Executive Director of Sports and Entertainment Pete Garcia formally announced the hiring of Marlin Chinn as the next women’s head basketball coach on Wednesday. Chinn becomes the sixth head coach for the FIU women’s basketball program.

"I’m pleased to announce the hiring of Marlin Chinn as the next head coach of our women’s basketball team," Garcia said. "He has had a lot of success and has been a part of some very successful programs. He is a tremendous recruiter and will bring a passion and work ethic to our program that is second to none."

"It’s an exciting time to be here at FIU," Chinn said. "Just to see the potential here and growth that is waiting to explode. I think South Florida and the surrounding areas are huge as far as rich in recruiting. It’s a hot bed for talent here in Florida, and we are going to attack it and be very aggressive with it. I’m looking forward to it. I’m very excited."

Chinn, who just finished his sixth season as an assistant coach at Maryland, helped lead the Terrapins to a 34-3 record last season, a Big Ten Championship title, a No. 1 seed in the 2015 NCAA Tournament and a Final Four appearance. The tournament appearance was the fifth for Chinn in six years as the top assistant. While on the Maryland staff, the team compiled a record of 164-41 and had several All-Big Ten performers, including 2015 All-Big Ten First Teamers, Lexie Brown and Shatori Walker-Kimbrough, and Laurin Mincy and Brionna Jones who were named to the Second Team. In addition, Brown was also a Naismith semifinalist candidate.

"I’m really happy for Marlin to get this opportunity," said Maryland Head Coach Brenda Frese. "He’s been a veteran assistant, we’ve watched him grow and this is the next step for him. Just like Tina Langley, who just got hired at Rice, Marlin has been a very loyal assistant to our program. He’s been a presence and a voice within our locker room. I take great pride in seeing anyone in this program achieve his or her dreams. I can’t thank him enough for all he’s given to Maryland. We wish him a ton of success."

Chinn arrived at Maryland after four seasons as an assistant coach at Seton Hall from 2005 to 2009, including the final three seasons as the program’s top assistant coach and recruiting coordinator. In his second season on Phyllis Mangina’s staff at Seton Hall in 2006-07, he helped the program to their first winning record in Big East play in six years and a 13-win improvement over the previous season. During his five seasons at Seton Hall, Chinn helped secure a top-30 nationally ranked recruiting class in 2007, recruited a pair of Big East All-Rookie Team selections, and recruited and coached two Big East All-Conference performers.

"This is so exciting," said FIU forward and C-USA Freshman of the Year Kiandre’a Pound. "He has come from such a successful program at Maryland. I think he is going to take this team to the next level. He’s been to the Final Four two years in a row, and he has worked with some top talent. He knows what it takes to get to the next level and he is going to take us there."

Chinn previously spent seven seasons as the top assistant coach at Mount St. Mary’s from 1998 to 2005. At the Mount, he helped lead the Mountaineers to two NEC regular season championships in 1998-99 and 2000-01. Chinn was instrumental in the recruitment of five Northeast Conference All-Rookie Team selections, including the 2005 NEC Rookie of the Year.

Chinn is a member of both the Black Coaches Association (BCA) and the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA). He was selected to participate in the 2007 BCA Achieving Coaching Excellence (ACE) program for ethnic minority male and female basketball coaches. In the summer of 2011, Chinn returned to speak at the annual BCA Conference. In 2014, he was recognized as one of the nation’s top assistant coaches by A Step Up.

Chinn is a native of Washington, D.C. and graduated from Hampton University with a B.S. in accounting in 1992.