Dartmouth Athletics announced Monday that David McLaughlin is Dartmouth men’s basketball’s next head coach.
McLaughlin comes to Dartmouth via Northeastern, where McLaughlin was associate head coach and recruiting coordinator for the past three seasons. Northeastern made the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 24 years in 2014-15 with McLaughlin as associate head coach. The Huskies went 18-15 last season. According to Dartmouth Athletics, McLaughlin secured eight players for the classes of 2019 and 2020 from six different states, including Massachusetts, Florida and California.
Prior to his stint at Northeastern, McLaughlin was head coach at Division II Stonehill College in Easton, Mass. for nine seasons, going 189-99 (.656) record from 2004-05 through 2012-13. Stonehill made five NCAA appearances and two Final Fours under McLaughlin.
McLaughlin served as an assistant coach at Stonehill for three and a half seasons starting in 2000 before taking over as an interim head coach in January 2004 and having the interim tag removed later that year. He was an assistant coach at Wesleyan for two seasons before joining Stonehill and graduated from Colby in 1997.
“It is my great pleasure to bring David on board as our men’s basketball coach,” Dartmouth Athletic Director Harry Sheehy said. “He brings a wealth of experience along with great passion for the game. He is a strong tactician with a terrific history of developing players. I could not be more excited looking to the future for Dartmouth men’s basketball. I welcome David, his wife Jenna along with their children Sydney, Ryan and Colin, to the Dartmouth athletics family.”
McLaughlin marks Sheehy’s first hire as Dartmouth’s athletic director, as Sheehy was named to that position five months after previous head coach Paul Cormier was hired for his second stint at Dartmouth. Sheehy fired Cormier last month.
“David is one of the brightest coaches I know,” Charlotte Hornets head coach Steve Clifford said in a prepared statement that Dartmouth Athletics ran alongside similarly laudatory statements from Northeastern head coach Bill Coen and McLaughlin’s college coach Dick Whitmore. He has a total philosophy and is constantly studying the game. He will do a great job at Dartmouth.”
This David McLaughlin is not to be confused with the late David McLaughlin who served as Dartmouth’s president from 1981-87.
Similar to Andy Noel at Cornell, Sheehy took a long time to make his selection and went outside his comfort zone to make a very good cost effective choice.
While many thought he would end up finding someone with a connection to Williams, Sheehy went with someone who has experience as an assistant, associate and head coach. Also, he has a good amount of experience living and recruiting in New England.
While he may need to learn how to adapt to the more unique aspects of Ivy League weekends, his experience at Colby and Wesleyan should help him understand the difficulties of balancing athletics and academics.
Pilling, Noel and Sheehy are to be congratulated on taking chances and aiming for the top of the conference with their new coaches.
I believe Dick Whitmore, Jr. is Asst. AD at Dartmouth.