Brad Brownell is close to filling the vacancies on his coaching staff.
Billy Donlon and Sean Dixon are expected to be hired as Clemson’s newest men’s basketball assistants. A source tells The Clemson Insider an official announcement could come in the coming days or week.
Brownell has moved quickly since losing a pair of assistant coaches, Antonio Reynolds Dean (Georgia) and Kareem Richardson (North Carolina State), to other high-major programs last week. Donlon on Thursday night stepped down as the head coach at the University of Missouri-Kansas City to “pursue other opportunities,” the school announced.
For Brownell, Donlon would be a familiar addition to the Tigers’ bench. A coaching veteran of more than two decades, Donlon had two previous stints working as an assistant under Brownell, first at UNC-Wilmington (2002-06) before following Brownell to Wright State (2006-10). Donlon, who spent three seasons as the head coach at UMKC, took over at Wright State when Brownell was hired at Clemson following the 2009-10 season.
Donlon has also been an assistant at American, Saint Peter’s, Michigan and Northwestern.
Both coaches bring local ties to the staff. Donlon played his college ball at UNC-Wilmington while Dixon played at Presbyterian, where he also got his start in coaching. Dixon, a native of Marietta, Georgia, spent the last three seasons as an assistant at Middle Tennessee State.
Before that, Dixon spent five seasons on staff at UNC-Asheville, helping the Bulldogs win the Big South tournament championship in 2016, a share of the regular-season conference title in 2017 and the outright league championship in 2018. He also served as Asheville’s recruiting coordinator.
Photo courtesy of the USA Today Sports Network
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