Tennessee State men’s basketball coach Dana Ford won the Ben Jobe National Coach of the Year award, which is presented each year to the top minority coach in NCAA Division I.
Ford led the Tigers to one of the biggest turnarounds in NCAA history, going from 5-26 in his first year in 2014-15 to 20-11 this season.
The 20 wins was tied for the most in TSU’s NCAA Division I history. The Tigers also earned a berth in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament, their first postseason appearance since 2012.
“This is another testament of how hard our guys worked to turn the program around,” Ford said. “I just happened to be the guy to oversee it.”
Ford, 31, was the Ohio Valley Conference Coach of the Year after TSU finished 11-5 in the conference and tied for second in the East Division. The Tigers finished last in 2014-15.
Other finalists for the award included Tubby Smith, Texas Tech; Shaka Smart, Texas; Avery Johnson, Alabama; Kelvin Sampson, Houston; King Rice, Monmouth; James Jones, Yale; Kevin Keatts, North Carolina-Wilmington; Rod Barnes, Cal State Bakersfield and Mike Davis, Texas Southern. Read full at Tennessean
