March Madness isn’t the only thing heating up as we head towards Selection Sunday; the mid-major coaching carousel continues to intensify. There is quite a buzz surrounding new Southern Conference member Tennessee Tech’s latest hire: the Golden Eagles welcome in Tobin Anderson, who was most recently a head coach at the NCAA Division-I level for Iona and Fairleigh Dickinson, and at NCAA Division-II St. Thomas Aquinas.
Anderson gained acclaim in the 2023 NCAA Tournament for leading No. 16 seed FDU to a win over Texas Southern in the tournament’s play-in round. The Knights lost to Merrimack in the NEC Championship game, but the Warriors were ineligible for the NEC title because their full transition to Division-I wasn’t yet complete. In the play-in round of the tournament, Anderson led the Knights to an 84-61 win over Texas Southern before leading the No. 16 seeded Knights to the stunning 63-58 win over top-seeded Purdue, as the Knights became the second-ever No. 16 seed to defeat a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Anderson and the Knights’ run ended in the East Regional Round of 32 after FDU lost a 78-70 contest to eventual Final Four qualifier Florida Atlantic.
Anderson inherited a 4-22 Knights team and turned it into a 21-16 record a year later, riding that success into an elevated job opportunity at Iona, where he was picked to succeed Rick Pitino as head coach of the Gaels. Anderson, however, lasted only two seasons in New Rochelle, NY.. The Gaels posted a 33-34 record, including a trip to the 2025 MAAC Championship game.
Before his NCAA Division-I coaching experience, Anderson established himself as a proven winner at St. Thomas Aquinas, where he posted a 209-62 record in nine seasons as a head coach, winning five conference titles and six tournament championships as a member of the East Coast Conference. He helped St. Thomas Aquinas reach seven-straight NCAA Division-II tournaments.
Most recently, Anderson spent the 2025-26 season coaching under Bryan Hodgson at South Florida. There, he helped lead the Bulls to a 23-8 record and the No. 1 overall seed in the American Athletic Conference Tournament, which begins on Saturday in the semifinals.
Tennessee Tech is slated to become the 11th member of the prestigious mid-major Southern Conference on July 1, 2026. The Golden Eagles finished just 13-18 and did not qualify for the OVC Tournament this past season, which led to the firing of John Pelphrey, who posted a record of just 79-138 in seven seasons.
In other SoCon news, former Kansas standout and Stanford head coach Jerod Haase has emerged as a candidate in UNCG’s search for Mike Jones’ successor in the Gate City. Meanwhile, reports by both Matt Norlander and Jon Rothstein name Bob Richey as a leading candidate for the Georgia Tech job vacancy along with Troy’s Scott Cross. Both Cross and Richey are preparing their teams for the NCAA Tournament. Cross led the Trojans to a second-straight Sun Belt Tournament title, while Richey helped the Paladins reach the NCAA Tournament for the second time in four years.
