Already at home: New Clemson assistant embracing job, area

Dabo Swinney’s lunchtime pick-up basketball games in Jervey Gym just got a little more interesting, courtesy of Brad Brownell’s latest “recruit” – 6-foot-7 assistant coach Antonio Reynolds Dean.

“I’m not going to take it easy on Dabo in noontime hoops now,” Reynolds Dean said, laughing. “If he comes to the hole, I’ve got to treat him like everybody else.”

That treatment could get ugly; Reynolds Dean is a former basketball star at the University of Rhode Island, where he was inducted into the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame two years ago.

On Monday, the 40-year-old Reynolds Dean was tabbed by Brownell as the latest addition to the Tigers’ coaching staff. He arrived in Clemson recently.

“I’m so excited to get to work and excited to be here,” Reynolds Dean said. “This place has a different feel. When I arrived, I felt like I was at home already.

“Everyone knows everyone and it’s a sea of orange everywhere. I’ve never seen this much orange in my life, but I’m getting used to it and it’s a pretty good feeling.”

And Brownell, who is entering his eighth season as the Tigers’ basketball coach, has a pretty good feeling about his latest hire.

“He is a terrific fit for our program and will be a great role model for our players,” Brownell said. “He has an outstanding résumé when it comes to recruiting, having signed all-league players at multiple schools. He has a lot of ties to the southeast and will make a big contribution to our staff in that area.”

Reynolds Dean spent the past two seasons as an assistant at his alma mater; prior to that had coaching stops at Fairfield, Northeastern and the College of Charleston, where he worked under former Clemson assistant Earl Grant and alongside current Clemson assistant Dick Bender in the 2014-15 season.

So how did an Atlanta native wind up in Kingston, R.I.?

“Good recruiting,” Reynolds Dean said, grinning. “They got a guy to go from Atlanta to Rhode Island without a winter coat, and the next thing you know I’d grabbed 1,000 rebounds.”

Reynolds Dean, who played with such talents as Lamar Odom and Cuttino Mobley at Rhode Island, went on to play professionally for nine years, both in the U.S. and abroad.

“I grew up a blue-collar guy,” he said. “I had to work for everything I got. I did what I could and had a successful career; now I’m trying to be a successful coach.

“I want to instill hard work, passion, energy, enthusiasm and effort. Those are my core values and that’s what I’m going to try to put into these guys.”

This story was originally published June 28, 2017 at 7:44 PM with the headline "Already at home: New Clemson assistant embracing job, area."