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ACC Basketball: Ranking all head coaches heading into 2023-24 season

By Caleb Hall

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MARCH 11: head coach Mike Young of the Virginia Tech Hokies talks with head coach Hubert Davis of the North Carolina Tar Heels during the second half in the 2022 Men's ACC Basketball Tournament - Semifinals at Barclays Center on March 11, 2022 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. The Hokies won 72-59. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MARCH 11: head coach Mike Young of the Virginia Tech Hokies talks with head coach Hubert Davis of the North Carolina Tar Heels during the second half in the 2022 Men's ACC Basketball Tournament - Semifinals at Barclays Center on March 11, 2022 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. The Hokies won 72-59. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images) /
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ACC Basketball Clemson Tigers head coach Brad Brownell Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports /

No. 6: Brad Brownell, Clemson Tigers

Brad Brownell has been the head coach of the Clemson Tigers since 2011 and will be entering his 14th year coaching the Tigers in 2023-24. Brownell has been quite successful at Clemson and has taken them to the tournament a couple times and even had a sweet sixteen bid. Brownell is known for his dynamic offense and physical defense the Tigers play. Most of Brownell’s good teams are made up of older players that have been in his system, and that seems to be something that is becoming less and less popular in college basketball.

The Tigers were poised to be a dangerous team last season after starting 15-3 and 7-0 in conference play. However, they started to losing more games and losing to teams like Boston College and Louisville essentially put them out of the tournament bubble. They were a good and talented team but losing games to really bad teams will kick you out of the field of 64 easily.

Brownell is a proven coach and seems to always have his teams ready, even if the talent isn’t at a Duke or UNC level. Brownell however, can’t seem to break through the Clemson barrier. Clemson is not known as an ACC powerhouse and because of that they never seem to make it past the first weekend of the NCAA tourney. For Clemson fans they might see this as better than not making the tourney at all. However, to teams with tradition like Duke, UNC, Virginia, and Louisville it is unacceptable. For Brownell to be higher on these rankings he will have to prove he can win at a higher level consistently and win more in the postseason and in late conference play.