UMBC men's basketball assistant coach Danny Lawson has been selected to participate in the prestigious 2025 TopConnect Basketball Symposium taking place at the Marriott Village at Lake Buena Vista on Monday, June 9. 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.
 
In its eighth year, TopConnect develops educational programming that allows these top assistant coaches to hear from a variety of successful leaders and speakers. The 2025 symposium is headlined by a panel of prominent and successful coaches and industry leaders.
 
Athletic Directors on hand include, Mark Benson, University of Albany; Anthony Henderson, Hampton University; Mark Wharton, University of Tennessee, Chattanooga, Nico Yantko of Murray State University, and Jon Schemmel of University of South Dakota.
 
Panel discussions include:

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

 
The fan-favorite "Speed Dating" returns and allows 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.
 
Since the inception of TopConnect in 2018, more than 50 assistant coach and assistant athletic director participants have been promoted to the next chair of Head Coach and Athletic Director as well as a Conference Commissioner.
 
Lawson joined the Retriever coaching staff for the 2021-22 season after spending the previous three seasons as the head coach at Emmanuel College. 

In his first two seasons in Baltimore, Lawson helped lead the Retrievers to back-to-back 18-win seasons and the squad has hosted three home playoff games at the Peake since his arrival. UMBC reached the 2021-22 America East Championship game after finishing second during the regular season. The team also knocked off a Power 5 opponent, Pittsburgh (ACC), to highlight the non-conference season. The following season, UMBC won a program-record 10 non-conference contests in 2022-2023. 

Keondre Kennedy (2021-22), Darnell Rodgers (2021-22), LJ Owens (2021-22), Colton Lawrence (2022-23), Dion Brown (2023-24) and Marcus Banks (2023-24) have all earned America East All-Conference honors during Lawson's tenure. Additionally, Dion Brown, Ace Valentine, and Franck Emmou all earned All-Rookie Team honors.