A veteran head coach that college basketball fans should start getting familiar with is 53-year-old Ted Hotaling. Entering his 15th season at the helm of the New Haven Chargers, Hotaling now leads a program beginning its first year as an NCAA Division I member, competing out of the Northeast Conference.
Hotaling heads a proud program based in West Haven, Connecticut, where basketball has been part of campus life since the 1961-62 season. The Blue and Gold Chargers have 902 all-time wins in school history and have long been a force at the Division II level.
Building a Program That Lasts
Before the jump to Division I, New Haven made ten NCAA Tournament appearances in Division II, five of which came under Hotaling. His 2022-23 team reached the NCAA Division II Elite Eight and finished 23-11 overall, including a 13-7 record in the Northeast-10 Conference.
Hotaling’s coaching path spans multiple levels of the college game. After a standout playing career at Albany, he spent a brief time playing overseas before joining the coaching ranks. His first stop came at Adelphi University on Long Island, where he served under Steve Clifford, who would later become an NBA head coach.
Hotaling soon joined James Jones’ staff at Yale, then made a brief stop as an assistant at New Haven before returning to Yale for several more seasons. In 2005, he took an assistant position at Eastern Kentucky before finally returning to New Haven as head coach in 2010.
New Haven’s Next Big Step
Since taking over, Hotaling has become the second-winningest coach in program history, known for his emphasis on defense, discipline, and player development. Now, with the Chargers stepping into Division I, he has the opportunity to showcase his program on a national stage.
New Haven joins a growing NEC lineup that recently added Chicago State in 2024 and LeMoyne in 2023. The conference still includes long-standing programs such as Fairleigh Dickinson, LIU, Saint Francis, and Wagner, while Merrimack and Sacred Heart departed in 2024.
It will be a challenging introduction to Division I basketball for the Chargers, who open the 2025-26 season on the road at UConn. They’ll return home quickly, hosting Columbia and Penn State during the opening week, marking the start of a new era for both Hotaling and the New Haven basketball program.