Congratulations to the following coaches who have been selected as the Week 5 HoopDirt.com Coach of the Week presented by The Hoop Group. The coaches are now eligible to receive the HoopDirt.com National Coach of the Year Award presented by the Hoop Group which will be announced at the conclusion of the 2016-17 college basketball season.
Nominations for next week’s award can be emailed to: [email protected] – please include a brief statement as to why the coach should be recognized as well as any other information that may be helpful.
The Week 5 winners are:
NCAA DI: Steve Forbes, East Tennessee State
Forbes and his Buccaneers had a great week. First, on Wednesday they went on the road and took down SEC opponent Mississippi State in a tightly contested contest. The Bucs tipped in a shot with 1.4 seconds remaining to give them the 67-65 win in Starkville. The road warriors followed that up with a 78-68 win over Morehead State on Saturday. ETSU is now 9-2 on the year and no look towards a huge in-state match-up at home against Tennessee on Thursday.
NCAA DII: Rodney Watson, University of Southern Indiana
On the heels of the Indiana Crossroads Classic it would be a mistake not to acknowledge another Indiana basketball team that is having an impressive season. Southern Indiana had a jam-packed week playing and winning four games by an average of 31 points. Most impressive was their win against Lees-Mcrae in which they overcame an early 19 point deficit with a 34 point turnaround to win the game by 15. During the week, the also defeated Bluefield College (99-54), and went 2-0 in the Bellarmine Classic defeating martin Methodist and Kentucky State. The 24th ranked Screaming Eagles will look to keep up the hot streak after the holiday break against Bluefield State College on January 2nd.
NCAA DIII: Charlie Brock, Springfield
In one of the most impressive victories in all of college basketball this past week Springfield had a huge 71-70 upset win over previously top ranked Amherst College. Springfield, which stands at 4-5 on the year, earned their first win over a top-ranked team in program history. The Pride also continued their run as a giant killer, with a win over a nationally ranked team in each of the past five seasons. Included in their streak are seven wins over teams ranked in the top 15, five of which were victories over teams in the nation’s top 10. They’ll look to go .500 on the 30th against Elizabethtown.
NAIA: Rollie Massimino, Keiser University
The great Rollie Massimino has continued his career of excellence at Keiser University, and on Wednesday notched his 800th victory in a 30-point win over Trinity Baptist College. Wins #801 and #802 came fairly easily as well in the English Family Classic over the weekend. The Seahawks upended Queen City 111-57 before another 30-point victory over Edward Waters. Keiser is 9-2 on the year and will look to add a few more wins this week in the Marietta Rappaport Holiday Classic.
JUCO: Luke Strege, Mineral Area College
7th ranked Mineral Area College has kept up its strong start to the season, having improved to 16-0 on the year with two wins against Illinois foes. First came a 18-point victory against Southwestern Illinois on Monday before a win on Thursday against Southeastern Illinois. Strege’s squad has dominated thus far, with only one game coming down to single digits. Strege, in his second year at Mineral Area, led his team to a 25-6 record last season. Next up for Mineral Area is a match-up on January 4th against Pure Prep.
Week 1 Winners:
NCAA DI: Tom Crean, Indiana
NCAA DII: Brian Beaury, College of Saint Rose
NCAA DIII: David Hixon, Amherst College
NAIA: Jeff Britt, Bethel College (TN)
JUCO: John Pigatti, South Suburban College (IL)
Week 2 Winners:
NCAA DI: Chris Holtman, Butler
NCAA DII: Ben McCollum, Northwest Missouri State
NCAA DIII: Tom Slyder, Northpark
NAIA: Kevin Burton, Union College (KY)
JUCO: Martin McCann, Palm Beach State
Week 3 Winners:
NCAA DI: Scott Drew, Baylor
NCAA DII: Kyle Tolin, Arknasas Monticello
NCAA DIII: Ron Rose, Illinois Wesleyan
NAIA: Craig Doty, Graceland College
JUCO: Steven DeMeo, Northwest Florida State
Week 4 Winners:
NCAA DI: Roy Williams, University of North Carolina
NCAA DII: Jerrod Calhoun, Fairmont State University
NCAA DIII: Luke Flockerzi, University of Rochester
NAIA: Kim Elders, Cornerstone University
JUCO: Patrick Smith, Moberly Area Community College
