Charlotte 49ers fire basketball coach
White
Fearne
The Charlotte 49ers fired men's basketball Coach Aaron Fearne, shown here celebrating with fans and players at Halton Arena after a win earlier this season.
The Charlotte 49ers announced Tuesday that they have fired head men's basketball coach Aaron Fearne.
The move is the most significant one so far made by new athletics director Kevin White. The 49ers have not made the NCAA Tournament since 2005, a 21-year drought that has rankled the team's supporters for years.
White said in a statement: "We have high expectations for all of our athletic programs at Charlotte, and while difficult, making a head coaching change is necessary to allow for greater success. Aaron Fearne has been an invaluable assistant and head coach at Charlotte. We thank him for all that he has done and wish him the very best in his career."
The 49ers finished 17-17 this season. "Our men's basketball program is critical to the department's overall success, and it must regularly compete for American Conference championships and NCAA Tournament berths," White said.
A native of Australia and longtime head coach in that country's top basketball league, Fearne first joined the 49ers as an assistant coach under Ron Sanchez. When Sanchez suddenly left in June 2023 to join Tony Bennett's staff at Virginia, Fearne was appointed as the team's interim coach. Then-AD Mike Hill gave him the permanent Charlotte job when Fearne began his first season with a 15-8 record and 9-2 conference mark.
That 2023-24 season turned out to be Fearne's best of his three years in charge of the program. The 49ers finished 19-12 (13-5 in the American Conference), but again didn't make the NCAA Tournament. The next season Charlotte fell back into its losing ways, going 11-22, followed by this year's .500 season. The team has often struggled with attendance at Halton Arena as well during the tenure of the last several head coaches. Hill, the AD who hired Fearne, was abruptly fired in October 2025, 13 months after receiving a contract extension. White, the new AD, told The Charlotte Observer in February just after being hired: "Football and men's basketball have to be good. And so we're going to work together in order for us to figure out what the needs are, in order for us to have more success in those two sports. Because those two sports are going to drive and carry everybody else in the department."
The 49ers' football team was 1-11 in 2025 under firstyear head coach Tim Albin. Hill hired Albin, too. But when Hill was fired in October, 49ers officials made a point of saying that Albin remained the right man to lead the football program.
A national search is underway to find the new basketball coach. Said the school's chancellor, Sharon Gaber, in a statement: "I am excited about what lies ahead and have full confidence that Kevin (White) will identify a great pool of candidates from which our new head coach will emerge."
