John Becker spent two years as head coach at Gallaudet and five years as a Division III assistant before being hired at Vermont. Vermont athletics photo

John Becker has been named head coach of the men's basketball program at Vermont, associate vice president and athletic director Robert Corran announced.

The former Gallaudet men's basketball coach has been an assistant coach at Vermont for three seasons and on former Division III coach Mike Lonergan's staff for five. 

“When we considered current needs and future goals, John Becker stood out as the most qualified candidate to lead our men's basketball program and student-athletes. He brings unquestioned integrity, experience, and skill to the position along with a deep commitment to the values and vision of the athletic department and university,” said Corran. 

“He is precisely the person needed to continue and to enhance the success which has been built over the past decade by his predecessors, Tom Brennan and Mike Lonergan. We are thrilled to begin working with John in his new role as our men's basketball head coach.”

Becker spent his first two seasons at UVM as the director of basketball operations. Becker has helped the Catamounts advance to postseason play four times in his five years. UVM has averaged 22.6 wins a year since Becker joined the program. This past season Vermont won the America East regular season championship and played in the National Invitation Tournament. 

As a recruiter, Becker was instrumental in helping bring freshmen Brian Voelkel and Sandro Carissimo to Vermont last season. He also worked extensively with Carissimo last year with film and individual workouts as he transitioned into Vermont's starting point guard midseason. 

“I would like to thank associate vice president and cirector of athletics Dr. Robert Corran and senior associate athletic director Jeff Schulman for the opportunity to be next head men's basketball coach at the University of Vermont,” said Becker. “Coach Lonergan and coach Brennan have left this program in great shape and I appreciate everything that they have done for both me personally and for this program. I want to also thank the community for all their support over the past five years and I look forward to carrying on the winning tradition at Vermont.”

Becker came to Vermont after a two-year stint as the top assistant coach at Catholic University. While at Catholic, Becker helped guide the team to a 41-17 record, which included a 21-7 mark and NCAA Division III Tournament appearance in 2005-06. His first year with Catholic saw the Cardinals go 20-10 and advance to the Capital Athletic Conference championship game.

Prior to his time at Catholic, Becker was the head men's basketball coach at Gallaudet from 1997-99, taking over a team that had gone 1-25 and leading it to a 6-44 mark in two seasons. Gallaudet is the country's only four-year liberal arts college for the deaf and hearing impaired. Becker was also an assistant coach at Gallaudet from 1994-97 and head men's tennis coach from 1995-97.

Becker earned a bachelor of arts in history from Catholic in 1990 and a master of science in information systems, with a major in business technologies from George Washington in 2001.

He currently resides in Burlington, Vt., with his wife Kelly and daughters Katherine (12) and Ella (9).