May 27, 2008
Notre Dame, Ind. – Anthony Solomon, who served as an assistant coach on the Irish coaching staff from 2000-03, will return to Notre Dame as a member of head coach Mike Brey’s staff. He replaces Gene Cross who left in April after being named head coach at the University of Toledo.
Solomon departed Notre Dame following the conclusion of the 2002-03 campaign when he was named head coach at St. Bonaventure University and served in that capacity through the conclusion of the 2006-07 campaign. In 2007-08, Solomon was a member of the University of Dayton men’s basketball staff. He helped the Flyers to a 23-11 record last season and a spot in the quarterfinals of the National Invitation Tournament. In addition, Dayton was ranked for four weeks during the season and climbed to as high as 14th in the polls.
“We are excited and pleased to welcome Anthony Solomon, his wife Tracy and their family back to the Notre Dame basketball family,” Brey says. “I feel fortunate that we are able to bring back Anthony to our program. During my first three seasons, he was such a key individual to our success. “Anthony is so highly regarded within our profession and the consummate professional. He has a great understanding and appreciation of Notre Dame, its values and the young men that we attract here. Simply said, this is an exciting day for our program and I know our current players are going to enjoy working with him.”
“It is truly an honor to be able to return to Notre Dame,” Solomon says. “Notre Dame holds a very special place in my heart because of all the people associated with the place. Mike Brey is truly one of the special coaches and teachers in our profession and it is once again an honor to be working alongside him. I also am looking forward to meeting the players and working with them.”
Solomon was part of Brey’s first staff when he became head coach at Notre Dame in July of 2000. Solomon was an instrumental part in Notre Dame resurgence from 2000-03 at the national level as Irish teams compiled a 66-31 record for a 68.0 winning percentage and a 31-17 mark (.646) in BIG EAST play. The Irish advanced to the NCAA tournament each of those three seasons, including an appearance in the 2003 Sweet 16 for the first time by an Irish team since 1987. Notre Dame was the only BIG EAST team to advance to NCAA tournament competition and win 10 or more games each of those three seasons.
In his first year on the Irish coaching staff, Notre Dame won the 2000-01 BIG EAST West Division title – the school’s first league crown since becoming a conference member in 1995.
Prior to Solomon’s three-year stint at Notre Dame, he was a member of the Clemson staff in 1998 as an assistant athletic director for basketball operations and was promoted to assistant coach in June of 2000 and served as one of the two assistants responsible for off-campus recruiting. In his role with the Tigers, he was responsible for all internal operations of the basketball program and served as a liaison to the athletic administration. In addition, Solomon aided in on-campus recruiting.
In his first season at Clemson, the Tigers finished with a 20-15 record and advanced to the finals of the National Invitation Tournament, marking the first appearance in a championship game by a Tiger team in the postseason. No stranger to being an assistant in a major college basketball conference, Solomon spent six years in the Atlantic Coast Conference coaching at Virginia, his alma mater, and Clemson.
He began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at the University of Delaware under Mike Brey’s predecessor, Steve Steinwedel, in 1988-89. He then moved to Bowling Green the following season and spent three seasons (1989-92) there while helping the Falcons reach the National Invitation Tournament on two occasions.
Solomon then took a position as an assistant at Manhattan College for the 1992-93 campaign. It was there that he experienced coaching in the NCAA tournament after the Jaspers earned a berth in the 64-team field as champions of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.
Following that one season, Solomon moved to the University of Richmond for the 1993-94 campaign, before returning to his alma mater. He coached at Virgina under Jeff Jones from 1994-98, serving as coordinator of recruiting and player development and as head coach of Virginia’s junior varsity team. During Solomon’s tenure at Virginia, the Cavaliers advanced to the NCAA tournament twice, including a trip to the Elite Eight in 1995, when the team tied for the regular season ACC crown.
Solomon enrolled at Virginia as a student in the fall of 1983, earned a basketball scholarship and was a four-year letterwinner. Virginia made three NCAA tournament appearances, earned one NIT berth and won 78 games during his four-year tenure. Solomon was a member of the ’84 team that advanced to the NCAA Final Four in Seattle, Wash.
A 1983 graduate of Warwick High School in Newport News, Va., Solomon helped his team to a 23-1 record and the Peninsula District championship his senior year, while garnering second-team all-state honors. He was named most valuable player in the district in both ’82 and ’83.
He also played for Boo Williams’ AAU team and was named its most valuable player, a distinction he shares most notably with J.R. Reid, Alonzo Mourning and Allen Iverson.
Solomon, who graduated with a bachelor’s degree in rhetoric and communication studies, is married to the former Tracy Coleburn, a former track standout at Virginia. The couple has two daughters, Maya Anne and Kamra Mae, and a son Anthony Jr.