Tom Brennan
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Tom Brennan is a radio and television sportscaster and former men's basketball head coach, most notably at the University of Vermont from 1986 to 2005.
Raised in Phillipsburg, New Jersey, Brennan graduated as the all-time leading scorer at Phillipsburg Catholic High School. Brennan graduated from the University of Georgia in 1971, where as a senior he received the men's basketball team leadership award.
He began his coaching after graduating in the fall of 1971 as a graduate assistant at Georgia under Ken Rosemond. Sandwiched around a year as head basketball and baseball coach at Division III Fairleigh Dickinson University in Madison, New Jersey, Brennan was an assistant under college basketball coaches Rollie Massimino at Villanova, Bill Raftery at Seton Hall and Bruce Parkhill at William & Mary. In 1982 he was named head coach at Yale where he crafted a four-year record of 46-58 including back-to-back seasons of 14-12 and 13-13. At Yale he coached players such as Earl G. Graves, Jr. "Butch" and NBA veteran Chris Dudley.
In his 19 years as the head coach of the Vermont Catamounts, Brennan never lost a Vermont native via scholarship to another Division I school.[citation needed]
Brennan also co-hosts a morning radio show in Burlington, Vermont called the "Corm and the Coach Show," with radio personality Steve Cormier, on WCVP-FM 101.3 and WCVR-FM 102.1. The show scores higher ratings than both Howard Stern and Don Imus.[citation needed] Brennan delivers Saturday Night Live-style sports reports and weighs in on basketball, politics, entertainment, local news and psychology. The Coach’s repertoire also includes live, pre-dawn wake-up calls to his players and coaching colleagues. In 1996 and 2000, his radio show received the Vermont Associated Press award for the state's top radio sports feature.[citation needed] In the 2003 and 2004 off-seasons, he also was a co-host on several ESPN national radio shows. The radio show has made Brennan among the most recognized and popular personalities in all of Vermont.[citation needed] He retired from his Coaching position in March of 2005 and was replaced by current head coach Mike Lonergan.
[edit] Accomplishments
- Hired as Analyst by ESPN in 2005[citation needed]
- Led team to a defeat of Syracuse University in the first round of the 2005 NCAA Tournament[citation needed]
- 2005 America East Champions[citation needed]
- 2004 America East Champions[citation needed]
- 2003 America East Champions[citation needed]
- 2002 America East Regular Season Champions[citation needed]
- 2004 Collegeinsider.com Final National Mid Major Poll- 24th[citation needed]
- 2004 Associated Press Final National Poll- also receiving votes[citation needed]
- 2002 Collegeinsider.com Final National Mid Major Poll- 24th[citation needed]
- CollegeInsider.com National Outstanding Achievement Award, 2002[citation needed]
- America East Coach of the Year, 1991, 1998 and 2002[citation needed]
- NABC District I (New England) Coach of the Year, 1991 and 2002[citation needed]
- All-Time Leader in Games Coached At Vermont[citation needed]
- Second All-Time in Victories At Vermont[citation needed]
- His 19 year-tenure is the longest of any coach in the history of the America East and is tied for the longest current stint at one school among New England Division I programs.[citation needed]
- 2000 Doggie Julian Award for Distinguished Service in New England College Basketball (N.E. Coaches Association).[citation needed]
- Of the 56 head coaches who began with their school in 1986-87, just three—Brennan, Jim Calhoun of UConn and Fang Mitchell of Coppin State—were still at the same program in 2004-05. In 2003-04, Brennan was one of just 18 of the current coaches to serve at the same Division I school for 17 or more seasons.[citation needed]
[edit] Family
Brennan and his wife, Lynn reside on Lake Champlain in Colchester, Vermont. He has two children: Kelly, who graduated from UVM in 1993 and is married to Brady Frost, a former Catamount standout pitcher; and Brian who was a standout guard at Indiana (Pa.) University, which reached the NCAA D-II Elite Eight in 2000. In the winter of 2002-03, Brennan became a grandfather for the first time and currently has three grandsons - Caleb Brennan and Brennan & Ryder Frost.[citation needed]
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