William & Mary hires Brian Earl from Cornell as next head coach

William & Mary has announced the hiring of Brian Earl as the Tribe’s new head men’s basketball coach. Earl has been the head coach at Cornell for the last eight yearss, going 96-103 overall and 54-30 over the last three seasons.

“Our applicant pool for this position was outstanding,” said AD Brian D. Mann, “and Brian Earl’s background of successfully playing and coaching at top academic institutions vaulted him to the top of our list. His teams have been extremely well coached and competitive in the Ivy League and beyond. Brian is incredibly excited about our program and the opportunities for winning here, and we are delighted he will be leading the Tribe toward achieving the goals we have set for the program.”

Earl led the Big Red to a 22-8 record this season, the program’s most wins since 2010, and played in the NIT for the first time in school history. The team finished tied for 2nd in the Ivy League, losing to Yale in the Ivy Tournament last week.

“I am extremely honored to be joining the William & Mary family,” Earl said. “My entire coaching career has been spent working at high-academic institutions with exceptional student-athletes, and I found that combination again here in Williamsburg. My family and I look forward to immersing ourselves in the University and the community with the goal of building a basketball program that students, faculty, fans and alumni will be proud of.”

A star player at Princeton, Earl was part of three NCAA Tournaments with the Tigers and was named Ivy League POY as a senior in 1999. He got into coaching in 2007 at his alma mater, spending nine seasons as an assistant under two of his former teammates Sydney Johnson (2007-11) and Mitch Henderson (2011-16) before landing the Cornell job. He was named Ivy League COY in 2022, becoming the first person to ever be named Player and Coach of the Year in the league.

credit to Cornell Athletics for the image