University of Pittsburgh Athletics
Ben Howland Named the 2002 Naismith Coach of the Year
3/18/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Ben Howland Named the 2002 Naismith Coach of the Year
3/18/2002
PITTSBURGH - University of Pittsburgh head basketball coach Ben Howland, who has led the Panthers to their first NCAA Tournament "Sweet 16" berth in 28 seasons, has been named the 2002 Naismith College Basketball Coach of the Year.
The announcement was made today by the Atlanta Tipoff Club, which will honor Howland on April 5 at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta, Ga. Howland was selected from a pool of 20 candidates, which also included Texas Tech's Bobby Knight, Marquette's Tom Crean and Duke's Mike Krzyzewski. The winner is determined by a vote of the Naismith Board of Selectors, comprised of a group of leading basketball coaches, journalists and administrators.
"This is an unbelievable honor for our program, our players and our staff," Howland said. "Our success really has been the result of everyone's hard work. I am very fortunate to be working for and have the support of Chancellor Mark Nordenberg and our athletic director Steve Pederson. With everyone's combined efforts, our program has made leaps and bounds over the last three years. We are really excited about the future, especially with the Petersen Events Center opening this year."
Howland is also under consideration for several other national coach of the year honors, including those awarded by The Associated Press, National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) and ESPN The Magazine. He was named the Big East Conference's Coach of the Year earlier this month.
In just his third season, Howland has directed Pittsburgh to the most successful - and dramatic - season in the program's history. Picked to finish sixth (out of seven teams) in the Big East's West Division in a preseason coaches poll, the Panthers have emerged as one of the most surprising stories in college basketball.
Among Pittsburgh's achievements this season:
*The winningest record in school history with a 29-5 mark
*First NCAA Tournament berth since 1993
*A trip to the NCAA's Sweet 16 for just the second time in school history and the first since 1974
*Big East West Division champions with a school-record 13-3 conference mark
*National top 10 rankings (No. 7 in the USA Today/ESPN poll and No. 9 by Associated Press) for the first time since 1987-88
*Junior point guard Brandin Knight earning All-America and Big East Co-Player of the Year honors
The Panthers will meet Kent State (29-5) this Thursday, March 21, in the NCAA Tournament's South Region semifinals held at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Ky. The winner advances to the Elite Eight and will play either Duke or Indiana on March 23.
Howland is 61-34 in three seasons at Pittsburgh and 140-93 in eight years as a head coach. Last year, he led the Panthers to a 19-14 mark and the Big East Championship title game for the first time in school history. Pittsburgh earned an NIT berth in 2001, marking its first postseason invite in four years.
Named Pittsburgh's 13th head basketball coach on March 8, 1999, Howland joined the Panthers after a highly successful five-year tenure at Northern Arizona, where he transformed the Lumberjacks from one of the bottom programs in the nation into a perennial postseason contender. In his final season at NAU, he led the Lumberjacks to a 21-8 record, marking three straight 20-win seasons for the first time in school history (winning 21 games each year).
After joining Northern Arizona in 1994, Howland's first two teams went 8-18 and 6-20. In 1996-97, however, the Lumberjacks went 21-8, marking the 10th biggest single-season turnaround in NCAA history. NAU captured the Big Sky regular-season championship and advanced to the NIT as Howland was named the conference's coach of the year.
The following season, the Lumberjacks advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time ever after winning the Big Sky Tournament as well as a second straight regular-season title. Facing No. 2 seed Cincinnati in the first round, Northern Arizona led the heavily favored Bearcats for most of the game before falling, 65-62, on a last-second 3-pointer.
Prior to his Northern Arizona appointment, Howland served as an assistant coach at the University of California-Santa Barbara from 1982-94. During that time, he tutored future NBA players in Brian Shaw and Conner Henry. He also oversaw the development of UCSB's Eric McArthur, the nation's second leading rebounder in 1990.
Howland enjoyed a standout playing career at Weber State. He was twice named the team's Most Valuable Defensive Player in leading the Wildcats to two Big Sky championships and a pair of NCAA Tournament berths. Following his graduation in 1980, Howland spent one season playing professionally in Uruguay.
In 1981 he joined Gonzaga as an assistant and coached future Utah Jazz guard John Stockton before moving to UCSB the following year.
Howland and his wife, Kim, have two children, Meredith (16) and Adam (14).
