Oliver Purnell Bolts Clemson for DePaul

I know I did not see this one coming. Heck, I never even heard Oliver Purnell mentioned in relation to the DePaul search for a new coach.

There will be a 2:30 PM ET press conference by DePaul to announce the hiring of Oliver Purnell. After never having a chance big name successful coaches like UCLA's Ben Howland and Pitt's Jamie Dixon, and in the process missed a chance to nab Tony Barbee, DePaul had appeared to finally come back to reality. They had interviewed Minnesota Timberwolves assistant Reggie Theus. Dayton's Brian Gregory appeared to be a coach they were pursuing.

Purnell has built a reputation as a coach that can rebuild. He spent nearly a decade at Dayton, putting the foundation in place for Brian Gregory to build upon. At Clemson, the Tigers finished below .500 in the ACC for the six years prior to his arrival in 2003. After a rocky first couple of years, he has had Clemson get to competitive to upper-half of the ACC. In the last three years, Clemson has been in the NCAA Tournament.

Purnell has shown that he can win and recruit regardless of geography as shown at Dayton and then Clemson. He plays an aggressive, up-tempo game which the fans like.

The one knock on Purnell is that while he can build a team, and make them competitive. The one thing he can't do is win the bigger games. He is 0-6 in six NCAA appearances. Considering how low DePaul is at this point, worrying about winning NCAA Tournament games is getting way ahead of what is needed for the Blue Demons.