LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – Boston University men's basketball associate head coach Mike Quinn was one of a select few invited to participate in the prestigious 2025 TopConnect Basketball Symposium that took place at the Marriott Village on Monday.

The eight year-old TopConnect, developed by ETSU Athletic Director Dr. Richard Sander, identifies the top assistant basketball coaches in the country and connects them with mid-major athletic directors providing tremendous networking and leadership development opportunities for both parties. TopConnect delivers educational programming that allows these top assistant coaches to hear from a variety of successful leaders and speakers.

Coming off his seventh season as a member of head coach Joe Jones' staff, Quinn participated for the third time. The 2025 symposium was headlined by a panel of prominent and successful coaches and industry leaders with the following athletic directors on hand – Mark Benson (UAlbany), Anthony Henderson (Hampton), Mark Wharton (Chattanooga), Nico Yantko (Murray State) and Jon Schemmel (South Dakota).
 
Panel discussions included:

• The Hiring Process and Thereafter
• Perspective of First-Time Head Coaches
• NIL From Multiple Perspectives
• House Settlement 

The fan-favorite "Speed Dating" allowed for rapid networking to take place between the assistant coaches and administrators.
 
The three-word mantra of "Connect. Prepare. Lead." identifies the purpose of TopConnect, which since its inception in 2018 has helped more than 50 assistant coach and assistant athletic director participants rise to the next chair of head coach and athletic director as well as a conference commissioner.

If you have questions regarding TopConnect, please contact Dr. Richard Sander at sander@etsu.edu. TopConnect works in conjunction with Connected Media, LLC and East Tennessee State University's Doctoral program in Global Sport Leadership.