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Larry AndersonEmbracing the “championship approach” – Passion, Hard work, Accountability, Toughness, and Family– has been the calling card for Head Coach Larry Anderson, who recently completed his 28th season guiding the Engineers of MIT in 2022-23.
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, 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 13 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 28 seasons at MIT, Anderson, has embodied the "championship approach" philosophy and his achievements are unprecedented: • 426 career wins, and over 140 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 • 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 • 26 NEWMAC All-Conference Players • 88 NEWMAC Academic All-Conference Players • 6 NEWMAC Rookies of the Year • 5 NEWMAC Tournament Most Outstanding Players |
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Christian MurphyChristian Murphy returns for his fourth season as a member of the MIT men’s basketball coaching staff in 2022-23. 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. |
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John PiemonteseJohn Piemontese begins his first year as an assistant coach for the MIT men’s basketball program in the 2022-23 season.
He joins the MIT staff from Nauset Regional High School in Eastham, Mass., where he served as the head coach of the girl’s basketball team from 2019-2022. During that time, Piemontese’s team advanced to the 2020 MIAA South Quarterfinals, captured the 2021 Cape and Islands League Co-Championship and advanced to the 2021 Cape and Islands League Tournament Final. In that stretch, he also had six student-athletes go on to play collegiately across Divisions I, II and III. Piemontese also has 14 years of head coaching experience on the men’s side, including as the head coach at Bunker Hill Community College from 1988-1993. He also has three boy’s basketball high school stops, with the most recent one coming at Dennis-Yarmouth Regional High School from 2004-2007. Collegiately, Piemontese has been an assistant coach at Bunker Hill, Bridgewater State and Salem State. His other experience includes serving as the head girl’s golf coach at Dennis-Yarmouth for two seasons, as well as eight years as athletic director between Whittier Regional Vocational Technical High School and Canton High School. A 1985 graduate of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Piemontese earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science. He then went on to the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, where he graduated with a Master of Education in Curriculum and Instruction in 1989. |
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Indran RatnathicamIndran "Indy" Ratnathicam has served on the MIT coaching staff for the past 24 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. |