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Brownell - 'The guys that want to cheat are going to cheat"

Clemson head basketball Brad Brownell gave a somber assessment of the state of college basketball which is under a microscope in the wake of the FBI investigation.

He's coming off a year where he led Clemson to the NCAA Sweet 16 and in the off-season, he received a new six-year, $15 million contract that ties him to Clemson through 2024.

But head coach Brad Brownell had the most to say when he talked about the state of the game. Brownell says in spite of the recent FBI investigation into corruption and bribery in college basketball, there are still those coaches who will find a way to get an edge, regardless of whether it's legal or not.

"I think for maybe a short time guys were a little bit, had their guard up a little bit," Brownell said.

"I have always said the guys that want to cheat are going to cheat. They are going to find ways to do things and obviously, the amount of money that is involved in our sport and the amount of money that coaches make. Mark Fox is a prime example of a guy doing things the right way at a school and winning a good amount of games and losing his job. If you want to test your moral character, make the kind of money we are making and then lose your job because you are doing things the right way. You just lost two million dollars. If you want to test your integrity, test that. There are a lot of guys. I respect the heck out of Mark Fox because of that."

The basketball corruption trial in New York revealed aspiring agent Christian Dawkins allegedly gave former All-ACC forward Jaron Blossomgame $350. Brownell says he has discussed that situation with his former player.

"We had no idea of any of it," Brownell said.

"I had not seen it. I don’t know who Christian Dawkins is and I have never seen it. Obviously, I am disappointed in Jaron for that and I have told him so much.”

It wasn't all doom and gloom at Brownell's media golf outing. With the likes of Shelton Mitchell, Marquise Reed, David Skara and Elijah Thomas back for one more season together, it gives Brownell a solid group of players to build his team around as they try to build on last year's 25-11 season. Those 25 wins tied a program record for most victories in a season and the 11 ACC wins were a program best.

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