The veteran head coach followed up an Elite Eight run the previous season with a 27-7 campaign and second-place finish in the ACC just behind Duke despite beating the Blue Devils in the regular season. The Tigers had one of the best regular seasons in program history and it felt like the program took another massive step forward.
However, everything was almost derailed by Indiana as the Hoosiers announced they were moving on from Mike Woodson, and the name that immediately jumped to the front of the line was Brownell.
The Clemson head coach was rumored to be one of the top candidates to replace Woodson in Bloomington, Ind.