Oliver Purnell

Oliver Purnell is often a bit of a college basketball transient. Now that he’s headed to Chicago to take more than DePaul he’ll have held five different college basketball coaching jobs. He is definitely somebody who has won during the regular couple of years, if not in the NCAA Tournament, and he must be up for the rebuilding job he’ll have to do at DePaul. The fact that he’s leaving the ACC for the Large East, and that he’s leaving a school that’s currently inside the upper echelon of the ACC in basketball, suggests to me that he really wanted out. Or that DePaul’s dollars had been just too much to pass up.

Everyone is putting up their take about the news. Andy Katz has a quote wherever Purnell says that, “DePaul presents a excellent opportunity.” What Purnell might be referencing is the contract which is said to become close to 7 years, $15 million. That’s a large pay raise from the $1.6 million he was making at Clemson.

Obviously, now he won’t have the house court advantage of Littlejohn Coliseum, a single from the greatest in college basketball. Hopefully although if he brings the wins to Lincoln Park the fans will head out to Allstate Arena in Rosemont to watch the games. (See what’s happening there…)

But what is DePaul obtaining exactly? Let’s look at Clemson more than the previous 7 seasons to try and discover out.

Purnell has at least created the NIT in each and every from the previous six seasons. He’s never advanced previous the first round inside the NCAA Tournament, but he has put together four consecutive 20-win seasons. This previous couple of years Clemson lost to Missouri inside the first round from the NCAA Tournament. Although this may seem like a disappointment, the Tigers (Mizzou version) have been a bit underseeded.

This though is really a trend for Purnell. He’s lost in the initial round with the NCAA Tournament each and every from the previous three seasons and he by no means made it out with the first round when he coached at Dayton or Old Dominion either. He’s a not-so-perfect 0-6 in the NCAA Tournament. Purnell has also been eight NITs in the course of his years as a head coach. He knows how to win within the normal year or so and get to the postseason.

Purnell brings a defensive style that is predicated on forcing turnovers. His Clemson teams have ranked in the Best 30 in the country in adjusted defensive efficiency in all but 1 from the previous six seasons. They do this by forcing many empty possessions with intense ball pressure. The Tigers defensive turnover percentage has been consistently within the Top 20 and has been in the Best 10 on two separate occasions.

On offense Purnell looks a lot more content to play to his personnel’s strengths. His offenses are always alright, but never fantastic. The only time this wasn’t true was the 2008-09 season when the Tigers finished 16th in adjusted offensive effectiveness, but 52nd in adjusted defensive efficiency.

If Purnell’s treatment of Trevor Booker is any indication, Mac Koshwal may want to think about sticking around instead of trying to crack the second round from the NBA Draft. Purnell gave Booker a lot of touches on offense last year or so. Booker was incredibly efficient, and that was whilst taking 25 percent of Clemson’s shots when he was about the floor. It seems like Koshwal would benefit from a year or so under Purnell.

Before leaving Clemson, Purnell had locked up just a single player, a 6′7″ power forward from Georgia named Marcus Thornton. The Tigers had been also chasing after numerous other recruits inside the south. This appears being where Purnell’s recruiting base is. That will be the huge question, can he recruit in the Midwest and in Chicago specifically?

Those two huge questions of postseason performance and area recruiting make this a tough hire to grade, but while not a house run, DePaul has done a great job of finding an individual that must be able to pilot the program back to respectability.

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