Fairleigh Dickinson’s Anderson Hired as Rick Pitino Replacement at Iona, per Report

The Knights coach is expected to become the next head coach at Iona.

Fairleigh Dickinson’s Tobin Anderson, whose team pulled off one of the biggest upsets in tournament history last weekend as a No. 16 seed by knocking off No. 1 seed Purdue, has been hired to replace Rick Pitino at Iona, per ESPN’s Pete Thamel.

It will be a five-year deal for Anderson with the Gaels.

Thamel was first to report that Iona was zeroing in on Anderson, while Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports was first to report that Anderson informed the leadership at Fairleigh Dickinson that he was leaving for the Iona job. 

Rothstein added later on Tuesday afternoon that Fairleigh Dickinson planned to promote assistant Jack Castleberry to head coach to replace Anderson.

While it has yet to be formally announced by Iona, the hiring of Anderson represents a swift coaching search after St. John’s hired Pitino on Monday.

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Anderson only coached one year at FDU, but led the school to prominence with the upset over the Boilermakers. The 51-year-old Anderson, who was a career small-school coach at the Division II and Division III level, got his chance with the Knights and made the most of his opportunity.

His success in year one at FDU led to him being an obvious candidate at Iona, where he impressed the school’s leadership during an interview for the opening in 2020. The Gaels ultimately hired Pitino instead, but went back to Anderson with the opening this time around, where he will look to continue to build on the success that the program has had in the MAAC.