Robert Morris HC Andy Toole Speaks On Recent Horizon League Job Rankings

MOON TWP, Pa. — Coaching winning basketball teams is nothing new for Andy Toole who is in his 16th season as head coach at Robert Morris. In his first 15 years at the helm, Toole has racked up 267 wins (and counting), two coach of the year awards and most importantly, championships.

Under Toole’s guidance, the Robert Morris basketball program has won two Northeast Conference regular season titles (2013, 2014), two Northeast Conference Tournament Championships (2015, 2020), a Horizon League regular season title and a Horizon League Tournament Championship (2025).

On top of success within the mid-major ranks, Toole guided the Colonials to an NCAA Tournament win in the 2015 First Four and nearly pulled off a historic upset of two-seed Alabama in last year’s tournament.

With winning comes recognition and admiration, not only for the man in charge, but also his position and the university.

That was evident more than once during Toole’s tenure at Robert Morris. After he guided the Colonials to the top of the NEC, the program was in the position to make the jump from one of the weaker conference in Division I basketball to one of the more prominent mid-major leagues in the Horizon.

Yes, there were struggles for Toole and Robert Morris immediately after the transition but that was expected as the move came at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, six years later, not only has Toole built Robert Morris into an annual contender in the Horizon League, but he has also vaulted the perception of his job to the top of the league.

Earlier this week, The Field of 68, a member of the On3 media network, released a Horizon League job rankings in which the 11 head coaches and multiple assistant coaches across the Horizon League voted on. The head coaching job at Robert Morris was voted as the most sought after positions in the league.

Robert Morris Sports Now managed to talk to Toole about the rankings and what went into his job being perceived as highly as it is among the other coaches in the Horizon.

“[Robert Morris AD] Chris King and I talked yesterday about it,” Toole said. “Certainly when we got into the Horizon League six years ago, we would have been at the bottom. We had the facility, but some of the other things weren’t in place. A lot of people who have worked very hard, Chris and the administration, myself and our staff, we’ve been very fortunate that people have stepped up and helped us outside the university to keep us competitive and to help us get competitive and then to keep us there.”

“Obviously, I think because we won last year, that kind of helps with the rankings but I think it’s something that we take pride in,” Toole continued.

After making the transition to the Horizon League for the 2020-21 season, Robert Morris boasted a shiny new arena but struggled against the heightened competition. Toole’s teams won just 38 games across the first four years in the league but that all changed last season when his squad tied a program record with 26 wins in a single season including 18 games against league opponents across the regular season and the league tournament.

That immense success not only gave Robert Morris recognition within the league for the first time but also allowed the other areas in which the program already excelled at or were ahead of others in, such as the facility, to shine for people outside of the program.

“Our facility is the best facility in the league,” Toole said. “A lot of the coaches, when they come here they will say ‘this is such a great size arena, it’s great that you have a practice court in the back,’ and we’re really fortunate that we’re able to have this building and build this building so that’s number one.”

With a newer arena and cutting edge facilities for a Horizon League program, coupled with the obvious rise in success over the past couple of seasons, more and more donors have helped Robert Morris and Andy Toole not only get to the summit of the Horizon League but hopefully stay there.

“I think some of the stuff pertaining to NIL,” Toole said. “We have some people that have stepped up and helped us with NIL to help create a roster. It’s probably not as big as everyone thinks it is, but it’s competitive, and that’s what you need to have in order to give yourself a chance. That doesn’t guarantee you anything, but it gives you a chance to have a chance and so I think that that’s some of the perception.”

Toole is not the type of guy to parade around blabbering about how good he has it at Robert Morris, but he will silently wear the node of admiration as a badge of honor as he continues to lead the Colonials to even more success on the hardwood.

“I don’t know if everyone always likes when you’re deemed, ‘oh, you have the best job.’ I guess it’s better to have the best job than the worst job,” Toole ended. “You want to give yourself every chance to be able to try to win games and Robert Morris has certainly done that.”