Dartmouth officially confirmed Tuesday night what had been rumored for the last couple of weeks: head men’s basketball coach David McLaughlin would not be offered a new contract for the 2026-27 season.
It closes the book on a 10-year coaching career in Hanover (nine seasons), which saw McLaughlin post records of 87-161 overall and 41-85 in Ivy League play.
Neither of those marks stand out. Dartmouth, though, is widely considered one of the toughest places to succeed, not just in the Ivy League, but in the country. The Big Green’s last winning season was 1998-99 under Dave Faucher, and their last NCAA Tournament appearance was way back in 1959 with the legendary Doggie Julian at the helm.
McLaughlin was an assistant and then head coach at Stonehill (then Division II) before becoming an assistant at Northeastern. He was hired after Paul Cormier was let go following the 2015-16 campaign.
McLaughlin’s biggest highlight by far was Dartmouth’s 2024-25 season, which saw the Big Green post a winning Ivy League season for the first time this century and qualify for the Ivy League Tournament for the first time.
Although Dartmouth fell to Cornell in the Ivy semifinals, McLaughlin and his staff won Ivy League Coaching Staff of the Year.
The Big Green, picked seventh in the Ivy preseason poll this season, got off to a 2-0 start and still were in good shape for a return to Ivy Madness at 4-3 before losing six of their last seven games. By the finale against Cornell, the writing was on the wall.
“We are grateful to Coach McLaughlin for his dedication to Dartmouth and for the commitment he has shown to our student-athletes and this program during the past decade,” said Dartmouth athletics director Mike Harrity in a statement. “Following an ongoing review, we determined that a leadership change is necessary as we work to continue elevating all aspects of the men’s basketball program. We thank David for his efforts and wish him and his family the best.”
McLaughlin was reflective after Saturday’s season finale against Cornell but wanted to keep the focus on his players, especially his three seniors.
“We’ve already shed a lot of tears in the last 15 or 20 minutes, not that I’m afraid to shed tears or anything like that, but there were some meaningful and lasting relationships,” McLaughlin said. “But I’d really love the focus to stay on these three guys. It’s all about them. The jersey is in a better place than they found it. They truly define what a Dartmouth student-athlete is, and I appreciate that.”
Dartmouth will begin a national search for its next coach, but whomever it hires will have their work cut out for them.
All three seniors the Big Green will graduate (Jackson Munro, Jayden Williams and Brandon Mitchell-Day) started every game in 2025-26, and no frontcourt player that played more than 10% of the minutes will returnm Those obstacles come on top of the challenges to recruit, lack of NIL money (which the Ivy League at large is dealing with) and comparatively remote location.
Another ridiculous athletic director, who seems to know little about basketball. Mclaughlin worked miracles with the talent he had. He beat my projected ratings year after year, a sign that the coach knows what he is doing. Unless you want to pile a ton of money into basketball, Dartmouth is an impossible place to win. Great job by Coach. Shame it has not been appreciated.
Agree, Unless you get another Rudy La Russo walking onto campus, Good luck! La Russo took Dartmouth to their last championship in 1959 and the reason the future NBA All-Star went to Dartmouth is because. that’s where his mother wanted him to go. Although, Dartmouth could go the way of Harvard and wave big bucks at a big name coach. This formula, which Penn is following, has merit And Hanover is a nice town.
Agreed! I have not heard any word from any of the athletic directors that indicate a modicum of basketball intelligence.