The Huntsville Item
HUNTSVILLE — Bearkats head coach Bob Marlin has been nominated as one of the fifteen finalists for the 2010 Hugh Durham Mid-Major Coach of the Year Award, which was announced on Monday.
Fourteen of the finalists were regular-season champions, co-champions or finished second in their respective leagues.
The other nominees are Randy Bennett of Saint Mary’s, Northern Colorado’s Tad Boyle Todd Bozeman of Morgan State, Steve Donahue of Cornell, Coastal Carolina’s Cliff Ellis, Ben Jacobson of Northern Iowa, Oakland’s Greg Kampe, Billy Kennedy of Murray State, Siena’s Fran McCaffery, Randy Rahe of Weber State, Butler’s Brad Stevens, Blaine Taylor of Old Dominion, Mike Young of Wofford and William & Mary’s Tony Shaver.
The Hugh Durham Award is given annually to the nation’s top mid-major coach, as voted on by the 20-member panel. The winner will be presented with the award at the Final Four in Indianapolis, which will be held April 3-5.
Marlin has directed Sam Houston State to a 22-7 record this season as SHSU has won the 2010 Southland Conference regular season title. The championship is Marlin’s third as Bearkat head coach. Sam Houston is one of only 51 teams in NCAA Division I men’s basketball that have produced 20-win seasons four of the last five years.
In 2005, the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Coach of the Year award was renamed in honor of Hugh Durham, the coaching legend who retired at the end of the 2004-05 season. Durham is one of just 12 coaches to have led two different programs to the NCAA Final Four (Florida State in 1972 and Georgia in 1983). He is the only coach among that group to have led both schools to their lone Final Four appearance.
The previous winners of the award were Bozeman last season, Keno Davis (Drake) in 2008, Gregg Marshall (Winthrop) in 2007, Pat Flannery (Bucknell) in 2006 and Bob Thomason (Pacific) in 2005.
