Dwayne Anderson joined the UCF men’s basketball staff in June of 2025 as an assistant coach.
In his first year with UCF, Anderson quickly became a key contributor to the Knights success, with the team making their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2018-19. The Knights secured nine conference victories, averaging 46.3% from inside the arc and 15.7 assists, beating their opponents in both margins.
Anderson came to UCF after spending the previous seven seasons at Villanova. A former Wildcat himself, Anderson suited up for the squad from 2005 until his graduation in 2009. He returned to the program in May of 2018 as the team’s director of basketball operations under his former head coach, Jay Wright, until his promotion to assistant coach in 2021.
His first season in the assistant coach role proved to be a successful one, opening with a trip to the Final Four, the first since the squad’s national title win in the 2018 season, eventually falling to national champions Kansas. Anderson’s coaching stint at Villanova concluded with a trip to the inaugural College Basketball Crown, where Anderson faced his future program in the semifinal round, as the Knights eventually took down the Wildcats,104-98, in an overtime victory for a bid to the finals and a chance at the crown.
Before Anderson had a successful coaching career at Villanova, he was a part of one of the winningest teams in Wildcat history, contributing to squads that compiled a 102–37 overall record (.734), including a 9–4 record (.692) in NCAA Tournament play. Upon his graduation in 2009, Anderson, alongside Shane Clark, Dante Cunningham, and Frank Tchuisi, were the winningest class in the school's history. His successful collegiate campaign bore four straight NCAA appearances, including a trip to the NCAA’s Elite Eight in his freshman season and a starting spot on the 2007-08 squad who advanced to the Sweet 16.
Anderson’s playing career at Villanova was highlighted by his senior season, where he averaged 9.0 points and 6.2 rebounds an outing. As captain for the Wildcats that season, Anderson led the charge in earning the Wildcats’ their first NCAA Final Four appearance in 24 years as he averaged 13.2 points and 8.6 rebounds per game in the Big East and NCAA Tournaments, including a career-high 25 points in an NCAA first-round victory over American. The unit fell to North Carolina in the Final Four, but Anderson was able to tally 11 rebounds, six points, and three steals against the eventual national champions.
Prior to Villanova, Anderson coached at Penn State University, starting his career there in 2013. Anderson would remain there for the next five seasons, working with the Nittany Lions’ big men to create more effective players on both ends of the court. He tutored Ross Travis, who is third on the program's all-time rebounding list, and Brandon Taylor, who finished his career as one of only nine Nittany Lions to record more than 1,000 points and 600 rebounds. Anderson also worked with Jordan Dickerson and Donovan Jack, both of whom rank in Penn State's top 10 for career blocks and hold spots on the single-season list as well.
Before he began his coaching career, Anderson spent time overseas playing professionally, starting in 2011 with BG Göttingen in Germany, where he earned a spot on the German All-Star team his first season. Anderson competed there for the next two seasons before moving his talents to Italy, where he played for Piacenza for the 2011–2012 campaign. In August 2012, Anderson chose to return to Germany and signed with the S. Oliver Baskets in the German Basketball League. There, he averaged 13.4 points per game and 7.2 rebounds per game, and was named to the German All-Star team for a second time.
In addition to his playing career overseas, Anderson also served as a volunteer coach for BG74, an under-13 and under-18 youth program, in Gottingen, Germany, from 2009-11 and launched his own T-shirt and apparel brand called ROBY - Rock Out Be You in 2012.
Anderson is married to another former Villanova athlete, Lindsay Davis, who competed as a diver for the Wildcats from 2006-09. The couple have two sons, Dash and Nova.