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Kelvin Sampson Named Finalist for Naismith Coach of the Year
POSTED: March 20, 2019 -- 9:49 a.m. CDT
Houston Cougars Men's Basketball Head Coach Kelvin Sampson named one of four finalists for the Werner Ladder Naismith Coach of the Year Award on Wednesday. The finalists were announced today by the Atlanta Tipoff Club. Sampson has guided Houston to a 31-3 record overall; an American Athletic Conference regular season title outright; and a 3-seed in the Midwest Region in the NCAA Tournament.
Rick Barnes (Tennessee), Chris Beard (Texas Tech) and Tony Bennett (Virginia) joined Sampson as finalists for the Naismith Coach of the Year Award.
"This is the most exciting time of year for our sport, and the competition for Werner Ladder Naismith Trophy Men's Coach of the Year will be even more competitive as the tournament begins," said Eric Oberman, executive director of the Atlanta Tipoff Club. "We are excited to watch these coaches push their teams toward a championship."
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Fans will be able to support their favorite finalist by visiting naismithtrophy.com/vote between March 22-April 3 to cast their ballot, and the fan vote will account for five percent of the overall final vote. Fans may also vote by visiting the @MarchMadness Twitter page on March 23 and March 26, to vote for their favorite men's coach of the four. Then, on April 7, 2019, the 2019 Werner Ladder Naismith Trophy for Men's College Coach of the Year will be awarded at the Naismith Awards Brunch presented by Mortenson, during the Final Four in Minneapolis.
Sampson has twice been honored as National Coach of the Year. He first collected the honor from the Associated Press in 1995 following his first season at Oklahoma and earned the accolade from the National Association of Basketball Coaches in 2002 after leading the Sooners to the NCAA Final Four.
- Sampson was named The American Coach of the Year for the second-straight year.
- He led the Cougars to a school record with 29 regular-season wins and an outright conference championship.
- His team reached the top-10 in the national rankings for the first time since the mid-1980s.
- Sampson's Cougars are the No. 3 seed in the Midwest Region of the NCAA Tournament.
- For the first time in program history, Tennessee has spent the entire season ranked in the top 10 of the AP Top 25, including No. 1 for four weeks.
- Under the leadership of Barnes, the Vols have won a school-record of 19 consecutive games this season.
- Barnes is one of six coaches ever to lead multiple schools to a No. 1 ranking, joining Calipari, Frank McGuire, Rick Pitino, Eddie Sutton and Roy Williams.
- He has led the Vols to become the No. 2 seed in the South Region of the NCAA Tournament.
- Beard led the Red Raiders to a 26-6 record and a regular season Big 12 co-championship.
- He was named Big 12 Conference Coach of the Year.
- In his second season as head coach, Beard led his team to the Elite Eight, where his team lost to the 2018 NCAA champions, Villanova.
- His Red Raiders are the No. 3 seed in the West Region of the NCAA Tournament.
- Bennett led Virginia to a 28-2 regular season record and the team's fourth Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) regular season title in six years, which they shared with North Carolina.
- He was named ACC Coach of the Year for the fourth time.
- Bennett coached the Cavaliers to an ACC record with five ranked road wins this season.
- His team heads into the NCAA Tournament as the No. 1 seed in the South Region.
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"Each of the four finalists has coached their teams to outstanding seasons and are all deserving of being named Werner Ladder Naismith Coach of the Year," said Stacy Gardella, vice president of brand marketing at WernerCo. "We look forward to watching these coaches guide their teams through the tournament in hopes of winning the championship."
The four finalists were chosen by the Atlanta Tipoff Club's national voting academy, comprised of leading journalists from around the country, current and former head coaches, former award winners and conference commissioners, all of whom base their selections on outstanding coaching performances during the 2018-19 college basketball season. The vote was tabulated and certified by Aprio, a premier, CPA-led business advisory firm.
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