Oliver Purnell

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Oliver Purnell
Title	Head coach
College	Clemson
Sport	Basketball
Born	May 19, 1953 (1953-05-19) (age 55)
Place of birth	Berlin, Maryland
Career highlights
Championships
CAA Tournament Championship (1992) CAA Regular Season Championship (1993, 1994)
Awards
A-10 Coach of the Year (1998) CAA Coach of the Year (1993) Big South Coach of the Year (1991)
Playing career
1972–1975	Old Dominion
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1975–1985 1985–1988 1988–1991 1991–1994 1994–2003 2003–present	Old Dominion (asst.) Maryland (asst.) Radford Old Dominion Dayton Clemson

Oliver Purnell (born May 19, 1953) is an American college basketball coach at Clemson University.

Contents 1 Early years 2 Coaching career 3 External links 4 References

[edit] Early years

Purnell was born in Berlin, Maryland and attended Stephen Decatur High School. Purnell was recruited to play basketball at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. While at Old Dominion, Purnell enjoyed a highly successful playing career, finishing 18th on ODU's all time scoring list with 1,090 points and leading the Monarchs to the 1975 NCAA Division II national championship.[1]. The Milwaukee Bucks drafted Purnell in the sixth round of the 1975 NBA Draft.[2]

[edit] Coaching career

Purnell became a graduate assistant coach at ODU in July 1975, eventually becoming a full time assistant at the university. During Purnell's tenure as a full time assistant, he helped ODU reach the post season seven times (3 NCAAs and 4 NITs).[3] Lefty Driesell hired Purnell in 1985 to serve as an assistant on his Maryland staff. Purnell served three seasons at Maryland before being selected as head coach at Radford University. Purnell is credited with one of the biggest one year turnarounds in NCAA history as his 1990-91 Radford club posted a 22-7 record, a 15 game improvement over the previous season.[4]. In 1994, he accepted a position as head coach at the University of Dayton where he led the Flyers to two NCAA tournament appearances (2000, 2003) before accepting the head coaching job at Clemson University shortly after losing to #13 Tulsa in the 2003 tournament.

During his tenure at Clemson, he has built the program steadily, improving each subsequent season. In 2007, Purnell took his team to the championship game of the NIT, losing to West Virginia in the final, following wins against Syracuse, Air Force, and Ole Miss. In 2008, he guided the Tigers to a third-place 10-6 record in the Atlantic Coast Conference and a runner-up position in the ACC Tournament in Charlotte, losing to North Carolina by 5 points. The 2007-2008 season marked Clemson's first appearance in the NCAA Tournament in ten years.

On March 18, 2008, Clemson extended Purnell's contract through 2014 and raised his salary.^[1]

[edit] External links

• http://www.coachpurnell.com/bio.html
• http://odusports.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/purnell_oliver00.html
• http://clemsontigers.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/purnell_oliver00.html

[edit] References

v • d • e Current men's basketball head coaches of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Dino Gaudio (Wake Forest) • Seth Greenberg (Virginia Tech) • Frank Haith (Miami) • Leonard Hamilton (Florida State) • Paul Hewitt (Georgia Tech) • Mike Krzyzewski (Duke) • Dave Leitao (Virginia) • Sidney Lowe (NC State) • Oliver Purnell (Clemson) • Al Skinner (Boston College) • Gary Williams (Maryland) • Roy Williams (North Carolina)

v • d • e Radford Highlanders Head Basketball Coaches Taylor • Davis • Purnell • Bradley • Samuels • Greenberg

v • d • e Old Dominion Monarchs Head Basketball Coaches Scott • Stirnweiss • Chandler • Rubin • Callahan • Metheny • Allen • Webb • Young • Purnell • Capel • Taylor

v • d • e Dayton Flyers Head Basketball Coaches O'Malley • Solimano • Mahrt • McCray • Mahrt • Solimano • Thiele • Sherry • Hill • Baujan • Fitzgerald • Belanich • Tschudi • Holsinger • Carter • Blackburn • Donoher • O'Brien • Purnell • Gregory

v • d • e Clemson Tigers Head Basketball Coaches Dobson • Erwin • Ward • Morris • Donahue • Conover • Stewart • Saunders • Gilliam • Cody • Davis • Norman • McFadden • Maravich • Roberts • Locke • Foster • Ellis • Barnes • Shyatt • Purnell