Dartmouth announced that they are not renewing the contract of David McLaughlin.
Leadership Change for Dartmouth Men’s Basketball - Dartmouth College Athletics
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Not shocking, I guess, but the timing is rough. Last season was the best of his tenure (3rd place/made the ILT) and this year’s 5-9 record is no worse than Princeton (a top-tier Ivy program).
Dartmouth is very tough coaching assignment and he made them competitive 4 of the last 5 years.
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Big Green have exactly one winning season since 1998 - last year. I mean, I get it, but the timing is weird.
Timing is always awkward in these types of things. Contract had expired and it was either renew for multiple years or change things up.
Coach Mac is one of the hardest working and nicest people out there. He genuinely loves his players and was great at getting former players back involved and invested in the program. He is well liked in the coaching community and will land on his feet.
As a former player there I know the relationships and player development was all top notch. I just hope that the current core players stay there and dont test the portal waters.
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That means a lot from an insider. Seems like he was just the type of coach you would want. The team was competitive, would be in the mix for the ILT again next year. The firing is pathetic. Reflects poorly on Dartmouth leadership……but what do I know. It’s sad.
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Very similar overall record as Engles but had 1 more year. Time for a change. Writing is on the wall when a coach doesn’t get an extension before the last year of his contract.
Columbia has far more advantages in recruiting a basketball team than Dartmouth. Engles was an abject failure. I think both of Dartmouth’s last 2 coaches were good coaches who got the best out of the assets they have. I always thought Cormier was the best floor coach in the League. Just a tough place to win at basketball against larger and wealthier schools that, with the exception of Cornell (a larger and wealthier school) are in or close to urban areas.
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It would be a diabolical and great hire for Dartmouth to go after former Princeton assistant Brett MacConnell.
He obviously knows the Ivy and excels at finding hidden gems in recruiting. He’s been looking to make the jump to head coach and his current team, Stanford, just got bounced from the ACC tourney.
The brainiacs at Stanford get an F for geography.
Obviously the win-loss results weren’t great, and maybe the recruiting could be better–I think Dartmouth might be a tough sell, though, unless they raise a lot of money and outbid some people–but Dartmouth’s players looked quite well-coached to this PU fan. The effort was always there, you could see them adding skills from one season to the next, and it seemed like the offense was geared to exploit their specific strengths. And they worked hard on defense.
But it is always a comparative decision–do you think that if you reach into the barrel and pull out another coaching ping-pong ball that the number on it will be better than the one you have?
Agreed, I was very impressed with both Dartmouth and Columbia in this respect. Not easy to play against, well coached.
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Kingsley from Yale was a finalist last time this job was open, would be curious if they go for him this time.
As well, McLaughlin was not hired by the current AD, which often heats up an already hot seat.
Would Klatsky be a candidate?
Mike Brennan might be worth consideration. Recent experience at two
Ivies, and ten years as a Head Coach in the Patriot. Most of the talk
has been a young guy on the way up, which may be the way to go,
but Brennan has learned some things over time and is still young enough
to have that fire.
I love Mike Brennan but my guess is his allegiance to Mitch and Princeton is too strong to cause him to look north. I think Klatsky is in play. Possibly Mike Maker (Former Dartmouth assistant), possibly Scott Faucher (current head coach at Assumption and son of former Dartmouth Coach Dave Faucher). New AD is from Notre Dame so could see someone tied to his past in the mix as well. Should be interesting. Just hope that the former players on the staff (Jabari and Taurus) get a chance to latch on with the new staff
Hoop Dirt lists Klatsky and the HC at Tufts as two candidates for Dartmouth:
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More names floated for the opening: DAILY DIRT - 3/23/26 - HoopDirt
I think hiring Landry would be a smash hit. He recruited me when he was at Swarthmore and what he did for that program was nothing short of extraordinary.
I think it’s really hard to see what the path is for Dartmouth to be better than what they were this year (KP 276, competitive to make the Ivy tournament) on any sort of regular basis unless there is some secret commitment to the sport or program investment forthcoming.