Bio

Danny Lawson joined the Emmanuel College staff during the summer of 2018, becoming just the third-ever Head Coach of the Men's Basketball program. Along with his coaching duties, Danny also serves as an Assistant Athletic Director for the department, coordinating schedules and contracts along with some gameday management duties. 

In his first season with the Saints, Lawson did a remarkable job leading the team to an 18-8 record to show an overall improvement of 14.5 games from the previous campaign en route to being named the 2019 D3Hoops.com Northeast Region Coach of the Year. The 18 totals wins is the third-highest single-season total in program history and the Saints earned the right to host a GNAC playoff game for the first time in 10 seasons, picking up the win to advance to the GNAC Semifinals.

He followed up his stellar Head Coaching debut with a 19-7 mark in 2019-20, posting the program's highest single-season winning percentage at .731 while leading the Saints to a home GNAC playoff berth for the second consecutive season.

Lawson came to Emmanuel after serving as an Assistant Coach during the 2017-18 season at Endicott College where he helped coach the Gulls to a 19-9 season which included a win over a NCAA top-10 opponent and an appearance in the Coastal Commonwealth Conference (CCC) Championship.

Prior to Endicott, Lawson spent nearly five years at Duquesne University as both an Assistant and Director of Basketball Operations. During his time with the Dukes, he recruited, coached, and developed two A10 All-League student-athletes and three A10 Rookie Team selections. Lawson also served as a scouting director, coordinated player counseling and mentoring, and played a major role in all other aspects of decision making within the program, regarding in-game situations/substitutions/management and program development. His work on the academic side of the program also culminated in the squad earning the highest team GPA the program had ever achieved in eight years.

Other stops throughout Lawson's basketball career have included LIU Brooklyn (Director of Basketball Operations), Le Moyne College (Assistant Coach), the Boston Celtics (Assistant Video Coordinator), and Bentley University where he graduated from in 2007. As a Falcon, Lawson guided the squad as a student-athlete to a four-year record of 101-27, a No. 1 and No. 2 national ranking, a pair of winning streaks that lasted 32 and 22 games, respectively, an NCAA Elite Eight appearance (2007) and an NCAA Sweet Sixteen appearance (2005). Individually, Lawson was awarded the Senior Male Athlete of the Year award for his leadership and impact in 2007, while in 2005, Lawson earned the Frances M. Bennett Most Improved Player award. 

Meanwhile, with the Boston Celtics, Lawson worked alongside Danny Ainge, Doc Rivers, and Tom Thibodeau during the 2008 NBA World Championship run completing the following duties: game film analysis and preparation of video edits, created scouting and personnel reports on all 29 NBA teams, assisted the coaching staff and the players during individual development workouts, practice, and pre-game routines, and lastly, conducted all NBA Draft Workouts.

Lawson is a 2007 graduate of Bentley University with a Bachelor of Arts in Behavioral Sciences (minor in management) and a 2012 graduate from LIU Brooklyn with a Master's Degree in Social Science.

CAREER RECORD

THE DANNY LAWSON FILE

PERSONAL
Birthdate: May 18, 1984
Hometown: Lexington, Mass.
College: Bentley `07
Degree: Behavioral Sciences
Masters: Social Science from LIU `12
High School: Lexington

NCAA COACHING EXPERIENCE
2009-10 -- Assistant Coach (1 yr.) - LeMoyne
2010-12 -- Director of Operations (2 yrs.) - LIU Brooklyn
2012-15 -- Director of Operations (3 yrs.) - Duquesne
2015-17 -- Assistant Coach (2 yrs) - Duquesne
2017-18 -- Assistant Coach (1 yr.) - Endicott
2018-21 -- Head Coach - Emmanuel

NBA EXPERIENCE
2007-08 -- Boston Celtics - Assistant Video Coordinator

POSTSEASON EXPERIENCE
2011 -- LIU Brooklyn - NCAA First Round
2012 -- LIU Brooklyn - NCAA First Round
2016 -- Duquesne - CBI Second Round

• Was also part of the Boston Celtics 2008 NBA Championship staff
• Was part of three NCAA tournament teams as a player at Bentley

(Last updated August 28, 2020 - 4:00 PM)