Marlin Named Finalist For Pair Of National Coaching Awards

BOSTON – Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns men's basketball coach Bob Marlin was one of four Division I coaches named as finalists to a pair of national coaching awards in an announcement on Friday.

Marlin, in his eighth season at Louisiana, as a finalist for both the Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year and the 2018 Skip Prosser Man of the Year Award after guiding the Ragin' Cajuns to a school-record 27 wins in 2017-18 and the school's first outright Sun Belt Conference regular-season title since 1991-92.

Marlin, who joined Virginia's Tony Bennett, Chris Mack of Xavier (now at Louisville) and Chris Holtmann of Ohio State on both lists, earned Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year honors and was the NABC District 24 Coach of the Year.

During the 2017-18 season, Louisiana reeled off a 16-2 record in Sun Belt Conference play – the most league wins for the Ragin' Cajuns in school history – and led the SBC in scoring offense (83.2) for the sixth consecutive season.

The Jim Phelan award is presented annually to the top coach in division I men's basketball. Phelan led the Mountaineers to the 1962 NCAA Men's Division II Basketball Championship. When he retired in 2003, after coaching for 49 years, he had amassed 830 wins (overall record of 830-524) in all divisions. In those 49 years, 19 of his teams amassed 20 or more wins in a season.

Marlin was one of 16 coaches named as a finalist for the Skip Prosser Man of the Year Award that included Bennett, Michigan's John Beilein and former UT Arlington head coach Scott Cross.

Named after the late Skip Prosser, who died suddenly in 2007 while the head coach at Wake Forest, the award is presented annually to those who not only achieve success on the basketball court but who also display moral integrity off of it as well.

Prosser posted a career record of 291-146 in 14 seasons as a head coach at Loyola, Xavier and Wake Forest.

The recipient of both the 2018 Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year award and 2018 Skip Prosser Man of the Year will be announced on April 2 in San Antonio, site of the Men's NCAA Basketball Championship.

THE 2018 JIM PHELAN AWARD FINALISTS
Rick Barnes, Tennessee
Chris Beard, Texas Tech
Randy Bennett, Saint Mary's
Tony Bennett, Virginia
Mick Cronin, Cincinnati
Kermit Davis, Middle Tennessee
Mark Few, Gonzaga
Chris Holtmann, Ohio State
Chris Mack, Xavier
Bob Marlin, Louisiana
Porter Moser, Loyola Chicago
Eric Musselman, Nevada
Kelvin Sampson, Houston
Rick Stansbury, Western Kentucky
Jay Wright, Villanova

2018 SKIP PROSSER AWARD FINALISTS
Casey Alexander, Lipscomb
John Beilein, Michigan
Tony Bennett, Virginia
Brad Brownell, Clemson
Scott Cross, UT Arlington
Jamie Dixon, TCU
Chris Holtmann, Ohio State
Jason Hooten, Sam Houston State
Mike Jones, Radford
LaVall Jordan, Butler
Chris Mack, Xavier
Bob Marlin, Louisiana
Matt McMahon, Murray State
Nate Oats, Buffalo
Ryan Odom, UMBC
Mark Schmidt, St. Bonaventure

Marlin Named Finalist For Pair Of National Coaching Awards

Players Mentioned

Jay Wright

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