Iona fires Tobin Anderson just two years after he replaced Rick Pitino as the school's coach

NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. (AP) — Iona fired Tobin Anderson on Monday, just two years after he replaced Rick Pitino as the school's coach.

The Gaels made the announcement two days after losing in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference championship game and missing out on an NCAA Tournament bid. Iona was the No. 4 seed and knocked off top-seeded Quinnipiac in the semifinals before falling to No. 6 Mount St. Mary's 63-49 in the title game.

That dropped the Gaels to 17-17 this season after they went 16-17 in Anderson's first season.

“We appreciate Tobin and everything he has done for our program,” athletic director Matthew Glovaski said in a statement. “He has been a valuable member of our Iona community. With the impact of NIL changing college basketball in ways no one could have imagined, Iona feels the need to shift the direction of our men's basketball program. This requires an overhaul of our entire business model and program structure.”

Pitino returned Iona to the top of the MAAC, leading the Gaels to two NCAA Tournament appearances in his three seasons before leaving for St. John's, which won the Big East championship and earned a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament in just his second season.

Anderson got the job to replace him after engineering one of the biggest upsets in NCAA Tournament history, when Fairleigh Dickinson beat Purdue in 2023 for just the second victory by a No. 16 seed over a No. 1 in the men's field.

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