A coach recruiting a transfer initially coached by a former assistant could understandably make for an awkward situation.
To hear Clemson men’s basketball coach Brad Brownell tell it, though, that wasn’t necessarily the case as he pursued the latest addition to the Tigers’ roster for next season.
Brevin Galloway signed with Clemson last month after playing last season at Boston College, where he was coached by Earl Grant. Brownell and Grant spent five seasons together when Grant was an assistant on Clemson’s staff from 2010-14.
As for Galloway, he will be playing for his third different school after being granted a seventh year of eligibility by the NCAA. He spent the first six of those with Grant, who initially coached him for five years at Charleston before taking the Boston College job last year.
“Earl was more than fine with it,” Brownell said recently during Clemson’s Prowl & Growl tour, adding he had conversations with his former assistant during Galloway’s latest recruitment. “He’d already talked to Brevin. I think it was just one of those things that they’d been together long enough.”
The Eagles’ scholarship situation may have had something to do with it, too. Based on his understanding of the situation, Brownell said Boston College wasn’t anticipating Galloway, who missed most of the 2020-21 season because of an injury, receiving another year of eligibility. In an Instagram post on April 11, Galloway revealed he didn’t found out until the beginning of that month that he was getting the extra year and announced he was transferring.
Brownell called it a “very unique situation.”
“In some ways, (Boston College) probably didn’t save a scholarship for him,” Brownell said. “They were in the process of doing some recruiting, and then at some point, Brevin tells them, ‘Hey, I might be able to get a seventh year.’ And then they just decide whether that’s a good idea.”
Once Galloway entered the portal, Brownell said Galloway pursued Clemson just as much as the other way around. An Anderson native, Galloway played his prep basketball at Seneca High. His brother, Braden, just finished his fourth and final season on the Tigers’ football team.
“I think some of it is Brevin wants to come back and got to Clemson,” Brownell said. “He grew up in the area, and the opportunity to do something different and to play where he’s from and in his hometown area I think was pretty exciting for him.”
Galloway is the fifth and most recent member of the Tigers’ 2022-23 recruiting class. Brownell still has one scholarship available for next season’s roster.
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