Iona hiring FDU’s Tobin Anderson as its next head coach

A finalist for the job back in 2020, Tobin Anderson is headed to Iona in 2023 to be the Gaels’ new head coach. The first-year Fairleigh Dickinson head coach burst onto the national scene last week when his 16-seed Knights pulled off just the second-ever upset of a 1-seed in the NCAA Tournament. The lore around Anderson grew as he was filmed telling his team that he believed they could beat Purdue after their First Four victory two days prior.

“We are very excited to introduce Tobin Anderson as Iona University’s men’s basketball head coach,” said AD Matt Glovaski. “We have long known him to be a fantastic coach and an even better person. Now, with his team’s impressive run in the NCAA tournament, everyone paying attention to March Madness also knows this. We’re delighted that he will be at the helm of our men’s basketball program.”

Before getting the FDU job last year, Anderson spent nine years as the head coach at D-II St. Thomas Aquinas (NY) where he went 209-62 overall with seven-straight NCAA appearances. He has also been the head coach at Hamilton and Clarkson, both D-III programs in New York state. The 52-year-old Anderson has 415 total wins across all levels and has been a well-respected coach in the NY Metro area since long before is big March moment.

“Iona University represents everything my family and I were looking for in a school, a basketball program and a campus atmosphere,” Anderson said in a statement. “Our goal is to build upon the tremendous tradition of Iona basketball and elevate the program to greater heights.”

Iona has been to eight of the last eleven NCAA Tournaments and has won three MAAC titles in the last five years, including the last two under Rick Pitino. The Gaels were a stopover for Pitino to return to college hoops and he was able to maintain – and even build upon – the successes of previous coaching staffs, making Iona one of the best mid-major jobs on the East Coast.

Pitino officially accepted the St. John’s job yesterday, but the wheels had been in motion there for several weeks so Iona has had some time to strategize the direction they wanted to go for their next hire. Iona’s statement on Pitino’s resignation noted that the search for his replacement was “well underway” so it is no surprise this hiring was announced so soon afterwards.

credit to Iona Athletics for the image