May 5, 2003
Notre Dame, Ind. – University of Notre Dame assistant men’s basketball coach Anthony Solomon was hired today as the head men’s basketball coach at St. Bonaventure University. A 15-year veteran as an assistant in the collegiate ranks, spent three seasons on the Irish basketball staff.
Solomon was hired as an assistant on head coach Mike Brey’s staff in July of 2000, the same month Brey accepted the top position at Notre Dame. Prior to becoming an assistant coach at the University, he had spent the previous two seasons on the basketball staff at Clemson University.
“This is a great day for Anthony Solomon, his wife Tracy, and their family.” Brey says. “On behalf of the entire Notre Dame basketball family, we’re thrilled for him because it is such a great opportunity. Within our profession, he has paid his dues and is ready to become a head coach and run his own program. St. Bonaventure is getting someone who understands the landscape of college basketball and who has a great deal of passion and integrity.
“I feel very fortunate to have had Anthony on my staff for three years. He has meant so much to our program and can take great satisfaction in knowing that he was such an integral part of our success the past three seasons. I know that he will have tremendous success at St. Bonaventure.”
During the past three seasons, Solomon was an instrumental part in Notre Dame resurgence 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. Notre Dame advanced to the NCAA tournament each of the last three years, including an appearance in the 2003 Sweet for the first time by an Irish team since 1987. Notre Dame has been the only BIG EAST team to advance to NCAA tournament competition and win 10 or more games each of the past 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.
Solomon’s three-year stint at Notre Dame marked the seventh collegiate coaching job of his career. He joined 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.