WEEK 10: HoopDirt.com Coach of the Week

Congratulations to the following coaches who have been selected as the HoopDirt.com Coach of the Week Award winners for Week 10 of the college basketball season. The coaches are now eligible to receive the HoopDirt.com National Coach of the Year Award which will be announced at the conclusion of the 2015-16 college basketball season. The complete list of past weekly winners can be found below this weeks recipients.

Nominations for next week’s award can be emailed to: Coach of the Week Nominations – 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 10 winners are:

NCAA DI: Roy Williams – North Carolina.  roySaturday’s win against Virginia Tech gave Williams his 350th victory at UNC and a unique place in college basketball history.  He became the first NCAA coach to win at least 350 games at two Division I schools – he won 418 games at Kansas before joining North Carolina in 2003.  The Tar Heels also defeated Wake Forest this past week, and have run their winning streak to 11 games.  UNC is also off to its best ACC start since 2000-01 – they are a perfect 7-0 in conference play (18-2 overall).  Currently ranked #2 in the nation, Williams squad will look to return to the #1 spot when the polls are released later today.


NCAA DII: Luke Reigel – University of Wisconsin-Parkside.  Luke-RiegelReigel beat out a very strong DII field this week to earn Coach of the Week honors.  The 24th-ranked Rangers went 3-0 (all conference wins) to up their record to 15-2 (8-1 GLVC).  After opening the week with an 82-70 win over Lewis University, things got interesting for the Rangers.  On Thursday, they upset #6 Bellarmine University after hitting a buzzer beater to send the game into the extra period. Their magic continued on Saturday as they converted a traditional three-point play with 2.7 seconds remaining to beat visiting Southern Indiana 70-67.  The Rangers are now riding an 11-game winning streak, and Saturday’s victory extended their GLVC home winning streak to 29 games.


NCAA DIII: Joe Reilly – Wesleyan University (CT). joereillymug1213forwebReilly becomes the second straight coach from the ultra-competitive NESCAC to claim HoopDirt.com Coach of the Week honors after leading Wesleyan to a monster week. The Cardinals began the week with a drubbing of #9 Amherst 71-44 in a game where they held the Lord Jeffs to 20.6% shooting.  They followed that win up by knocking off another nationally ranked opponent as they topped #19 Tufts in overtime 78-77.  Reilly’s crew capped off the 3-0 week by beating Bates 82-67 to improve their record to 15-4 (3-3 NESCAC).


NAIA: Anthony Owens – University of Great Falls (MT). anthony_owens_276_mb1A great 2-0 week for Owens and his Argos as they pulled out two last second one-point victories.  Friday night they hit a buzzer beater on a crazy play off of an inbounds set underneath their own basket to upset #25 Montana Western 70-69.  They followed that win up on Saturday with another nail biter – they scored on an alley-oop with :10 seconds left to beat Rocky Mountain College 75-74.  The back-to-back wins snapped a three game losing streak for the Argos, and improved their record up to 10-7.  


JUCO: Philip Stitt – Marion Military Institute (AL).  ot9qhba0f7mhc3vlTwo quality home wins for Stitt and the Tigers this week.  On Tuesday, they knocked off NJCAA DI #21 Wallace State-Hanceville 53-52 in a game in which they trailed by nine at the half.  MMI then beat Gadsden State CC 78-71 on Thursday to remain unbeaten (4-0) in conference play.  The Tigers are now 15-3 overall and have had an amazing turnaround from last year where they won only 8 games, and went 0-11 in conference play.


Past Weekly Winners (click on week for full write-up):

Week 1

NCAA DI: Craig Neal – University New Mexico

NCAA DII: Stephen Joyner, Sr. – Johnson C. Smith University (NC)

NCAA DIII: John Tauer – University of St. Thomas (MN)

NAIA: Larry Cordaro – LSU-Alexandria

JUCO: Craig Doty – Rock Valley College (IL)

Week 2:

NCAA DI: Jim Boeheim – Syracuse University

NCAA DII: Johnny Estelle – Texas A&M-Kingsville

NCAA DIII: Andrew Sachs – Salisbury University (MD)

NAIA: Dave Holmquist– Biola University (CA)

JUCO: Charles Harral – Arizona Western College

Week 3

NCAA DI: Frank Martin – University of South Carolina

NCAA DII: Jim Crutchfield – West Liberty University (WVa)

NCAA DIII: Frank Marcinek – Susquehanna University (PA)

NAIA: Carson Cunningham – Carroll College (MT)

JUCO: Steve Eck – Hutchinson CC (KS)

Week 4

NCAA DI: Mike Lonergan – George Washington University

NCAA DII: R.C. Kehoe – Holy Family University (PA)

NCAA DIII: David Hixon – Amherst College (MA)

NAIA: Donnie Butcher – University of the Cumberlands (KY)

JUCO: Jim Morris – Iowa Western Community College

Week 5

NCAA DI: King Rice – Monmouth University

NCAA DII: Cinco Boone – Angelo State University (TX)

NCAA DIII: Grey Giovanine – Augustana College (IL)

NAIA: Carson Harris – Marian University (IN)

JUCO: Corey Symons – North Idaho College

Week 6

NCAA DI: Dan Majerle – Grand Canyon University

NCAA DII: Christmas holiday – not enough NCAA DII games played to justify the selection of a winner.

NCAA DIII: Greg Mitchell – Hope College (MI)

NAIA: Bill Czech – Hope International University (CA)

JUCO: Christmas holiday – not enough JUCO games played to justify the selection of a winner.

Week 7

NCAA DI: Fran McCaffery – University of Iowa

NCAA DII: Lonn Reisman – Tarleton State University (TX)

NCAA DIII: Joe Nesci – New York University

NAIA: Bob BurchardColumbia College (MO)

JUCO: Steve Green – South Plains College (TX)

Week 8

NCAA DI: Bill Self – University of Kansas

NCAA DII: Josh Schertz – Lincoln Memorial University (TN)

NCAA DIII: John Baines – Elmhurst College (IL)

NAIA: Kelly Wells – University of Pikeville (KY)

JUCO: Steve DeMeo – Northwest Florida State

Week 9

NCAA DI: Brad Brownell – Clemson

NCAA DII: Nelson Haggerty – Midwestern State (TX)

NCAA DIII: Jeff Brown – Middlebury College (VT)

NAIA: Rollie Massimino – Keiser University (FL)

JUCO: Chris Hackett – Frank Phillips College (TX)