OP Is Gone

**Update by TigerMax below**

Umm...OP just left us to go to DePaul. I wouldn't feel so nervous if I had any faith in TDP to perform a decent search and hire the best coach out there. I am really interested to see what level of talent we can pull...

I'm really worried that Purnell saw the writing on the wall and knew that this team wasn't going to get much better. He certainly won't be taking any recruits with him so that's a bonus...

Its really late but this is shaping up to be the most pivotal decision in Clemson basketball that will shape the coming five years at least. Lets see if we can make the tourney now!! How about we hire Shaka back?? A certain Butler coach?? Just an early thought...

UPDATE: I'm pretty surprised. I had thought Purnell was committed to Clemson for more or less the long haul at this point in his career. And despite the basketball history at DePaul, their recent run of abject suckiness makes this a basically a lateral career move. This does, however, make sense in light of Purnell's coaching history. He style of coaching is basically that of a disruptor: he introduces a scheme (pressure defense) that forces you to adjust. It's great for building a program from the ground up because no one sees it coming. You can draw parallels to the concept of disruptive technology in the business world, basically the introduction of a novel business strategy that upsets the current order. As competitors adjust, however, the advantage fades. A classic example was the introduction of reliable Toyota/other Japanese cars in the 80s to the automotive industry. Only now are American companies like Ford starting to catch up in reputation.

In basketball, though, it's a little easier to respond. Coaches adjust their strategies to adapt and then they start exploiting the weaknesses in your scheme. They also start taking elements of your scheme, ultimately lessening it's impact around the league as everyone sees more and more of the same thing. That's last year for Clemson--we saw a lot of teams that have almost learned how to almost completely blunt the advantage that was inherent in Clemson's pressure defense. At the same time, Purnell really failed to improve the team in other areas. I was hopeful that with the ability to recruit better offensive skill players at Clemson he might "settle down" as a coach and learn to adjust his scheme to accommodate different talents. That obviously didn't happen and if it didn't happen last season it's arguable that it ever would have happened.

So Purnell is off to ply his scheme elsewhere for a few seasons. He'll probably eventually manage to take DePaul to the tournament, but I suspect he'll fade pretty quickly from basketball memory if he doesn't make some fairly drastic changes. Some unsolicited advice: take a page from Mike Anderson and recruit kids that won't turn the ball over every third possession.

Onto the brave new future for Clemson. Like any member of the Clemson faithful, I've got my doubts about TDP. And no, I can't see Brad Stevens coming here. As much as I like Stevens or any kind of coach that takes stats and schemes seriously, it'll take way more money to pry him away from Indiana than Clemson will fork over (on the other hand, maybe he'd like another shot at Coach K). If TDP surprises everyone and manages an encouraging hire, it'll be interesting to see what a decent offensive coach can do with the current team (assuming everyone stays on...). I think there's quite a lot of talent, but it will require an impressive coaching approach to get us past .500 next year.

And please please please please TDP, as a die-hard Clemson basketball fan: whatever you do, no retreads.