Andrew Toole (born September 11, 1980) is an American

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

for

Robert Morris University Robert Morris University (RMU) is a private university in Moon Township, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded in 1921 and is named after Robert Morris (financier), Robert Morris, known as the "financier of the American Revolution". It enr ...

. He has held that position since 2010 and is currently the 6th youngest head coach in Division I basketball. Toole had served as an assistant coach at

Lafayette College Lafayette College is a private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Easton, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1826 by James Madison Porter and other citizens in Easton, the college first held classes in 18 ...

and Robert Morris prior to accepting his first head coaching position. As a player, Toole played at

Elon University Elon University is a private university in Elon, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1889 as Elon College, the university is organized into six schools, most of which offer bachelor's degrees and several of which offer master's degrees or ...

before transferring to the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

Playing career

Raised in

Red Bank, New Jersey Red Bank is a borough in Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Incorporated in 1908, the community is on the Navesink River, the area's original transportation route to the ocean and other ports. Red Bank is in the New York metro ...

, Toole played high school basketball at Christian Brothers Academy, graduating in 1998. While at Penn, Toole helped guide the

Quakers Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestantism, Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally ...

to consecutive NCAA tournament appearances in 2002 and 2003. He served as co-captain for the 2002-03 Quaker team that finished the regular season 22–6. Over his four-year career at Elon and Penn, he averaged 12.3 points per game, while also contributing 3.0 assists and rebounds per game.

Coaching career

Following his graduation from the University of Pennsylvania, Toole spent two years with the Hoop Group, a major AAU high school exposure camp, in

Neptune City, New Jersey Neptune City is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in Monmouth County, New Jersey, Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 4,626, a decrease of 244 (−5.0%) from the 201 ...

. Then he took up his first assistant coaching job at

in 2006.

Robert Morris

After only one season at Lafayette, Toole moved west and accepted an assistant coaching job with

under former

Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...

head coach Mike Rice Jr. Toole helped guide the Colonials to two straight NCAA Tournament berths in 2009 and 2010, where they were the 15th seed each time. When Rice left for Rutgers following the 2009–10 season, Robert Morris Director of Athletics Craig Coleman named Toole the 8th head coach in the basketball program's 34 years of existence on May 11, 2010. "I'm unbelievably excited to be the head coach at Robert Morris University," Toole said during his press conference at the Charles L. Sewall Center. "I take that honor very seriously, and I'm going to work incredibly hard and tirelessly to prove those people right while continuing to build on the success that we've had over the last three years." With his appointment, Toole became the youngest head coach in men's Division I basketball, and the fifth head coach with ties to the Hoop Group, following Rice (Rutgers), Greg Vetrone (Fairleigh Dickinson), Chuck Martin (Marist), and Jesse Agel (Brown). Toole earned his first head coaching victory on November 13, 2010 against St. Peter's College, a 55–30 triumph at the Sewall Center. The win also set a new school record for points allowed in a game, besting the previous mark of 34 points allowed.

Head coaching record

Personal

Toole is a member of the Friars Senior Society at the University of Pennsylvania and earned his

B.A. A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree ...

in Political Science in 2003. He currently resides in Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania with his wife and two sons.

References

External links

Andrew Toole @ RMU Colonials
{{DEFAULTSORT:Toole, Andrew 1980 births Living people American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from New Jersey Basketball players from Monmouth County, New Jersey Christian Brothers Academy (New Jersey) alumni College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Elon Phoenix men's basketball players Guards (basketball) Lafayette Leopards men's basketball coaches Penn Quakers men's basketball players Robert Morris Colonials men's basketball coaches Sportspeople from Red Bank, New Jersey