Clemson head men’s basketball coach Brad Brownell is one of 20 finalists for the 2023 Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year award, announced by CollegeInsider.com on Tuesday.
The Jim Phelan Award, which is presented annually to the nation’s top Division I coach, is named in honor of the legendary coach who spent his entire career at Mount Saint Mary’s University.
The all-time winningest coach at Clemson, Brownell in his 13th season in the Upstate. He has led the Tigers to their current 22-9 overall record which includes a program-best 14 ACC wins.
After being picked to finish 11th in the ACC, Brownell led Clemson to a tie for third in the final regular season standings, good enough for a double-bye in the ACC Tournament. That marked the ninth time a Brownell-coached team has finished higher than the preseason prediction.
With a 14-6 mark in the ACC, the Tigers are the third team in Clemson history to win 70.0 percent of its league games, joining the 10-4 teams of 1986-87 and 1989-90.
Clemson won its first seven ACC games this season to tie a school record for consecutive league games at any point in the regular season. It also won 11-straight ACC games over two years (last four of 2021-22 and first seven this year) – an all-time Clemson record for consecutive wins over ACC teams by four (won seven in 1966-67).
The recipient of the 2023 award will be announced in March, in Houston, at the site of the men’s NCAA Basketball Championship.