William & Mary Tribe men's basketball

Last updated

William & Mary Tribe
men's basketball
Basketball current event.svg 2025–26 William & Mary Tribe men's basketball team
University College of William & Mary
Head coach Brian Earl (1st season)
Conference Coastal Athletic Association
Location Williamsburg, Virginia
Arena Kaplan Arena
(capacity: 11,300)
Nickname Tribe
ColorsGreen, gold, and silver [1]
     
Uniforms
Kit body goldsides.png
Kit body basketball.svg
Kit shorts goldsides.png
Kit shorts.svg
Home
Kit body bb whitetrimnumbers.png
Kit body basketball.svg
Kit shorts goldsides.png
Kit shorts.svg
Away
Conference regular-season champions
1983, 1998, 2015

Head Coach Brian Earl Cornell Big Red men's basketball coach Brian Earl.jpg
Head Coach Brian Earl

The William & Mary Tribe men's basketball team represents the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia in NCAA Division I competition. The school's team competes in the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) and play their home games in Kaplan Arena. Former Cornell Head Coach Brian Earl was hired as the 32nd coach in school history following the dismissal of Coach Dane Fischer. [2] Tony Shaver served as the head coach from 2003–2019 and leads the school in all-time wins for a coach. [3]

Contents

Postseason berths

NIT results

The Tribe have appeared in the National Invitation Tournament three times. Their combined record is 0–3.

YearRoundOpponentResult
1983 First Round Virginia Tech L 79–85
2010 First Round North Carolina L 72–80
2015 First Round Tulsa L 67–70

NCAA tournament results

The Tribe (an original Division I team since the NCAA division classification began for the 1956–57 season and retroactively recognized as a de facto Division I team since the Associated Press started classifying teams as either major programs or small colleges in 1948) are one of 34 Division I programs to have never appeared in the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. [4] Of all Division I schools today that were charter members of this new classification, only William & Mary, The Citadel, and Army have never reached the NCAA men's basketball tournament at least once. (St. Francis Brooklyn was also part of this group before it discontinued all athletics in 2023.) The closest effort by the Tribe to reach the NCAA tournament was a 75–74 loss in the 2014 CAA Tournament Final to Delaware. The Tribe also lost conference tournament championships in 1958, 1961, 1965, 1975, 1983, 2008, 2010, and 2015, now having gone 0–9 in NCAA tournament berth-clinching games.

Recent seasons

Rivalries

William & Mary's traditional rivals have included in-state opponents Old Dominion University, James Madison University, the University of Richmond, Virginia Commonwealth University, and George Mason University. However, of these teams, none are still members of the CAA. The Richmond Spiders, VCU Rams, and George Mason Patriots have all moved on to the Atlantic 10 Conference while the Old Dominion Monarchs left for Conference USA in 2013 and the James Madison Dukes left for the Sun Belt Conference in 2022. Some of these teams are maintained as part of William & Mary's out of conference schedule each year along with other Virginia schools like Virginia, Virginia Tech, Hampton, Radford, VMI, and Liberty.

Series records

OpponentMatch UpsRecord (Pct.)Last Game
Richmond 20097–103 (.487)December 3, 2014
VMI 11877–41 (.653)November 27, 2013
Virginia Tech 11741–76 (.350)December 17, 2005
James Madison 9849–49 (.500)February 22, 2020
Old Dominion 9123–68 (.253)December 3, 2019
Virginia 8129–52 (.358)December 22, 2018
George Mason 6828–40 (.412)December 1, 2018
VCU 5112–39 (.235)February 1, 2012

Statistical leaders

NCAA records

Individual

Accolades

Southern Conference (1936–1977)

Season Player of the Year Defensive Player of the YearCoach of the YearFirst Team All-SoConSecond Team All-SoConThird Team All-SoConRookie of the Year
1936–37 N/A
1937–38 N/A
1938–39 N/A
1939–40 N/A
1940–41 N/A
1941–42 N/A
1942–43 N/A
1943–44 N/A
1944–45 N/A
1945–46 N/A
1946–47 N/A Chet Giermak
1947–48 N/A
1948–49 N/AChet Giermak
1949–50 N/AChet Giermak (2)
1950–51 N/APerry Lewis
Ed McMillan
1951–52 Bill Chambers
1952–53 Bill Chambers (2)
1953–54
1954–55
1955–56
1956–57
1957–58 Roy Lange
1958–59Roy Lange (2) Jeff Cohen
1959–60Jeff CohenBen Vaughan
1960–61Jeff CohenJeff Cohen (2)
1961–62
1962–63Roger Bergey
1963–64Dave Hunter
1964–65
1965–66Ben Pomeroy
1966–67Ben Pomeroy (2)Ron Panneton
1967–68Bob Sherwood
1968–69
1969–70Bob Sherwood
1970–71 Tom Jasper Tom JasperSteve Dodge
1971–72 Jeffrey Trammell
1972–73Mike Arizin
1973–74Mike Arizin (2)
1974–75Ron Satterthwaite
1975–76 John Lowenhaupt Ron Satterthwaite
1976–77John Lowenhaupt

ECAC South (1977–1982)

William & Mary joined the CAA, its current conference, in 1982–83. The CAA's predecessor was the ECAC South, which existed between 1977–78 and 1984–85. The CAA recognizes the 1982–83 through 1984–85 seasons as part of its basketball history but not any earlier. The CAA was formally founded in 1982–83 as the ECAC South Basketball League. It was renamed the Colonial Athletic Association in 1985–86 when it added championships in other sports, and the Coastal Athletic Association in 2023 (although a number of members maintain ECAC affiliation in some sports).

SeasonPlayer of the YearDefensive Player of the YearCoach of the YearFirst Team All-ECACSecond Team All-ECACThird Team All-ECACRookie of the Year
1977–78
1978–79
1979–80
1980–81Mike Strayhorn
1981–82

Colonial/Coastal Athletic Association (1982–present)

Season Player of the Year Defensive Player of the Year Coach of the Year First Team All-CAASecond Team All-CAAThird Team All-CAARookie of the Year
1982–83 Bruce Parkhill Keith Cieplicki,
Brant Weidner
1983–84Keith Cieplicki (2)
1984–85Keith Cieplicki (3)
1985–86
1986–87
1987–88Tim Trout
1988–89Tom Bock
1989–90Thomas Roberts
1990–91Thomas Roberts
1991–92Thomas Roberts (2)
1992–93Thomas Roberts (3)
1993–94
1994–95Kurt Small
1995–96David Cully
1996–97Bobby Fitzgibbons
1997–98 Charlie Woollum Randy BracyTerence Jennings
1998–99
1999–00 Jim Moran
2000–01 Jim Moran (2)
2001–02 Mike Johnson
2002–03 Adam Hess
2003–04 Adam Hess (2)Corey CofieldCorey Cofield
2004–05 Corey Cofield (2)
2005–06
2006–07 Adam Payton
2007–08 Tony Shaver Laimis Kisielius
2008–09 David Schneider
2009–10 Tony Shaver (2)David Schneider Quinn McDowell
2010–11 Quinn McDowell (2)
2011–12
2012–13 Marcus Thornton Tim Rusthoven
2013–14 Marcus ThorntonTim Rusthoven Omar Prewitt
2014–15 Marcus Thornton Terry Tarpey Marcus Thornton (2)Terry TarpeyOmar Prewitt
2015–16 Terry Tarpey (2)Omar PrewittTerry Tarpey (2)
2016–17 Daniel Dixon Omar Prewitt (2)
2017–18 Nathan Knight David Cohn,
Justin Pierce
2018–19 Nathan Knight (2)Justin Pierce (2)
2019–20 Nathan KnightNathan Knight Dane Fischer Nathan Knight (3) Andy Van Vliet
2020–21 Luke LoeweConnor Kochera
2021–22
2022–23
2023–24
2024–25 Gabe Dorsey

Retired jerseys

Banners honoring the 1983 NIT berth, Keith Cieplicki, Bill Chambers W&M retired jerseys 1.jpg
Banners honoring the 1983 NIT berth, Keith Cieplicki, Bill Chambers
Banners honoring Chet Giermak, John Lowenhaupt, Jeff Cohen and Lynn Norenberg W&M retired jerseys 2.jpg
Banners honoring Chet Giermak, John Lowenhaupt, Jeff Cohen and Lynn Norenberg

William & Mary has retired six men's basketball jerseys in its program's history. Uniform numbers are not retired, only ceremonial jerseys. Banners depicting the all-time greats hang in the rafters of Kaplan Arena (the banner in white is for Lynn Norenberg, the only W&M women's basketball player to have a jersey retired). There also hang banners which commemorate their 1983 National Invitation Tournament and 2010 National Invitation Tournament bids.

Players in the NBA

This section is for William & Mary players who have appeared in at least one regular season or postseason NBA game.

Players in international leagues

References

  1. "William & Mary University Colors – Brand Guidelines" . Retrieved November 5, 2022.
  2. "William & Mary Selects Brian Earl to Lead Tribe Men's Basketball" (Press release). William & Mary Tribe. March 23, 2024. Retrieved March 23, 2024.
  3. Johnson, David. "William and Mary fires men's basketball coach Tony Shaver". dailypress.com. Retrieved April 24, 2019.
  4. Wall Street Journal blog: March Madness Claims New Victims. Accessed March 18, 2008.