expects Brownell to take a higher profile job as soon as he finds one that fits. Although Brownell has admitted he’s been contacted by a couple of schools since the Raiders season ended, he hasn’t named them publicly and has reiterated that he is happy with his job at WSU.
Brownell remains one of the hotter prospects in college coaching right now. He is the winningest NCAA Division I coach under the age of 40. In two seasons at Wright State, he’s led the Raiders to a 44-20 record, took the team to the NCAA Tournament last year and was named co-Coach of the Year in the Horizon League this season.
Prior to Wright State — in his four seasons as head coach at UNC-Wilimington — he led the team to two NCAA Tournaments and twice was named Colonial Athletic Association Coach of the Year. He’s never has a losing record in six years as a head coach.
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Comments
By The Slam
April 7, 2008 2:34 PM | Link to this
The only reason B. Gregory was mentioned by the DDN as a possible candidate at Marquette is they are owned by Cox Inc. in Atlanta. The Cox Coorporation have supported UD basketball along with WHIO television and radio for a 50+ years. That’s not bad, but that’s where their loyalty lies. Brownell’s record, integrity and character speak volumes as to the type of man and coach he is. I’m not saying that Coach Gregory doesn’t have integrity or good character as well. It’s just that we have been blessed to witness his accomplishments up close and personal. Coach B is the “BEST”.By bamarquettefan
April 5, 2008 12:14 AM | Link to this
The comments from Marquette land have been much higher on Brownell than Gregory. The first time Gregory was mentioned the comment was, “he’s not even the best coach in his city!” Gregory certainly had our attention with the win at Louisville (which destroyed MU both times) and the blowout of Pitt, but we didn’t know why UD fell off so much - was it injuries? Anyway, the thinking right now is that MU is leaning toward staying internal with assistant Buzz Williams, but I’d say the Marquette fans first choice is Brownell, followed by VCUs head coach.By rs
April 3, 2008 9:08 PM | Link to this
BG has already turned down an offer from DePaul a couple of years ago, get your facts straight. BB is an excellent coach, he’s shown at two schools that he’s a better coach than BG. But he doesn’t want to stay in a mickey mouse conference like the Horizon. BG has more going for him at UD than BB will ever have at WSU. WSU won’t be on the basketball map until they develop a tradition of winning, (championship banners from the past) and draw more than 7,000 (currently thousands less than this) per home game without giving away tickets.By ryan
April 3, 2008 5:06 PM | Link to this
I think its funny how we get an article about Coach Brownell being a candidate somewhere, and all of a sudden the Flyer fans think its Gregory who is the candidate. Tom Archdeacon is a great writer, and I doubt he got his info wrong from Marquette about who was the candidate they were after. Lets be honest, UD will have to FIRE Gregory, no one is gonna take him from them. Obviously not the case for Brownell. Also, for someone to say that UD and WSU arent real programs is mistaken. There are over 300 D1 basketball programs, UD and WSU are in the upper half of those consistantly. Lets remember, much less than a third of teams actually make the NCAA tournament. Harder than it looks and sounds. Get a clue!By Harvey
April 3, 2008 12:20 PM | Link to this
null, When was UD down? Gregory came in and inherited an NCAA team and proceeded to run it into the ground.By Harvey
April 3, 2008 12:20 PM | Link to this
null, When was UD down? Gregory came in and inherited an NCAA team and proceeded to run it into the ground.By null
April 3, 2008 11:14 AM | Link to this
Brian Gregory name is all over the place MU Hoops Chatter message board Candidates from Tom Izzo’s coaching bloodline. D Wojcik and B Gregory. Reply These are 2 young coaches who have head coaching experience at urban universities. Both are good catholic boys also. Both have taken programs that were down and won more than 20 games with them this year. Gregory has 2 consecutive 20 win years and baring injury problems would have made the dance this year. Gregory also has great recruiting connections in Chicago and Michigan which could help a lot. The only thing you might have to worry about is if one of these guys is picked and has a highly successful run at Marquette they probably would be one of the favorites for the MSU job when Izzo retires in 5-10 years. The new coach will be… Reply Brian Gregory from Dayton. Gregory can recruit with the best of them and is a great coach Re: The new coach will be… Reply That would be a great hire. I loved this guys court presence when they whooped the Cards earlier this year. Dayton was an extremely well coached team, and barring some injury troubles would have made some noise in the post-season. Posted on 4/2 12:21 PMBy I want to Win Dave
April 3, 2008 10:52 AM | Link to this
Who cares if your coach leaves to go the a bigger school. That usually means the coach has been a winner. Pete Gillin, Skip Prosser, Thad Matta, and now Sean Miller, all winners, all big name, all Xavier products, all kicked Dayton’s you know what. Slow and steady equals losser. We continue to show up 13,000 at a time to watch it. Who’s the idiot? We’re Bengals fans.By Dave
April 3, 2008 10:45 AM | Link to this
I am a UD season ticket holder for 12 years plus I attend WSU games. There is no comparison which team is coached better. It’s not an accident that WSU won 40+ games the last 2 years with sub-par talent, talent that couldn’t win more than 10-15 games the last 10 years.By Dave
April 3, 2008 9:57 AM | Link to this
Maybe UD can afford to grab a better coach…so that he can leave in three years for a BCS school? I prefer slow and steady.By Beavis
April 3, 2008 9:47 AM | Link to this
From a fan of neither team, this is funny. To think that either UD or WSU is real college basketball is not thinking straight.By Beavis
April 3, 2008 9:46 AM | Link to this
From a fan of neither team, this is funny. To think that either UD or WSU is real college basketball is not thinking straight.By Dave
April 3, 2008 9:44 AM | Link to this
I am a UD season ticket holder for 12 years plus I attend WSU games. There is no comparison which team is coached better. It’s not an accident that WSU won 40+ games the last 2 years with sub-par talent, talent that couldn’t win more than 10-15 games the last 10 years. UD struggles to get the ball in-bounds sometimes with much better talent. UD’s problems root back to people like Bob. In his mind UD can do no wrong. Face the facts that they should be doing much better, they shouldn’t accept losing to Xavier every year. They are constantly in the top 25 in attendence and could afford a much better coach, one that is a proven winner as a head coach. The UD administration and fans are like the Bengals, they accept losing too easily. They have accepted being a loser to Xavier and that should not be the case. My father-in-law played for the 62 NIT champions and he points out that their era never lost to Xavier, that fire and determination to win by the community and administration is gone, but yet the administration and fans loves to talk about the glory days. UD was too slow to join a conference in the 80’s, too slow to fire Donaher, too slow to fire O’Brien, and now they are being too slow to accept the mistake they made on Gregory. If they don’t win next year, I think Kissel should be the one takes the fall.By Scott
April 3, 2008 9:21 AM | Link to this
From a fan of neither team, I find these comments funny. For those that say how WSU is better than UD are not thinking straight. The level of competition betwen leagues is huge.By Brian
April 3, 2008 9:12 AM | Link to this
Any sane, knowledgeable basketball fan can see Brownell is hands-down a better coach than Gregory. Don’t be afraid to come out from under your UD rock, Flyer fans, the world does not revolve around your program and you don’t always have the best coach, players, etc. You’re just lucky it was Cleveland State and not WSU that you played in the NIT.By the plain truth
April 3, 2008 8:34 AM | Link to this
By god I’d buy the plane ticket to send gregory out of here. Brownell would be great for UDBy jake
April 3, 2008 8:22 AM | Link to this
Gottlieb on ESPN said Gregory would be a top candidate for Marquette. If he leaves it would be awesome to see how good Brownell would be at UD with a heck of a lot better caliber of players.By Harvey
April 3, 2008 7:37 AM | Link to this
Sadley, I think Brad will jump this time. It’s been fun going to WSU games the past 2 years and watching his teams actually play the game the right way.By Bob
April 3, 2008 7:22 AM | Link to this
The only reason UD should even consider Brownell is as an assistant to bolster an already strong staff. Gregory is doing a fine job.By Heather
April 3, 2008 7:10 AM | Link to this
Maybe UD should go after Brownell and get Gregory out of there.