BAKERSFIELD, Calif.- CSUB head men's basketball coach Rod
Barnes has been named a finalist for two national coach of the year awards issued by CollegeInsider.com that will be announced during the College Insider
banquet in New Orleans during the NCAA Final Four Friday, March 30.
Barnes, who led CSUB to a 16-14 regular season record and
their first Division I postseason appearance in his first season with the
Roadrunners, is among 21 finalists for the Ben Jobe Award, given out each season
to the top minority coach in Division I basketball. Among the finalists with
Barnes are VCU's Shaka Smart, Florida State's Leonard Hamilton and Georgetown's
John Thompson III.
In it's third year of existence, the Ben Jobe Award is named
in honor of the former head coach at Southern University that led his squad to
a 209-141 all-time record while recording four NCAA Tournament appearances
including a 1993 first-round upset of Georgia Tech. Previous winners of the
award are Ed Cooley of Fairfield in 2010 and Cuonzo Martin of Missouri State
last season.
Barnes is also a finalist for the Hugh Durham National Coach
of the Year award given annually
to the nation's top mid-major coach. In 2005 the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major
Coach of the Year award was renamed in honor of Hugh Durham, the coaching
legend who had retired at the end of the 2004-05 season. Durham is one of just
twelve 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.
Along with CSUB's
Rod Barnes, Saint Mary's Randy Bennett, Long Beach State's Dan Monson and
Murray State's Steve Prohm are also among the 21 finalists for the honor. Rick Byrd
of Belmont won the award last season.
This is the
second college basketball website to nominate Rod Barnes this season, he was
named Independent Coach of the Year by CollegeSportsMadness.com in early March.
For more
information visit www.hughdurhamaward.com
or www.benjobeaward.com
