Paul Booth enters his 33rd season as the Head Coach of the Norwich University men’s basketball program in 2025–26.
Booth joined the Cadets in 1993 following a successful five-year head coaching tenure at Thomas (Maine) College. Since his arrival in Northfield, Booth has become the all-time winningest coach in program history, surpassing Ed Hockenbury’s mark of 182 wins in 2008. He recorded his 400th career coaching victory on Feb. 12, 2025, in a win over New England College, becoming just the 33rd active NCAA Division III coach to reach that milestone.
In 2023–24, Booth guided Norwich to one of its most successful seasons in recent history. The Cadets finished 18–9 overall and 9–5 in Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) play, defeating Lasell University in the conference quarterfinals before falling to eventual champion Saint Joseph (Conn.). The following season, Booth led the Cadets to another GNAC Quarterfinal berth and a 17–9 record. Senior standout Owen Liss ’25 earned back-to-back GNAC First Team honors while also garnering NABC All-District and D3hoops All-Region accolades and was later named Norwich’s Male Athlete of the Year.
Booth first made his mark at Norwich by engineering a dramatic turnaround during the 1993–94 season, improving the Cadets from a 1–23 record to 12–13. The New England Basketball Coaches’ Association recognized the program as the “Most Improved Team” in New England. Under Booth’s leadership, Norwich produced back-to-back winning seasons in 1995–96 and 1996–97 — the first such streak in nine years — and later established a school-record five consecutive winning seasons from 2002–03 to 2006–07.
Booth reached his 300th career win on Feb. 4, 2015, with a victory over Anna Maria, marking the program’s first-ever win against the AMCATS. Prior to his time at Norwich, Booth accumulated 51 wins in five seasons at Thomas, highlighted by a 15–11 campaign and NAIA District V postseason appearance in 1991–92. That season, Thomas was honored as one of the most improved programs in New England.
A 1983 graduate of St. Joseph’s (Vt.), Booth began his coaching career at Hudson Valley Community College and later served as an assistant and junior varsity coach at Springfield College, where he also earned his master’s in 1988. He has served as the program coordinator for the Adidas ABCD Basketball Camp in Tel Aviv, Israel, working alongside NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Booth also runs an annual two-week basketball camp at Norwich each August.
Booth and his wife, Sue, reside in Northfield with their sons, Ryan and Kyle, both of whom played for their father at Norwich and eclipsed 1,000 career points.
