Dan Earl (born October 12, 1974) is an American college basketball coach, was introduced as the head coach of Chattanooga Mocs on April 1, 2022. He is originally from
Medford Lakes, New Jersey
Medford Lakes is a borough in Burlington County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 4,264, an increase of 118 (+2.8%) from the 2010 census count of 4,146,Shawnee High School in Medford, graduating in 1993.Kackenmeister, Craig "Six degrees of Dan Earl: Six years and several injuries later, Earl is still at the point" , '' The Daily Collegian (Penn State)'', January 28, 1999. Accessed June 14, 2007. "Something that caught Parkhill's eye while he pursued the young guard out of Medford Lakes, N.J., were Earl's personal qualities.... Earl graduated from Shawnee High School, where he helped lead the team to a 59–3 record his junior and senior years. He also was named USA Today 1993 New Jersey Player of the Year, and is still Burlington County's all-time leading scorer passing previous mark of (1,996) points set by Darrin Severs of Medford vo-tech (2,006 points)." He was a 1993 ''
Parade
A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually celebrations of s ...
'' All-American and was named 1993 ''
USA Today
''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...
'' New Jersey Player of the Year in high school. He was named 2nd team All-Big Ten as a junior for the 1995–96 Penn State Nittany Lions before losing two seasons to injury. He completed his eligibility for the team in 1999 and led Penn State basketball in assists four seasons.
He is the older brother of
Cornell
Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...
During his high school basketball career he was named a ''
Parade
A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually celebrations of s ...
'' All-American. The Shawnee basketball team had a combined 59–3 record during Earl's junior and
senior
Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to:
* Senior (name), a surname ...
years. In 1991–92, his junior year, Shawnee was the New Jersey Group IV state champion, ranked #1 in New Jersey and #9 in the entire United States.Shawnee Renegades Basketball Awards and Career Rankings . Accessed September 12, 2006. In 1992–93 they were the South Jersey champion and was ranked #7 nationally. Earl was named the ''
USA Today
''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...
'' New Jersey Player of the Year in 1993 and his 2,006 career points total ranked him as first in scoring passing Darrin severs 1,996 points of Medford vo-tech
Burlington County
Burlington County is a county in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The county is the largest by area in New Jersey. Its county seat is Mount Holly.
's all-time leading scorer at the time of his graduation.
College
Earl accepted a scholarship to
Penn State University
The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvan ...
where he was the starting point guard on the basketball team all four years. He is one of Penn State's all-time leaders in scoring and assists, and he was named to the All-
Big Ten Conference
The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...
second team by the media and third team by the coaches in 1996. He had an injury plagued college career that saw him
redshirt
Redshirt, Red Shirt, or Redshirts may refer to:
Entertainment
* ''Red Shirts'' (film), a 1952 film about Anita Garibaldi by Franco Rossi
* Redshirt (stock character), originally derived from ''Star Trek'', a stock character who dies soon after b ...
twice and spend six years in the program. Earl led Penn State in assists four times. The 1995–96 Nittany Lions team started the season with a 19–2 record and was ranked #9 in the country at one point during the season.
Professional
Dan Earl played professionally in Germany, Poland, and Portugal.Dan Earl bio Navy Sports. United States Naval Academy. Accessed August 27, 2013. He also spent time in the
Continental Basketball Association
The Continental Basketball Association (CBA) (originally known as the Eastern Pennsylvania Basketball League, and later as the Eastern Professional Basketball League and the Eastern Basketball Association) was a men's professional basketball mi ...
as well as the
NBA Development League
The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development League (NBDL) from 2001 to 2005, and the NBA Dev ...
. He got close to making a
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball sports league, league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues i ...
team, where in the 2001–02 and 2002–03 seasons he spent time with the New Jersey Nets during their training camps.
Coaching career
In 2006, Earl joined his ''alma mater'' as an assistant coach. He spent six seasons with the team until 2011, at which time he became the associate head coach at the
United States Naval Academy
The United States Naval Academy (US Naval Academy, USNA, or Navy) is a federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as Secretary of the Navy. The Naval Academy ...
.
In April 2015, Earl was hired as head coach at VMI, replacing
Duggar Baucom
Robert Franklin "Duggar" Baucom (born September 21, 1960) is an American college basketball coach, most recently
the head men's basketball coach at The Citadel. Baucom was hired as the Citadel's head coach following the 2014–15 season. He was p ...
.
On March 30, 2022, Earl accepted the head coaching position at
Chattanooga
Chattanooga ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. Located along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia, it also extends into Marion County on its western end. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, ...
.
Personal
Dan and his wife, Sheila, were married in the summer of 2008 and have two daughters, Mila and Alyssa. His brother Brian Earl is also an accomplished basketball player and is currently head coach at
Cornell
Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...