Tennessee Tech basketball hired former Iona, Farleigh Dickinson and St. Thomas Aquinas coach Tobin Anderson to replace John Pelphrey on March 14, the school announced.
Anderson, 54, spent the 2025-26 season as a special assistant to the head coach at South Florida. Before that, Anderson was the coach at St. Thomas Aquinas (2013-22), Farleigh Dickson (2022-23) and Iona (2023-25).
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Tech fired Pelphrey after seven straight losing seasons on March 3.
Anderson’s hiring is the first for Tech athletic director Casey Fox, who was hired on June 19, 2025.
Iona College men’s basketball head coach Tobin Anderson runs a practice at their Bronxville gym on Nov. 22, 2024.
“Tobin Anderson has a proven track record of building successful programs, developing student-athletes, and leading teams to championships,” Fox said in a statement. “His winning experience and passion for the game make him an outstanding fit to lead our men’s basketball program.”
Anderson gained national recognition at Fairleigh Dickinson. In his first season, he guided the Knights to the NCAA Tournament where, as a No. 16, they defeated No. 1 seed Purdue, 63-58 in the first round.
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It was only the second time a No. 16 seed had ever defeated a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The year before Anderson’s arrival, Fairleigh Dickinson finished 4-22. The 17-win improvement is tied for the greatest single-season turnaround in NCAA Division I men’s basketball history.
“I am incredibly honored to be named the head coach at Tennessee Tech,” Anderson said in a statement. “This is a program with a proud tradition and passionate supporters. My family and I are excited to join the Cookeville community and begin building a program that Golden Eagle fans will be proud of.”
Following the 2022-23 season, Anderson became the coach at Iona, where he led the Gaels to a 47-49 record and was fired after two seasons.
At St. Thomas Aquinas College, Tobin posted a 209-62 record and led the Spartans to multiple conference championships and seven consecutive NCAA Division II Tournament appearances.
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Earlier in his career, Anderson, a 1995 graduate of Wesleyan University, served as an assistant coach at Siena College from 2011-13 after spending seven seasons as head coach at Hamilton College (2004-11). He also served as head coach at Clarkson University (1999-2004) after beginning his coaching career there as an assistant there in 1996-97. Anderson was an assistant coach at Le Moyne College from 1997-99.
Tech is coming off a 13-18 season in which it finished tied for eighth in the Ohio Valley Conference.
Reach Mike Organ at 615-259-8021 or on X @MikeOrganWriter.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee Tech basketball hires Tobin Anderson to replace John Pelphrey
