Prior to his start at William & Mary, Earl was the head coach for the Cornell Big Red men's basketball team.

He previously served nine seasons as an assistant coach for Princeton Tigers men's basketball where he had formerly been team captain and earned three Ivy League championships.

[12] Following his Princeton career, Earl was selected in the second round of the 1999 United States Basketball League Draft by the Atlantic City Seagulls.

[13] In 2003, he teamed with Kit Mueller, Arne Duncan, Craig Robinson and Mitch Henderson to make the national 3-on-3 championship game.

[17] Earl, who worked mostly with the defense as an assistant, replaced Bill Courtney as head coach for Cornell in 2016 after the school endured six consecutive losing seasons.