By AJ Nelson, HoopDirt.com staff writer
Congratulations to the following coaches who have been selected as the Week 7 HoopDirt.com Coach of the Week presented by Just Play Solutions. These coaches are now eligible to receive the HoopDirt.com National Coach of the Year Award presented by Just Play Solutions which will be announced at the conclusion of the 2019-20 college basketball season.
This is the fifth season that HoopDirt.com has run the Coach of the Week and Coach of the Year programs. The previous 2019-20 weekly winners, and a list of all-time COY winners can be found following this weeks honorees.
To nominate coaches for future weeks, please email [email protected] with your selection(s).
The Week 7 winners are:
NCAA DI: Kelvin Sampson – University of Houston
Coach Sampson led Houston to three wins and a tournament title this week. The Cougars spent Christmas in Honolulu this year as they defeated Portland and Georgia Tech in the first two rounds of the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic to set up a match-up with No. 21 Washington in the championship game on Christmas Day. Houston trailed by as many as 14 in the first half, but fought back to come away with a 75-71 victory for the title. The successful week improved the Cougars to 10-3 on the season. They will look to extend their winning streak to five in the conference opener against Central Florida on Friday.
NCAA DII: No winner – Winter Break Week
Bylaw 17.02.18 Winter Break. The winter break shall be a seven-consecutive-calendar-day period from December 20 through December 26. When December 20 falls on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday, the winter break shall be a seven-consecutive-calendar-day period that begins on the following Monday. When December 20 falls on a Monday, the winter break shall be a seven-consecutive calendar-day period that begins on the following Tuesday. During the winter break, a student-athlete may not be employed at institutional camps and clinics, may not participate in any countable athletically related activities and may not participate in any voluntary athletically related activities on campus unless the facility is open to the general student-body. (See Figure 17-4.) (Adopted: 1/14/12 effective 8/1/12, Revised: 1/26/19)
NCAA DIII: Pete Moran – John Carroll University (OH)
Coach Moran’s high-powered offense led John Carroll to two big victories at the Great Lakes Invitational this week. In their first match-up, the Blue Streaks trailed by 10 at the half against No. 14 Whitworth before coming back and knocking down a tie-breaking three with 19 seconds remaining on the way to a 95-89 win. John Carroll next took on Keene State in the final game of the Invitational. The Blue Streaks led wire to wire in an explosive 116-88 victory. The two wins improved JCU to 7-3 (0-3 OAC) on the season. They will look to pick up their first conference win of the season on Saturday against Ohio Northern.
NAIA: Matt Wilber – Dakota Wesleyan University
Coach Wilber’s No. 7 Tigers picked up two more dominant victories to improve to 13-2 on the season. In their final match-up in the Cruzin’ Classic, Dakota Wesleyan used a huge second half to pull away from 11th-ranked Ave Maria and take a 78-56 victory. The Tigers followed this up with an 81-61 victory over Trinity International in which they used another impressive second half to widen their margin of victory. Dakota Wesleyan travels to take on Dakota State on Wednesday before a conference matchup with top-ranked Morningside on Saturday.
JUCO: Eric Murphy – Florida SouthWestern State College
No. 3 Florida SouthWestern, led by Coach Murphy, started the second half of their season off strong with two big wins this week. On Saturday, the Buccaneers used a massive first half to take a 99-65 victory over Oakton CC. FSW knocked off Delta College 89-75 the following day to improve to 16-1 on the season. The Buccaneers are riding a 9-game win streak, and have won 13 of their 16 games by double digits. They will look to make it 10 straight when they take on St. Petersburg on Saturday.
2019-20 HoopDirt.com / Just Play Solutions Coach of the Week Winners
NCAA DI: Walter McCarty – University of Evansville
NCAA DII: Mark Downey – Northeastern State (OK)
NCAA DIII: Josh Merkel – Randolph-Macon College (VA)
NAIA: Kelly Wells – University of Pikeville (KY)
JUCO: Kyle Cooper – Western Texas College
NCAA DI: Tony Bennett – University of Virginia
NCAA DII: Tobin Anderson – St. Thomas Aquinas College (NY)
NCAA DIII: Bosko Djurickovic – Carthage College (WI)
NAIA: Stacy Hollowell – Loyola University (LA)
JUCO: Anthony Fletcher – Eastfield College (TX)
NCAA DI: Juwan Howard – University of Michigan
NCAA DII: Matt Healing – Pace University (NY)
NCAA DIII: Keith Bunkenburg – Benedictine University (IL)
NAIA: Todd Lorensen – Mount Marty College (SD)
JUCO: Cole Dewey – Otero Junior College (CO)
NCAA DI: LaVall Jordan – Butler University
NCAA DII: Mike Donnelly – Florida Southern College
NCAA DIII: Landry Kosmalski – Swarthmore College (NY)
NAIA: Tae Norwood – Keiser University (FL)
JUCO: Billy Gillispie – Ranger College (TX)
NCAA DI: Ritchie McKay – Liberty University
NCAA DII: Tom Klusman – Rollins College (FL)
NCAA DIII: Dave Niland – Penn State-Behrand
NAIA: Aaron Siebenthall – Ottawa University (KS)
JUCO: Brennan McCarthy – Northampton Community College (PA)
NCAA DI: Steve Forbes – East Tennessee State University
NCAA DII: Damien Blair – West Chester University (PA)
NCAA DIII: Anthony Medina – University of St. Thomas (TX)
NAIA: Colby Blaine – College of Idaho
JUCO: Terry Bowe – Lakeland Community College (OH)
Previous HoopDirt.com Coach of the Year Award Winners:
Division I
- 2018-19: Kelvin Sampson – University of Houston
- 2017-18: Porter Moser – Loyola University Chicago
- 2016-17: Chris Collins – Northwestern University
- 2015-16: Roy Williams – University of North Carolina
Division II
- 2018-19: Ben McCollum – Northwest Missouri State
- 2017-18: Andy Bronkema – Ferris State (MI)
- 2016-17: Ben McCollum – Northwest Missouri State
- 2015-16: Josh Schertz – Lincoln Memorial University (TN)
Division III
- 2008-19: Dale Wellman – Nebraska Wesleyan University
- 2017-18: Eric Bridgeland – Whitman College (WA)
- 2016-17: Stephen Brennan – Babson College (MA)
- 2015-16: John Tauer – University of St. Thomas (MN)
NAIA
- 2018-19: Chris Briggs – Georgetown College (KY)
- 2017-18: Craig Doty – Graceland University (IA)
- 2016-17: Kevin Burton – Union College (KY)
- 2015-16: Larry Cordaro – LSU-Alexandria
JUCO
- 2018-19: Billy Gillispie – Ranger College (TX)
- 2017-18: Paul Cisek – Brookdale Community College (NJ)
- 2016-17: Todd Lorensen – Southwestern Community College (IA)
- 2015-16: Craig Doty – Rock Valley College (IL)
USCAA
- 2018-19: LeShawn Hammett – Penn State Wilkes-Barre
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