Congratulations to the following coaches who have been selected as the Week 12 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 12 winners are:
NCAA DI: Donyell Marshall, Central Connecticut State University
Former NBA and UConn great Donyell Marshall is bringing some magic back to a moribund Central Connecticut basketball program, taking over a team that flat-lined at 4-25 last season and giving them a pulse. The scrappy Blue Devils had one of the most impressive wins in college basketball last week, beating Mount Saint Mary’s – the top team in the NEC on the road 54-52. In that one CCSU overcame a 15-point lead late in the second half to pull off the upset. That win came on the heels of a big win over the third-ranked team in the league, LIU Brooklyn. The rebuild may be happening quicker than even Coach Marshall expected, and the Blue Devils could be a tough out come conference tourney time.
NCAA DII: Joe Gallo, Merrimack College (MA)
Continuing with first-year coaches making an impression, Coach Gallo is having a great first season with his alma mater. The Warriors went 3-0 last week including two wins over ranked teams in the Northeast. All three of their wins came in nail-biting fashion, including an overtime win by six over Southern Connecticut (100-94). That was followed up with a four point win and a two point win against St. Michaels and Saint Anselm respectively. Standing at 17-6 on the year will look for two more wins this week when they take on Stonehill and Southern New Hampshire.
NCAA DIII: Stephen Brennan, Babson College (MA)
Guiding the top-ranked team in the most recent D3hoops.com national poll, Coach Brennan is up to his usual tricks and has his Beavers at 20-1 and a perfect 10-0 in the conference. Last week saw a pair of league wins against NEWMAC foes Wheaton (78-64), and WPI (62-45). The win vs. WPI on Saturday gave Brennan his fourth straight 20-win season, and in the process, his team has become the first NEWMAC squad to start the conference slate at 10-0 since 2011. Saturday’s win also helped Babson extend Division III’s longest conference winning streak to 21 games. This week brings a chance to pick up wins 21 and 22 with a pair of league showdowns with league rivals Springfield College and Clark University.
NAIA: Ryan Wall, Our Lady of the Lake University (TX)
Coach Wall’s squad raised some eyebrows back at the beginning of the season when they hung with in-state D1 foe Rice, and they have made good on some of the high expectations they set that day. They took home a pair of victories last week including an upset win over 7th ranked Wiley College 79-64 non Friday night. They also pounded Jarvis Christian 88-69 to improve their record to 13-7 (9-4 RRAC). The Saints entered last week nationally ranked and will build on that this week with a pair of games against Langston and University of the Southwest.
JUCO: Hank Plona, Indian Hills Community College (Iowa)
Coach Plona set high standards for himself in year one on the job and he’s somehow raising them in year two. Indian Hills is currently 20-4 (5-1) and coming off of two very impressive wins this past week. First came a 68-62 win over Northeast Nebraska, followed up with a 67-64 win over Iowa Western. This week is off to a great start already with a big win over Moberly Area CC Monday night, and Indian Hills still has a chance to pick up two more wins with match-ups against Ellsworth and Southeastern Iowa this week.
Previous Weekly Winners:
Week 1:
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:
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:
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:
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
Week 5:
NCAA DI: Steve Forbes, East Tennessee State
NCAA DII: Rodney Watson, University of Southern Indiana
NCAA DIII: Charlie Brock, Springfield College
NAIA: Rollie Massimino, Keiser University
JUCO: Luke Strege, Mineral Area College
Week 6:
NCAA DI: Buzz Williams, Virginia Tech
NCAA DII: Paul Trevor, San Francisco State
NCAA DIII: Eric Bridgeland, Whitman College
NAIA: Jeff Rutter, Arizona Christian
JUCO: David Archer, Jr., Chattahoochee Tech
Week 7:
NCAA DI: Kelvin Sampson, Houston
NCAA DII: Jamie Stevens, Montana State Billings
NCAA DIII: Mark Edwards, Washington University (St. Louis)
NAIA: Kelly Wells, University of Pikeville (KY)
JUCO: Steve Green, South Plains College (TX)
Week 8:
NCAA DI: Randy Bennett, St. Mary’s
NCAA DII: Nelson Haggerty, Midwestern State (TX)
NCAA DIII: Chris Martin, Loras College (IA)
NAIA: Larry Cordaro, LSU Alexandria
JUCO: Todd Lorensen, Southwestern CC (IA)
Week 9:
NCAA DI: Kevin Keatts, UNC Wilmington
NCAA DII: Bob Pietrack, Fort Lewis College (CO)
NCAA DIII: Bob Ghiloni, Denison University (OH)
NAIA: Tony Ingle, Dalton State (GA)
JUCO: Charlie Wilson, Indian River State College (FL)
Week 10:
NCAA DI: Chris Collins, Northwestern University
NCAA DII: Chris Fife, Shippensburg University (PA)
NCAA DIII: Ken Scalmanini, Claremont Mudd Scripps (CA)
NAIA: Sean Hanrahan, Warner University (FL)
JUCO: Matt Ridge, Davidson County CC (NC)
Week 11:
NCAA DI: Joah Pastner, Georgia Tech
NCAA DII: TJ Dekmar, Goldey-Beacom College (DE)
NCAA DIII: John Krikorian, Christopher Newport University (VA)
NAIA: Justin Wetzel, Dickinson State University (ND)
JUCO: Chuck Moore, Richard Bland College (VA)
