Donald Gene Verlin (born June 15, 1965) is an American

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

coach who was most recently the

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

at the

University of Idaho The University of Idaho (U of I, or UIdaho) is a public land-grant research university in Moscow, Idaho. It is the state's land-grant and primary research university,, and the lead university in the Idaho Space Grant Consortium. The University ...

from 2008 to 2019. Prior to Idaho, Verlin was an assistant coach at

Colorado State Colorado State University (Colorado State or CSU) is a public land-grant research university in Fort Collins, Colorado. It is the flagship university of the Colorado State University System. Colorado State University is classified among "R1: ...

Utah State Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public land-grant research university in Logan, Utah. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. With nearly 20,000 students living on or near campus, USU is Utah's ...

, and

Cal State Bakersfield California State University, Bakersfield (CSUB, Cal State Bakersfield, or CSU Bakersfield) is a public university in Bakersfield, California. It was established in 1965 as Kern State College and officially in 1968 as California State College Bake ...

Early life and education

Born in

Roseville, California Roseville is the most populous city in Placer County, California, located within the Sacramento metropolitan area. As of 2019, the US Census Bureau estimated the city's population to be 141,500. Interstate 80 runs through Roseville and State Rout ...

, Verlin graduated from

Del Oro High School Del Oro High School is located in Loomis, California, and is a part of the Placer Union High School District. Del Oro High School opened for the instruction of freshmen and sophomores on September 28, 1959, one week after Colfax opened. It wa ...

in Loomis in 1983. He graduated from

California State University, Stanislaus California State University, Stanislaus (Stanislaus State, Stan State) is a public university in Turlock, Stanislaus County, California. It is part of the California State University system. It was established in 1957 and is also the only cam ...

in 1991 with a bachelor's degree in physical education and

Colorado State University Colorado State University (Colorado State or CSU) is a public land-grant research university in Fort Collins, Colorado. It is the flagship university of the Colorado State University System. Colorado State University is classified among "R1: ...

in 1993 with a master's degree in education.

Coaching career

High school and junior college (1983–1991)

With his twin brother

Ron Ron is a shortening of the name Ronald. Ron or RON may also refer to: Arts and media * Big Ron (''EastEnders''), a TV character * Ron (''King of Fighters''), a video game character *Ron Douglas, the protagonist in ''Lucky Stiff'' played by Joe A ...

, Don Verlin was freshman basketball co-head coach at Del Oro High for a season after graduating from high school before coaching junior varsity one season at

Placer High School Placer High School is a public high school located in Auburn, California, United States, and is part of the Placer Union High School District. Auburn is located northeast of Sacramento, California, in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mounta ...

. Verlin then coached from 1989 to 1991 at the junior college level, as an assistant at Columbia College in

Sonora, California Sonora is the county seat of Tuolumne County, California. Founded during the California Gold Rush by Mexican miners from Sonora (after which the city is named), the city population was 5,226 during the 2020 Census, an increase of 221 from the ...

College assistant coach (1991–2008)

Later, Verlin moved up to the NCAA as an assistant at

under

Stew Morrill Stewart Morrill (born July 25, 1952) is an American college basketball coach and the former head coach of the Utah State University men's basketball team. Morrill was an All-American at Ricks College and a two-time All-Big Sky selection for Gonza ...

in the 1991–92 season. Then, from 1992 to 1994, Verlin was an assistant at

under

Pat Douglass Joseph Patrick Douglass (born January 23, 1950) is a retired American basketball coach. He was most recently the men's head coach at UC Irvine from 1997 to 2010. Early life and education Born in Knoxville, Tennessee, Douglass moved to Barstow, Ca ...

for back-to-back NCAA Division II championship seasons. In 1994, Verlin rejoined Colorado State, again under Stew Morrill, as an assistant and stayed for four seasons. Verlin followed Morrill to

in 1998. In ten seasons with Utah State, Verlin helped Utah State reach eight postseason appearances and eight 20-plus win seasons.

Idaho (2008–2019)

On March 21, 2008, the

hired Verlin as head coach for the

Idaho Vandals men's basketball The Idaho Vandals men's basketball team represents the University of Idaho, located in Moscow, Idaho, in NCAA Division I basketball competition. They currently compete in the Big Sky Conference. The Vandals are currently coached by Zac Claus and p ...

team. Inheriting a team that went 8–21 Verlin led Idaho to a 17–16 (9–7 WAC) record and second round appearance in the 2009 CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT) in his first season. Idaho's win in the first round of the CIT was the program's first postseason victory since the 1982 NCAA tournament. After a 15–16 season in 2009–10, Verlin led winning teams in the next two seasons. Idaho went 18–14 (9–7 WAC) with an appearance in the 2011 CIT in

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

. In 2011–12, Idaho went 19–14 (9–5 WAC) and qualified for the second round of the 2012 CIT. The

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

Idaho team finished 12–18, but

Kyle Barone Kyle James Barone (born September 12, 1989) is an American basketball player who played for the Earth Friends Tokyo Z of the B.League. He was the Western Athletic Conference Player of the Year as a senior in 2012–13 after leading the WAC in ...

became Idaho's first WAC Player of the Year in program history. Following the 2013–14 season, Idaho moved from the WAC to

Big Sky Conference The Big Sky Conference (BSC) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I with football competing in the Football Championship Subdivision. Member institutions are located in the western United States in the eigh ...

. Verlin had his first 20-win season in 2015–16, as Idaho finished 21–13 and third in the Big Sky standings with a 12–6 conference record with an appearance in the

2016 College Basketball Invitational The 2016 College Basketball Invitational (CBI) was a single-elimination tournament of 16 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I teams that did not participate in the NCAA Tournament or the NIT. The opening games and the quart ...

(CBI). In 2016–17, Idaho had another successful season with a 19–14 (12–6 Big Sky) and second round appearance in the 2017 CIT. In 2017–18, Verlin had his most successful season at Idaho, with a 22–9 (14–4, second in Big Sky standings) record. However, Idaho did not appear in any postseason tournament, because the seniors declined to play in the CBI or CIT. Following his most successful season, Verlin would have his worst win–loss record at Idaho the next season at 5–27 in 2018–19. That would be his final season, and Verlin cumulatively had a 177–176 record in 11 seasons, the most total wins for any Idaho coach. Three weeks after being placed on

administrative leave Administrative leave is a temporary leave from a job assignment, with pay and benefits intact. Generally, the term is reserved for employees of non-business institutions such as schools, police, and hospitals. The definition of administrative lea ...

due to an investigation into NCAA violations, Verlin was fired

for cause Just Cause may refer to: * Just cause (employment law), a common standard in United States labor arbitration, and a reason for termination of employment. * ''Just Cause'' (film), a 1995 legal thriller starring Sean Connery * ''Just Cause'' (TV se ...

by Idaho on June 14, 2019. Assistant coach Zac Claus served as interim head coach for the 2019–2020 season. On June 18, 2020, the NCAA issued Verlin a one-year

show-cause penalty In the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), a show-cause penalty is an administrative punishment ordering that any NCAA penalties imposed on a coach found to have committed major rules violations will stay in effect against that coach fo ...

and Idaho men's basketball two years of probation. Among violations that the NCAA found happened from 2015 to 2019, Verlin promoted an undergraduate student manager who had not completed his degree to director of basketball operations and allowed the newly promoted director of operations to coach during games.

Personal life

Verlin is married and has two children, and his twin brother

was also a college basketball coach, most recently at the University of the Pacific.

Head coaching record

References

External links

Idaho biography of Verlin
- coaching record - Don Verlin {{DEFAULTSORT:Verlin, Don 1965 births Living people American men's basketball coaches Basketball coaches from California California State University, Stanislaus alumni College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Columbia Claim Jumpers men's basketball coaches Colorado State Rams men's basketball coaches High school basketball coaches in the United States Idaho Vandals men's basketball coaches Sportspeople from Roseville, California American twins Utah State Aggies men's basketball coaches People from Loomis, California