WILLIAMSBURG, Va. (WTKR) — Pace and scoring appear to be on their way to Kaplan Arena.
William & Mary is hiring Cornell's Brian Earl as their new head men's basketball coach, the school announced on Saturday morning. He becomes the Tribe's 32nd head coach in program history.
Earl spent the past seven seasons as the head coach of the Big Red, leading the program to winning campaigns in each of the last three seasons. This year, Cornell posted its first 20-win season in 14 years and earned its first bid to the National Invitational Tournament (NIT).
"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."
Earning the Ivy League's Coach of the Year award, Earl guided Cornell to scoring 82.1 points per game which ranked 16th in the country. That's been a theme with his teams over the last three years with the Big Red landing inside the top 20 in the NCAA in scoring offense.
"Our applicant pool for this position was outstanding," said Tribe director of athletics Brian 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."
Prior to his coaching career, Earl became one of the most decorated players in Princeton basketball's history. He was part of the Tigers squad that upset UCLA in the 1996 NCAA Tournament in a 4-13 game, then won Ivy League Player of the Year in 1999.
Earl's 1,428 points ranks him eighth leading all-time scorer in the program's history and broke the league's career record for three-pointers with 281 upon graduation. He currently sits fourth in that category.
He played professionally with stints overseas before returning to his alma mater as an assistant coach in 2007. After nine seasons on the bench with the Tigers, Earl was named the head coach of Cornell in 2016.
His overall record with the Big Red was 96-103 but his teams over the last three seasons went 54-29. While scoring more than 82 points on average this year, his squad shot 48.7 percent from the field which ranked 16th in the nation as well.
Earl also gets his teams to push the pace, landing inside the top 30 in the NCAA in possessions per game in two of the last three seasons.
An introduction for the Tribe's new head coach will be determined at a later date.
