Staff

Larry Anderson

Embracing the “championship approach” – passion, hard work, accountability, toughness, and family– has been the calling card for Head Coach Larry Anderson, who enters his 26th season guiding the Engineers of MIT in 2020-21.

Anderson joined the MIT athletic department in 1995 as the 18th head coach in the program’s storied 119-year history. Established in 1900, nine years after the game of basketball was invented, the MIT basketball program continued to develop under Anderson, earning the New England Basketball Coaches Association award for Most Improved Team in 1998. On November 29, 2008, Anderson surpassed legendary Jack Barry as the winningest coach in the program’s history. His teams have averaged over 21 wins per season since 2009 and he achieved his 300th win on January 10, 2015.

In the 2019-20 season, Anderson earned his 400th career victory in a road victory at Lasell College.

Anderson’s regular-season accomplishments have resulted in an impressive and unprecedented string of nine NCAA tournament bids in the past `` seasons, highlighted by a Final Four run as a national semi-finalist in 2012. In addition, he is the only coach in the program’s history to lead MIT to a No. 1 national ranking. Coach Anderson and the Engineers have been a fixture on the national basketball scene, ranked in the Top 25 eight of the past 12 seasons.

In 2017-18, Anderson's squad captured the NEWMAC Championship for the second straight season before advancing to the Elite Eight for just the second time in program history. In 2018-19, the Engineers claimed the NEWMAC regular-season crown and had three NEWMAC First Team All-Conference honorees.

To top off an incredible list of accolades in a long and distinguished career, Anderson was inducted into The New England Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009. During his team’s historic 2011-12 campaign, Anderson received the Jack Bennett Man of the Year Award presented by CollegeInsider.com. The award represents winning with integrity and is presented annually to a Non-Division I Head Coach who achieves success on the basketball court while displaying great moral integrity off of the court as well. At the NABC Coaches Convention awards presentation, in typical Larry Anderson fashion, he “spread the love” by recognizing the many collaborators over the years that helped build the program one day at a time.

“In this profession, there’s no way you can be successful without support – from the student-athletes, to the administration, to the community. You can take a mediocre coach give him all the support in the world and he can take the team to heights unheard of. That is why coaches are successful.”

Anderson arrived at MIT via Rust College in Holly Springs, Miss., where he graduated in 1987. After serving as captain his junior and senior years, Anderson remained at his alma mater as an assistant coach. While maintaining his devotion to the game and to Rust, he eventually assumed additional roles as the Associate Director of Athletics and Director of Student Activities.

In 24 seasons at MIT, Anderson, has embodied the "championship approach" philosophy and his achievements are unprecedented:

• 409 career wins, and over 135 NEWMAC wins
• NCAA Final Four (2012)
• NCAA Elite Eight (2018)
• 9 NCAA Tournaments bids
• 10 NCAA Tournament victories
• New England Basketball Hall of Fame Inductee (2009)
• Two-time New England Coach of the Year
• Three-time NEWMAC Coach of the Year
• College Insider’s Jack Bennett Man of the Year Award
• College Insider’s Glenn Robinson Division III National Coach of the Year Award Finalist
• National Player of the Year – Jimmy Bartolotta (2009)
• Coached 3 MIT graduates to play professional basketball
• Nationally Ranked in d3Hoops.com's Top 25 including No. 1 in the country
• 7 All-Americans (one honors)
• 13 CoSIDA Academic All-Americans
• 2 CoSIDA Academic All-Americans of the Year
• 3 d3Hoops.com Northeast Region Players of the Year
• 11 d3Hoops.com Northeast Region Players
• 1 d3Hoops.com Northeast Region Rookie of the Year
• 1 Jostens Trophy award winner
• 6 NEWMAC Tournament Championships
• 4 NEWMAC Regular-Season Championships
• 5 NEWMAC Players of the Year
• 5 NEWMAC Defensive Player of the Year
• 25 NEWMAC All-Conference Players
• 76 NEWMAC Academic All-Conference Players
• 5 NEWMAC Rookies of the Year
• 5 NEWMAC Tournament Most Outstanding Players

Larry Farmer

Larry Farmer enters his fourth season as a member of the MIT men’s basketball coaching staff in 2020-21. Prior to joining the Engineers, Farmer was a graduate assistant with the Boston College men’s basketball team from 2015-17.

Farmer earned a Bachelor of Science degree in biochemistry from Denison University in 2012 and received his MBA from Boston College’s Carroll Graduate School of Management in 2017. He currently works as an internal consultant for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts.

As a student athlete at Denison, Farmer was a three-year starter and team captain garnering two NCAC All-League honors. Farmer finished his career as member of the 1,000 point club as he is ranked 15th in school history in scoring, first in games played and second in steals.

Farmer is the son of Larry Farmer Jr., who won three national championships at UCLA (1970-73) under legendary coach John Wooden, later became head coach of the Bruins from 1981-84, and is now a member of the UCLA Athletic Hall of Fame.

David Kroopnick

David Kroopnick enters his fourth season as a member of the MIT men's basketball coaching staff in 2020-21.

Prior to joining the Engineers, Kroopnick coached for two seasons under head coach Lance Dottin at the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School. During those two seasons, the Falcons won back-to-back MIAA Division 1 State Championships, compiled a record of 48-1, and achieved national recognition in the 2016-2017 USA Today end-of-year rankings.

In the summer of 2019, Kroopnick gained international coaching experience as the assistant coach for Team USA at the 2019 European Maccabi Games in Budapest, Hungary. Kroopnick helped construct the roster, manage rotations, and served as the defensive coordinator as Team USA advanced to the Gold Medal Game undefeated before falling to Team Russia.

Prior to working at Cambridge Rindge and Latin, Kroopnick coached youth basketball in the Boston area at the Yawkey Boys and Girls Club of Roxbury, and the All for One Basketball Club.

Originally from Albany, N.Y., Kroopnick graduated from Northeastern University with a Bachelor of Science in finance and management. While at Northeastern, Kroopnick served as the sports and finance director of the campus radio station, WRBB. He currently works for a data analytics software company in Boston.

Christian Murphy

Christian Murphy returns for his second season as a member of the MIT men’s basketball coaching staff in 2020-21. Murphy came to Cambridge after spending two seasons at the University of Nevada as a graduate assistant, where he earned his master’s degree in higher education administration.

During Murphy’s time at Nevada, the team made a NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 run in 2018 and spent the entire 2019 season ranked in the nation’s AP Top 20 – including 16 weeks inside the top 10. Both years the Wolf Pack won 29 games (tying a school record) and won the Mountain West regular-season title.

Prior to Nevada, Murphy spent the 2016-17 season as an assistant coach and head JV coach at Central College. During that season, Central ranked ninth in Division III in three-point field goals made (306).

Murphy was a four-year student manager at Butler University, where he was a part of three NCAA Tournament Round of 32 appearances. He graduated from Butler in 2016 with a bachelor’s degree in organizational leadership.

Indran Ratnathicam

Indran "Indy" Ratnathicam has served on the MIT coaching staff for the past 22 seasons. He focuses primarily on alumni relations and leadership development in addition to practice and game preparation, on-the-floor coaching, player development, and recruiting. Prior to becoming a coach, Indran was a four-year player on the MIT basketball team, where he was co-captain of the 1997-98 campaign that finished 18-7 under Head Coach Larry Anderson.

Indy graduated from MIT in 1998, with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, and has an MBA from the Harvard Business School. Since "leaving" MIT, he has pursued a full-time career in technology and business, and is currently Vice President of Marketing & Strategy at FirstFuel Software, an energy software start-up in Lexington, MA. Prior to this, Indy's non-basketball has included roles at the global consultancy, The Boston Consulting Group, and other startup and venture capital firms.

Indy is originally from Vancouver, Wash.