Last spring, about a month after Brad Brownell replaced Oliver Purnell as head coach at Clemson, I pitched an idea to the new guy.
How about one day we shadow you as you go through your daily routine, just to give people a glimpse of what it's like behind the scenes?
Initially, the idea was formed as a way to present Clemson fans with a bit of an introduction to Brownell the person. As engaging as he was at his opening press conference, as much as he "won" the proceedings that day, there was still a lot about him that fans didn't know. And after dealing with the pain from Oliver Purnell's abrupt departure to DePaul, it seemed as if fans might be able to achieve a bit of catharsis and closure as well by getting to know Brownell and how he operates.
Brownell seemed interested in the idea at the time, but he had so much else on his mind that it certainly wasn't something that was going to be foremost on his mind -- or anywhere close to it. It is hard for people to understand just how consuming it is for a first-year coach and his staff as they implement their system.
Once the season started, I figured that maybe the idea was something that would have to wait until the spring or summer. But a few weeks ago I pitched it again, and Brownell said he was cool with doing it.
Some folks were surprised that Brownell was willing to let a pesky reporter follow him around for a day not only during the grind of a season, but during the grind of ACC season in mid-February. But once you spend some time with the guy, you see with tremendous clarity that it's not a big deal to him because he's going to be who he is and do his job regardless of the company he's in.
I spent almost nine hours with the coach Wednesday, arriving to his morning workout at 7:15 and then wrapping it up after 4 p.m. when he climbed onto the bus that would transport the team to the airport for its flight to Raleigh.
My belief is that it'd be hard not to be impressed with any big-time college coach if you followed him around for an extended period. There's just so much on these guys' shoulders, so much stuff that has little to do with actually coaching. Most of them pull it off pretty skillfully, I'd assume.
But Brownell is just so different than most because there's no artifice, no show, no airs of self-importance that you can get when coaches are getting paid millions of dollars and living in such an insulated world. We got a glimpse of this during Brownell's introductory press conference, and we've seen more glimpses of it since as the Tigers have proceeded through his first season. But it's presented in full color when you spend almost an entire day with the guy.
We wanted to be as minimally intrusive as possible, particularly given that this is the middle of the season and Brownell is trying to get the Tigers into the NCAA Tournament with five regular-season games left. This was supposed to be just a "fly on the wall" arrangement that consisted almost solely of observing as Brownell went about his day.
But it was more than that, because Brownell is so engaging and conversational. He was genuinely curious about our site, our industry, my career, and various other topics.
Just the same, he is constantly immersed in his job. He's always thinking about X's and O's, about different tweaks that can be implemented for the upcoming game. And on this day, you could tell he was still brooding about last week's loss to North Carolina and the opportunity that was squandered.
When this man sits down to watch tape, or to write out the day's practice plan, he is totally consumed. He is old school. He is a thinker. The term "student of the game" is thrown around quite a bit, but with Brownell it absolutely fits.
We have a bunch of stuff coming from our lengthy visit with Brownell. Just wanted to give y'all an idea of the good stuff that's on the way.
Stay tuned!
LW
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