New London High School graduate D.J. Exum has been named the new head boys' basketball coach at Ledyard.

Exum, a 2012 graduate of Becker College, had been an assistant coach at New London and Fitch in previous seasons.

"D.J. is an excellent teacher of the game," Ledyard assistant principal/athletic director Jim Buonocore said. "That was very noticeable to me during the last few years that I watched him coach an opposing team. He was also very impressive in his ability to instruct and connect with the various individuals involved in our interview process."

Exum was an all-league guard at Becker College and later named captain. He was an assistant from 2015-20 at New London under Craig Parker and for a year at Fitch with Alick Furtick.

Exum succeeds Dave Cornish, who won more than 160 games, several Eastern Connecticut Conference regular season titles and the 2017 ECC tournament championship.

"I am excited for the opportunity," Exum said. "It has always been a goal of mine to become a head basketball coach at the high school level. We want to build upon the previous success of the program. This is an honor."

Exum and the Colonels will compete in Division II of the ECC next season with Waterford, Bacon Academy, St. Bernard and Woodstock Academy.

"This job was very attractive to the basketball coaching community," Buonocore said. "We have a solid team returning and our candidates were impressive. This is where D.J. wants to be and I am very excited to work with him moving forward."

m.dimauro@theday.com