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Dick Bender '89 Rejoins Clemson Basketball Program as Assistant Coach

Dick Bender '89 Rejoins Clemson Basketball Program as Assistant Coach

May 23, 2016

Dick Bender, who earned a master's degree from DePauw University in 1989, has been named an assistant men's basketball coach for Clemson University.

With nearly 25 years of coaching experience, Bender "began his collegiate coaching career at DePauw in 1987 under the late Royce Waltman. He helped the Division III Tigers to an outstanding four-year overall record of 80-30 and to a national runner-up finish in the 1990 NCAA Tournament. One of the players he coached was (Brad) Brownell," a 1991 DePauw graduate who has been Clemson's head coach since 2010.

Bender went on to serve as an assistant coach at Radford, Indiana State, Tulane and Clemson, and was Clemson's director of men's basketball operations director in Brownell’s first four seasons. He spent the last two years as head coach at the College of Charleston.

"I am excited about the return of Coach Bender, who was an integral part of our early success at Clemson," says Brownell (pictured at left). "He is a tremendous tactician and skill development coach with great knowledge of our system and the ACC. He has strong recruiting ties in the Midwest and has done a good job recruiting in the Southeast these past two years while working at the College of Charleston."

"I can’t express enough how grateful I am to rejoin Coach Brownell, his staff and all the tremendous people that are a part of Tiger nation," states Bender. "I only hope to embrace on what Coach Brownell has built here, the passion to elevate the program and the excitement of moving into our new Littlejohn basketball facility."

Read more at the website of WCSC-TV.

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