Tobin Anderson has agreed to a five-year deal to join the Iona Gaels men’s basketball team as their next head coach.
The move completes a whirlwind of a year for Anderson.
Anderson takes over the Gaels program after Hall-of-Famer Rick Pitino switched gears Monday and took the job at St. John’s. According to ESPN’s Pete Thamel, Anderson was a finalist for the Iona gig in 2020, when Pitino was hired.
The 51-year-old coach guided Fairleigh Dickinson University (FDU) to a 21-16 record in his only season with the Knights and led them to a stunning upset of No. 1 Purdue in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. It was just the second time in tournament history that a No. 16 seed defeated a No. 1 seed.
Aside from his one season with FDU (in Hackensack, N.J.) Anderson has spent his entire coaching career in New York at the Division II and Division III levels. He started with two seasons as an assistant coach with Clarkson University in 1996 and was then an assistant at Le Moyne College for two years beginning in 1997.
His first lead gig was back with Clarkson from 1999 to 2004, before taking over as Hamilton College’s head coach from 2004-11. Anderson served as an assistant at Siena College from 2011-13 before heading to St. Thomas Aquinas.
His new team earned a No. 13 seed in this year’s NCAA Tournament but fell to No. 4 UConn last week.
