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Princeton University Athletics
Brian Earl Named Head Men's Basketball Coach at Cornell University
April 18, 2016 | Men's Basketball
Brian Earl '99, who has spent the last nine seasons as an assistant coach on the Princeton men's basketball staff, has been named the head coach at Cornell University, Cornell announced Monday.
Earl, who was named Princeton's associate head coach late this season, will be formally introduced Thursday in Ithaca.
"I couldn't be happier for Brian and Jen and their family," Mitch Henderson '98, the Franklin C. Cappon-Edward G. Green '40 head coach of Princeton men's basketball, said. "I'm grateful for the opportunity to have worked side-by-side with him these past few years and am thankful for his many contributions to Princeton basketball. I look forward to following his success as a head coach."
During Earl's nine seasons, Princeton had a record of 162-106 overall and 83-43 in the Ivy League. His first team in 2007-08, under former teammate Sydney Johnson '97, went 6-23. Two years later, Princeton earned its first postseason berth in six years, when it gained a bid in the College Basketball Invitational and advanced to the semifinals. The following season, Princeton won the Ivy League for the first time since 2004 and came within two points of eventual Final Four team Kentucky in the NCAA Tournament. The team went on to earn two more CBI berths with Earl on staff, in 2012 and 2014, before returning to the NIT this season for the first time since 2002.
Princeton has finished in the top three in the Ivy League in each of the last eight years, the only team in the league to do so.
Earl becomes the sixth Princeton alum currently serving as a head coach in Division I, joining Princeton's Henderson, John Thompson III '88 at Georgetown, Johnson at Fairfield, Mike Brennan '94 at American and Chris Mooney '94 at Richmond. He is the first Princeton alum to take another Ivy League head coaching job since Craig Robinson '83 coached at Brown from 2006-08.