The morning after Selection Sunday, Iona is parting ways with men’s basketball head coach Tobin Anderson, per a statement shared with ESPN’s Jeff Borzello.
“lona University has announced a change in leadership for its men’s basketball program. As the landscape of college basketball continues to evolve, the university is taking strategic steps to position the program for sustained success,” the statement from Iona Athletics obtained by Borzello reads.
CBS Sports Insider Jon Rothstein broke the news via X:
Anderson and the Iona Gaels recently upset the No. 1 Quinnipiac Bobcats–who boast the MAAC Player and Coach of the Year– en route to Anderson’s first MAAC conference finals appearance in his two-year tenure. The Gaels fell 63-49 to No. 6 Mount St. Mary’s with a trip to March Madness on the line.
In his time in New Rochelle, Anderson went 33-34 as the successor to current St. John’s men’s basketball coach Rick Pitino. In 2024-25, the Gaels went 17-17 overall and earned the No. 4 seed in the MAAC tournament.
Before accepting the job, Anderson rocked the college basketball world when he took the Farleigh Dickinson University Knights to the Round of 64 in 2023 as a No. 16 seed and defeated the Purdue Boilermakers. Anderson’s FDU squad became the second No. 16 seed to beat a No.1 seed in March Madness history, winning 63-58.
Before making history and national headlines, Anderson coached Division II basketball for eight seasons with a 209-62 record as head coach of the St. Thomas Aquinas Spartans in the East Coast Conference, with seven straight trips to the NCAA Tournament. He coached in Division III basketball for over a decade prior to his dominant STAC tenure.
Per Pete Thamel of ESPN, Iona is expected to hire New Orleans Pelicans assistant head coach Dan Geriot.
Geriot started out his coaching career as video coordinator for the Cleveland Cavaliers under Tyronn Lue, later becoming an assistant coach on J.B. Bickerstaff’s staff in 2019. A four-year center at Richmond who helped the Spiders reach the Sweet Sixteen in 2011, Geriot does not have prior collegiate head coaching experience but was a volunteer coach at Princeton.
Three of Anderson’s players at Iona, seniors Dejour Reaves and Jalen Barr as well as freshman Adam Njie Jr., publicly posted on their X accounts shortly after reports relating to Anderson with comments seemingly about their head coach.
“Wowwwwwww sonnnn,” Reaves wrote on his X account.
“This is actually crazy man,” Njie Jr. wrote in an X post.
“Nahh that’s crazy.ik Iona is all about winning but he just took a whole new team to the championship game in year 2 sometimes you have to have patience and trust the process,” Barr wrote on his X account.
Center Field has reached out to Iona Athletics for a statement.
Edited by Marley Pope
Graphic by Dan Aulbach; Photo by Luke Sassa
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