Congratulations to the following coaches who have been selected as the Week 4 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 4 winners are:
NCAA DI: Roy Williams, University of North Carolina
No stranger to the top of any sort of list, Coach Williams has his Tar Heels up to their usual standards. North Carolina is 7th in the AP Poll after a very impressive week in which they took down in state rival Davidson, and won a 73-71 nail biter at home against Tennessee . The boys in baby blue are gearing up for another big week with a road match-up of the titans against Kentucky on the 17th.
NCAA DII: Jerrod Calhoun, Fairmont State University
Surprising nobody, Jerrod Calhoun’s Fighting Falcons are undefeated on the year. Still Fairmont State was impressive this past week with two very big wins. They took down West Liberty, who was ranked #1 at the time, 86-81 at home on 12/4. Calhoun’s squad followed that victory this past Thursday by hanging 134 points on Davis & Elkins in their 24-point victory. The Fighting Falcons are averaging an impressive 98 points per game this season.
NCAA DIII: Luke Flockerzi, University of Rochester
The YellowJackets are off to a great start this season, 10-0 on the year and just jumped into the top-10 for the first time this season. Last week saw them pull out two close victories. First up came a five point victory over Nazareth College on the road followed up by a two point squeaker at home against SUNY Geneso. Rochester is one of only eight undefeated teams in the top-25 right now, and will look to keep up that streak after the New Year with a match-up January 3rd against in-state rival Rochester Institute of Technology.
NAIA: Kim Elders, Cornerstone University
Coach Elders earned this recognition by achieving his 600th career victory with a 77-69 win Saturday against Madonna. The Golden Eagles are ranked 2nd in the country and stand at 12-1 on the year. Coach Elders found success quickly at Cornerstone, and is 600-225 since taking over in 1993. He’ll look for win 601 on the 17th against Lawrence Tech.
JUCO: Patrick Smith, Moberly Area Community College
Following a strong finish to the season last year Coach Smith has his team rolling right where they left off. Moberly has been nationally ranked since the first poll of the season. Last Sunday saw them win over previously unbeaten Wabash Valley CC in the St. Louis Shootout. That was followed up by an even more impressive three wins in two days in the Highland Tournament. Moberly’s impressive offense crossed the 100 point plateau in two of those games, and they’ll look to keep up the strong scoring in a few weeks at the Jon Wood New Year’s Classic.
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
