UTC's Dan Earl was named named 2025 TSWA Coach of the Year
photo by Ray Soldano/GoMocs.com
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - After leading the Chattanooga Mocs men's basketball team to a historic championship campaign, head coach Dan Earl has been named the 2025 Tennessee Sports Writers Association (TSWA) Men's Basketball Coach of the Year as the organization announced its awards on Wednesday morning.
Earl becomes the first Chattanooga head coach to earn the TSWA men's basketball postseason coaching honor since the award's origination in 1996. Factoring in the player of the year award which began four years prior in 1992, Earl is the first-ever Moc represented on either list following today's announcement. Zakai Zeigler of Tennessee earned this year's player of the year honors.
Chattanooga's thrilling 85-84 overtime victory over top-seeded UC Irvine in the 2025 National Invitation Tournament (NIT) title game capped off an emphatic postseason run to the program's first-ever Division I national title. The Earl-led squad reached great heights during the 2024-25 season, which needs bullet points to help accurately cover everything…
'Quick' team rundown…
Chattanooga's 29 wins tied the 2015-16 season for most in program history.
· Claimed SoCon regular season title by two full games behind 15-3 record.
· Finished 29-9 (.765) overall… ranked 25th in NCAA DI in winning percentage.
· One of only 14 NCAA DI teams with 29+ wins in 2024-25.
Chattanooga became the first-ever SoCon team to win a men's basketball DI national title.
· Second national title in program history… 1977 NCAA DII.
· First SoCon team to make a national final since WVU in 1959's NCAAT… L, 70-71 vs. Cal.
Chattanooga became the biggest "underdog" to win NIT title.
· First-ever unseeded team to win an NIT title since the 32-team format returned in 2007.
· Defeated four seeded teams… at (4) MTSU, (1) Dayton, at (3) Bradley & (1) UC Irvine.
Chattanooga refused to lose down the stretch, winning 17 of its final 18.
· Ended the season winning 17 of its final 18… only loss was SoCon semifinals to Furman (L, 77-80 OT).
· Ended the season winning 20 of its final 22… 12-2 in games decided by single digits during stretch.
· Finished the 2025 calendar year 21-4 (.840).
Chattanooga became nation's top road warriors behind impressive streak.
· Finished winning its last 10 road games… ties Houston for longest active streak in 2024-25.
· Went 12-5 in road games during 2024-25… 12 road wins tied a single season school record.
· Since 2020, UTC has earned 47 road wins… four more than any other DI program during span.
'Quick' Earl rundown…
Dan Earl named SoCon Coach of the Year for second time in his career.
· Named 2024-25 SoCon COTY as voted upon by fellow league coaches.
· Second career SoCon COTY honor… earned 2020-21 edition while at VMI.
· Sixth different SoCon COTY in UTC program history… fourth in past 12 seasons.
No one has had quite the 'Earl'y success like Earl.
· Earl is an impressive 68-38 (.642) in just three seasons at UTC… improved win total each season (18, 21, 29).
· The 68 wins are the most for a UTC head coach in first three seasons (DI era)… tops Mack McCarthy (62).
Earl's squad defined program's "see, share, shoot" offensive philosophy.
· UTC ranked 5th in DI in A-TO ratio (1.71)… 15th in APG (17.1)… 17th in effective FG% (56.2).
· Set program season records in AST (651), A/TO (1.71), TPG (10.0), FGM (1,072), PTS (3,030) & FT% (76.7).
· Team recorded eight games with 20+ assists… 18 games with nine or fewer turnovers.
Coach Earl and the Chattanooga program have already turned the page towards the upcoming 2025-26 season as the transfer portal and recruiting classes continue to shape up ahead of the summer months. Stick to GoMocs.com and social channels (@GoMocsMBB) for all signing and team announcements in the offseason.