Dan Earl, who played at Penn State from 1993-99 and has been the head coach at VMI since 2015, is expected to become the next head coach at Chattanooga per reports.
Earl, who was less than a year removed from a contract extension through the 2024-25 season, has a 73-138 overall coaching record, with VMI being his only job. Although the record looks ugly, the program has made progress over the past two years, posting back-to-back winning seasons and making it to the CBI earlier this month.
Now, it looks like Earl will be joining a Chattanooga squad that made it to the big dance and was one basket away from upsetting fourth-seeded Illinois in Pittsburgh. The Chattanooga job became available last week when Lamont Paris left to become take the South Carolina job.
Earl is a name recognizable to Penn State fans who remember the 1990s. In four full seasons in Happy Valley, Earl scored 1,256 points and had 574 assists, helping Penn State to the NCAA Tournament in 1996. After leaving Penn State, Earl played overseas, in the Continental Basketball Association and in the NBA’s developmental league, spending two training camps with the New Jersey Nets.
After his professional career ended, Earl’s college coaching career began in 2006. He spent five seasons as an assistant at Penn State under head coach Ed DeChellis. When DeChellis left to take over at Navy in the spring of 2011, Earl went with him and became the associate head coach. He stayed at Navy until taking the VMI job in 2015.
