Report: Tennessee assistant Michael Schwartz lands head coaching job

The Tennessee Volunteers just won the 2022 SEC Tournament and are gearing up for NCAA Tournament action later this week. But ahead of Tennessee’s NCAA Tournament action, the Vols have reportedly lost a key assistant coach. According to Hoist The Colours’ Stephen Igoe, Tennessee assistant coach Michael Schwartz has agreed to a deal to become the next head men’s basketball coach at East Carolina.

“SOURCES: Tennessee associate head coach Michael Schwartz has agreed to be the next head basketball coach at East Carolina, pending board of trustees approval on Wednesday,” Igoe tweeted.

“Schwartz was one of the most highly-sought after assistants in the country, and was brought up with several other openings. ECU moved quickly to secure its man.”

Schwartz has extensive experience across college basketball as an assistant. He has stops at Texas, Long Beach State, UTSA, Miami, Fresno State, and Tulsa, in addition to his experience Tennessee. Schwartz first joined the Vols in 2016, serving as an assistant coach until 2019. Ever since the 2019 season, Schwartz has been Tennessee’s associate head coach under Rick Barnes.

Schwartz has a connection to East Carolina through his Tennessee experience

East Carolina fired head coach Joe Dooley last week. Dooley, who was in the fourth year of his second stint at ECU, just led the Pirates to an overall record of 15-15, including a 6-11 record against AAC opponents. The Pirates hadn’t finished a season with an overall .500 record since 2013-2014, when they went 17-17 and made the CIT Tournament.

ECU’s current athletic director, Jon Gilbert, worked with Schwartz and Rick Barnes at Tennessee. Gilbert previously served in Tennessee’s athletic department for many years under Dave Hart. He left Tennessee in January of 2017, when he became the athletic director at Southern Miss. He was then hired by ECU in December of 2018.

After moving on from Dooley at ECU, Gilbert clearly had Schwartz in mind from their connection through Tennessee. Now, it appears as if Schwartz is going to be getting his first shot as a head coach in college basketball.

Schwartz is a widely respect coach across the sport. He was poised to be a prominent name with so many head coaching positions open throughout the country. Schwartz will now be tasked with leading an ECU program that has seen serious struggles through recent years, although the 2021-2022 season was a step in the right direction.