By Dave Johnson
W&M Athletics
 
The weather outside was, in a word, gloomy Wednesday afternoon. The atmosphere in the President's Suite at Zable Stadium was definitely not.
 
From the standing ovation upon his arrival, Brian Earl received the warmest of welcomes as William & Mary's 32nd men's basketball coach. After being introduced by Tribe athletics director Brian D. Mann, he stepped to the podium and scanned the audience.
 
"This is many more people than I expected," said Earl, who spent the previous seven seasons as head coach at Cornell. "It's great to see the enthusiasm out there."
 
From there, Earl addressed his preferred style of play (fast but adaptable), his coaching mentors (Pete Carril and Bill Carmody among them) and how after one practice he already likes his new players.
 
He also spoke of the three colleges he's been a part of: Princeton (a player from 1995-99, an assistant coach from 2008-16), Cornell (head coach from 2017-24) and now William & Mary.
 
"I'll steal a term from a friend: Education through athletics," said Earl, who was the Ivy League's Player of the Year as a senior. "That's important to me. In the world we're in now with words like (transfer) portal and NIL, having been at the institution I graduated from, I know the impact of a William & Mary degree is invaluable as you enter your life after basketball.
 
"I've been at institutions where players I've coached, teammates I've played with, are out there running the world. That's what our alumni will do."
 
Earl met his new team earlier this week. One he already had met — guard Chase Lowe was a Cornell recruiting target coming out of high school. Any apprehension from not knowing who his new coach would be was immediately lifted when told it was Earl.
 
"Obviously with a coaching change, you never know whose going to come in," Lowe said. "But I was glad it would be a reputable coach that I had a relationship with and I trusted."
 
Cornell ended its 22-8 season last Tuesday with an 88-83 loss at Ohio State in the NIT. Then came a whirlwind courtship and a campus visit.
 
One of Earl's meetings was with women's basketball coach Erin Dickerson Davis, who just completed her second season.
 
"He was so cool and calm," Davis said. "He has such a great personality. We talked a lot about my experience here, how supported I feel by administration, and how supported our student athletes feel. We had a great, great conversation."
 
Earl was joined at his introductory press conference by his wife, Jennifer, and three sons.
 
"Dylan, Owen and Cooper are here in suits … for the time being," Earl said. "We're at a world record for them not beating each other up. We might have to have a press conference every day."
 
Earl's seven seasons at Cornell can be divided in two sections. In his first four, the Big Red had a record of 42-73 overall, 21-35 in the Ivy League. Then came COVID, and the Ivy canceled the 2020-21 season.
 
Earl spent that time evaluating the program — what was working, what wasn't working, and how he could do better. In the three seasons after that, Cornell went 54-30, 25-17 in the Ivy.
 
It was the first time the Big Red had three consecutive winning seasons since 2008-10.
 
"He made significant changes to how he was operating and how they were running the program," Mann said. "And over the next few years, he was able to effectively institute those changes and build them into a program that won 22 games this year.
 
"That's what's going to help us get over the top. The DNA, who he is in his heart, that's what's going to help us attract great student athletes."
 
This season, The Big Red ranks 16th (out of 351 teams) nationally in scoring at 82.1 points a game. Earl's team is sixth in 3-point attempts per game (29.7) and 10th in makes (10.3). Cornell is 25th nationally in possessions per game (71.5).
 
Remember, Earl played at Princeton, never to be confused with Loyola Marymount of the late '80s. In his senior year, the Tigers averaged 62 points a game.
 
"I played in probably the slowest offense in the history of Earth," Earl said. "Now, we're playing at the opposite end of that spectrum."
 
Cornell also led the nation in points off the bench with 36 a game. Nine players averaged between 15 and 25 minutes. Two more averaged at least nine.
 
Depth is a must when pressing and running for 40 minutes. Is that to be expected from the Tribe in 2024-25?
 
"We want to be exciting," Earl said. "We pressed more than any team in the country last year. We dictated what we were going to do defensively, and I'd like to do that here. We want to play fast. We get it up, we get a good shot, and then we give them hell after that.
 
"The most important thing I want going forward is when our students, our staff, our faculty, our alumni watch us play, they say 'Those guys play hard. And I'm proud of that.'
 
Earl also addressed the importance of a coach adapting to his players' strengths.
 
"My philosophy is do what's necessary with the guys you have to try to come out with some wins," he said.