| Aaron Toomey, who was an assistant coach at Rochester last season, will be the University of Hartford's first head men's basketball coach when the Hawks arrive in Division III. Photo by University of Rochester athletics |
Aaron Toomey, who was a three-time All-American at Amherst, has been named the new head men's basketball coach at the University of Hartford, which will transition from Division I to Division III in the upcoming season.
Toomey served as interim head coach at Amherst College during the 2019–20 season, guiding the Mammoths to an 18–8 record. He was selected to the Under Armour 30-Under-30 Team in 2019, which honors the nation's most outstanding men's basketball coaches under the age of 30. As an assistant coach at Amherst from 2015–19, Toomey coached under David Hixon, one of the winningest college basketball coaches in NCAA history and a new nominee to the Basketball Hall of Fame. Toomey also served as an assistant coach at Vassar College (2020–21) before spending the past two seasons as an assistant coach at the University of Rochester, where he helped lead the Yellowjackets to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances. In 2022, the Rochester men's basketball coaches were honored as the D3hoops.com Region 3 Coaching Staff of the Year. "We are extremely excited to welcome Coach Aaron Toomey to Hartford," says Vice President of Athletics and Recreation Dr. Sharon Beverly. "His accomplishments as a coach at the highest levels, and his outstanding accolades as a student-athlete, firmly align with the goals and aspirations of our men's basketball program. We look forward to the Toomey era of men's basketball at Hartford." The all-time leading scorer at Amherst, Toomey was named the 2013 AP National Player of the Year and 2014 D3hoops.com Player of the Year. The Mammoths reached the NCAA Tournament each year of Toomey's undergraduate career, winning the national title in 2013. He is Amherst's all-time leading scorer (2,033 points) and is at the top of the Amherst record book in free throws and three pointers made. Such an illustrious playing career led to his selection to the D3hoops.com All-Decade First Team for the 2010s. Following his Amherst playing career, Toomey played one season of professional basketball for CB Getafe in Spain. "I am incredibly excited about the opportunity to become a part of the University of Hartford," Toomey says. "I would like to thank Dr. Sharon Beverly and the entire search committee for entrusting me with this program. I have had amazing experiences in Division III as a student-athlete and as a coach, and look forward to providing a similar experience for our players here at Hartford. I can't wait to get to work and look forward to seeing the University of Hartford compete for many championships in the years to come." Toomey defined the model student-athlete while competing at Amherst. He won the Gordon B. Perry Memorial Award, given to one first-year student annually whose participation and attitude in athletics and other extracurricular activities are outstanding. Toomey then culminated his four years there by receiving the Howard Hill Mossman Trophy, awarded annually to the member of the senior class who brought the greatest honor (relating to both achievement and sportsmanship) in athletics to the college. Toomey received a bachelor's degree in English from Amherst College and a master's degree in sports management from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Hartford begins competition in 2023–24 as a member of the Commonwealth Coast Conference, an NCAA Division III athletics conference comprising 10 colleges and universities throughout the New England region.