Clemson, Brownell Set to Fill Remaining Coaching Vacancies Amid Staff Turnover

Brad Brownell has already found his staff replacements just one week after his team's season ended.

Clemson moves quickly to rebuild its coaching staff, filling key roles after multiple departures this offseason. | Michael C. Johnson-Imagn Images

Yesterday, reports surfaced that the Clemson Tigers would be hiring veteran assistant coach Chris Harriman in the wake of recent departures from Billy Donlon, who took the Eastern Michigan head coaching job, as well as Dick Bender and Jeff Reynolds, who both retired after 40 years of coaching.

Now, it's been announced that Brownell has already filled the other two empty roles on his staff, hiring Minnesota's Chad Warner and Cincinnati's Andre Morgan, as first reported by Larry Williams of Tiger Illustrated. The two will take over Donlon and Bender's roles as bench assistants, while Harriman will be replacing Reynolds on the support staff.

Warner joined the Golden Gophers around this time last year following the hiring of Niko Medved. This past season, Minnesota finished 15-17 overall and 11th in the Big Ten with an 8-12 record. The team plans to play Baylor on April 1 in the quarterfinals of the annual College Basketball Crown Tournament, which began last season.

Before Minnesota, Warner spent three seasons at Furman — just 45 minutes Northeast of Clemson — where he worked as an assistant coach for the first two years before being promoted to associate coach for the 2024 season. In the three-year tenure, the Paladins boasted a 70-34 record and earned one NCAA Tournament appearance.

Warner also spent 13 years as a head coach at the NAIA/Division II level before getting a shot at Furman. Beginning at Shorter University — a former NAIA program that's now Division II — he posted a 156-91 record, becoming the winningest coach in program history. Then, he moved on to Flagler College, a Division II program, leading the Saints to a 72-63 overall record across five seasons.

Morgan, on the other hand, has been a part of the Bearcats staff for the past five years. The decision to leave the school stems from the athletics department firing head coach Wes Miller, who took over in 2021, just over a week ago. In the five-year tenure, the program finished 100-74 while never making an NCAA Tournament appearance.

Prior to Cincinnati, he spent the previous three seasons as an assistant coach at Middle Tennessee State University, the same school from which Clemson guard Jestin Porter transferred before this past season.

His loyalty to Miller runs deeper than Cincinnati, though, as he worked under Miller as an assistant coach at UNC Greensboro from 2016 to 2018. While there, he assisted in leading the Spartans to a 52-18 overall record and made one NCAA Tournament appearance in 2018. 

Morgan also had short stints at the Citadel and UAB, the same program from which another Clemson guard, Butta Johnson, transferred this past season.