Story: AJ Nelson, Senior Staff Writer, HoopDirt.com
BOSTON, MA – The following college basketball coaches have been named recipients of the Week 4 HoopDirt.com Coach of the Week Award, presented by Just Play Solutions. These coaches are now eligible for the HoopDirt.com National Coach of the Year Award, also presented by Just Play Solutions, which will be announced at the end of the 2025-26 college basketball season.
This season marks the eleventh year of the HoopDirt.com Coach of the Week and Coach of the Year programs. This week’s winners are listed below, followed by all previous weekly honorees from earlier in the season.
To nominate coaches for future weeks, please email [email protected] with your selection(s).
The week 4 winners are:
NCAA D1: Frank Martin – University of Massachusetts – Amherst
Coach Martin’s Minutemen went 2-0 against the ACC this week as they improved to 8-3 on the season. UMass opened their week at the Hall of Fame Classic in Springfield, where they faced off against Boston College for the first time since 2014 on Wednesday. The Minutemen led by as many as 14 in the second half, but a pair of free throws with five seconds remaining propelled UMass to a thrilling 76-74 victory. Following the win, UMass headed down to Florida for a matchup against Florida State in the Orange Bowl Basketball Classic on Saturday. The Minutemen trailed 47-43 at halftime before putting up 60 in the second half to come away with a 103-95 win. With the victories, UMass extended its winning streak to five games. They will open up MAC play with a home contest against Kent State on Saturday afternoon.
NCAA D2: Mike MacDonald – Daemen University
Coach MacDonald picked up his 500th career victory as a head coach this week as his Wildcats extended their regular season winning streak to 43 games. MacDonald picked up the milestone win on Friday, when No. 3 Daemen defeated Mercy 83-65 on the road. In his 29 seasons as a head coach, including stints at DI Canisius and DIII Medaille, he has compiled an impressive record of 501-310 (244-84 at Daemen). Back in action on Sunday, the Wildcats took down St. Thomas Aquinas, who knocked Daemen out of last year’s NCAA Tournament, by a score of 79-60. Now 12-0 (4-0 ECC) on the season, the Wildcats have not lost a regular season contest since the 2023-24 season. They will host Assumption in a non-conference matchup on Wednesday afternoon.
NCAA D3: Anthony Medina – University of St. Thomas (TX)
Coming off a huge win against a ranked opponent, Coach Medina’s Celts stayed hot this week, winning their conference opener to extend their winning streak to four. St. Thomas had closed out last week with a 66-53 victory over No. 15 Trinity to head into conference play on a high note. In their SCAC opener on Saturday, the Celts found themselves locked in a tight battle at Colorado College. It took an extra five minutes, but St. Thomas was able to pull out a hard-fought 84-80 overtime victory. Now 7-1 (1-0 SCAC) on the season, the Celts will next take on Mary Washington in San Antonio at the Leslie Robinson Classic hosted by Trinity on Saturday afternoon.
NAIA: Kevin Williamson – Dakota State University
With two more wins this week, Coach Williamson’s squad continued their best start in program history. The Trojans trailed Montana State – Northern by two at halftime on Friday before outscoring the hosts by 12 in the second half to come away with a 66-56 victory. At Providence (MT) the following day, Dakota State again used a strong second half to pull away, this time outscoring their hosts by 17 across the final 20 minutes en route to a 92-72 triumph. The wins extended the Trojans’ winning streak to seven games – tied for the fourth longest streak in program history. Now 11-1 (6-1 Frontier) on the season, Dakota State will have some time off before its next regular season game – a road contest at Carroll on January 2nd.
JUCO: Joey Cantens – Daytona State College
Coach Cantens’ Falcons won another pair of games this week, improving to 9-3 on the season in the process. Daytona State, who entered the week ranked No. 10 in NJCAA DI, spent the weekend at the Monroe Holiday Classic, where they took on the hosts on Friday evening. The Falcons defeated Monroe, who had received votes in that week’s NJCAA DI poll, by a score of 73-62. Back in action the next day, Daytona State jumped out to a 47-19 halftime lead over Hagerstown Community College en route to an 80-43 victory. The Falcons have not let a tough schedule slow them down this season, as six of their 12 contests have come against teams either ranked or receiving votes in the NJCAA DI Top 25. With this past week’s victories, they climbed up one spot to No. 9 in the latest rankings.
2025-26 HoopDirt.com / Just Play Solutions Coach of the Week Winners
NCAA DI: Tommy Lloyd – University of Arizona
NCAA DII: Andre Cook – St. Edward’s University
NCAA DIII: Ron Rose – Illinois Wesleyan University
NAIA: Taylor Jarvis – Missouri Baptist University
JUCO: Tae Norwood – Palm Beach State College
NCAA DI: Dusty May – University of Michigan
NCAA DII: Keffrey Fazio – Seattle Pacific University
NCAA DIII: Waleed Farid – New York University
NAIA: Tigh Compton – University of Pikeville
JUCO: Jerry Nichols – Walters State Community College
NCAA DI: Jon Scheyer – Duke University
NCAA DII: Brent Owen – Lenoir-Rhyne University
NCAA DIII: Dean Burrows – Mississippi University for Women
NAIA: Frank Woodford – Benedictine University – Mesa
JUCO: Bryan Bender – Ellsworth Community College
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About Just Play Solutions
Just Play Solutions has become the market leader in coaches’ workflow. A platform to help coaches prepare playbooks, automate scouting reports, research analytics, integrate and distribute video, manage recruiting workflow, and organize recruiting schedules. The end-to-end platform is used by over 700 customers across the country and internationally in football, basketball.
