Tobin Anderson
Tobin Anderson is an American basketball coach who is currently the special assistant to the head coach of the South Florida Bulls men's basketball team. He was previously the head coach of the Fairleigh Dickinson Knights men's basketball team for the 2022–23 [Fairleigh Dickinson Knights men's basketball team|2022–23 season], where he led them to be the Fairleigh Dickinson vs. Purdue men's basketball game|second 16-seed to defeat a 1-seed in the NCAA tournament]. He was also the head coach of the Iona Gaels men's basketball team from 2023 to 2025.
Early life
Anderson grew up in Iowa and played at Interstate 35 [Community School District|Interstate 35 High School] in Truro where he was an all-star in 1990. His father, Steve, was the head coach at Interstate 35 High School for almost three decades and later coached at Douglas High School in Box Elder, South Dakota. Anderson played college basketball at Wesleyan University from 1991 to 1995, where, as of 2022, he ranks 11th all-time in career scoring. Anderson then earned a master's degree in athletic administration from Florida State University, graduating in 1996.Coaching career
Anderson's coaching career began at Clarkson in 1996 as an assistant coach. After one season, he joined Dave Paulsen's coaching staff at Le Moyne for two seasons before returning to Clarkson as head coach. In five seasons with Clarkson, Anderson posted a 67–66 overall record before taking the head coaching position at Hamilton College. While at Hamilton, Anderson compiled a 118–63 record over seven seasons, which included three UCAA regular season titles and a bid to the 2006 [NCAA Division III men's basketball tournament|2006 NCAA Division III] tournament. After the 2011 season, Anderson joined the coaching staff of Siena under Mitch Buonaguro, where he stayed for two seasons before accepting the head coaching position at St. [Thomas Aquinas College|St. Thomas Aquinas].While with the Spartans, Anderson put together a 209–62 overall record, including five East Coast Conference regular season titles and six ECC tournament titles, reaching the NCAA Division II tournament in seven-straight seasons, including the Elite Eight in NCAA Division II men's basketball tournament|2017]. Under Anderson, St. Thomas Aquinas also defeated Division I St. John's [Red Storm men's basketball|St. John's] 90–58 in an exhibition contest in 2015.
On May 3, 2022, Anderson was named the eighth men's basketball coach in Fairleigh Dickinson history, replacing Greg Herenda.
In his 2022–23 [Fairleigh Dickinson Knights men's basketball team|first season] as coach of the Knights, Anderson led the team to the Northeast Conference championship game, where they fell to 2022–23 [Merrimack Warriors men's basketball team|Merrimack]. However, due to NCAA division reclassification rules, Merrimack was not eligible for the 2023 [NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament|NCAA tournament], which allowed FDU to receive the NEC’s automatic bid to the tournament as conference runner-up. After the Knights defeated fellow #16 seed 2022–23 [Texas Southern Tigers basketball team|Texas Southern] in the First Four, they advanced to face #1-seeded 2022–23 [Purdue Boilermakers men's basketball team|Purdue], whom they took down 63–58, becoming only the second #16 seed to ever defeat a #1 seed in the tournament.
On March 21, 2023, Anderson was named the head coach at Iona, replacing Rick Pitino who departed for the head coaching position at St. John's. Iona fired Anderson on March 17, 2025 after two seasons.
On April 29, 2025, Anderson joined the staff of Bryan Hodgson at South Florida as a Special Assistant to the Head Coach.