Michael Schwartz, HC of E. Carolina University, Men's Basketball

Michael Schwartz enters his second season as head coach of the East Carolina men's basketball program after being appointed the 24th head coach in program history on March 16, 2022.In Schwartz's first season at the helm, the Pirates posted a 16-17 overall record and a 6-12 mark in conference play. The 16 wins were the most for the Pirate program in nearly a decade (2013-14) and the six conference victories tied for the most since the Pirates joined the American prior to the start of the 2014-15 season. ECU defeated South Florida 73-58 in the first round of the AAC tournament to win its first game in the tournament since 2017. Under Schwartz's guidance, Ezra Ausar led all AAC freshmen in field goal percentage at 56 percent (5th best in AAC) to become the first Pirate freshman since 2019 to be unanimously selected to the All-AAC Freshman Team. The Pirates were also one of the league's top offensive rebounding clubs at 12.2 per game and in rebounding margin at +2.1, led by Brandon Johnson's 8.1 rebounds and 10 double-doubles.Considered one of the most versatile and well-rounded assistant coaches in college basketball, Schwartz spent the last seven seasons on staff at the University of Tennessee – including four as the associate head coach. In the fall of 2019, Schwartz earned feature placement on The Athletic's list of the nation's top-25 up-and-coming college basketball coaches.  Schwartz also boasts valuable experience with USA Basketball, having served in a support capacity for the 2000 USA Youth Development Festival, the 2000 USA National Select Team—coached by Mike Jarvis and Bob Huggins and featuring future NBA stars Shane Battier and Jason Richardson—and the 2001 Young Men's World Championship Trials.