Brad Brownell '91 Leads His UNC-Wilmington Team to Basketball's "Big Dance"

March 18, 2003

March 18, 2003, Greencastle, Ind. - Brad Brownell, head men's basketball coach of the University of North Carolina-Wilmington and a 1991 graduate of DePauw University, "will lead the Seahawks (24-6) against defending national champion Maryland (19-9) on Friday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at Nashville, Tennessee," notes the Corpus Christi Caller-Times. The 34-year-old Brownell, in his first year as a college head coach, "didn't have a big name," the article states. "He wasn't a high profile assistant at a major conference school looking for his first head coaching job. He was a hard-working guy who patiently moved up through the system."

The story says that "After playing at DePauw, Brownell was a graduate assistant at the University of Evansville in 1991-92. The Aces won the Midwestern Collegiate Conference title and advanced to the NCAAs." Brownell, who was named Colonial Athletic Association Coach of the Year, then served two years as an assistant to former DePauw head coach Royce Waltman at the University of Indianapolis, then spent 8 years at UNC-Wilmington as an assistant coach and associate head coach. He was awarded the head coaching job when Jerry Wainwright resigned last spring to become head coach at Richmond. The Seahawks set a school record for victories this season. "I was given a lot of responsibility as an assistant under coach Wainwright," Brownell tells the newspaper. "I felt comfortable moving over six inches and it's worked out great."

You can read the complete article, which also tells of Brownell's coaching debut against the legendary Bob Knight, by clicking here. Access Coach Brownell's biography here.

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