March 12, 2013

Skip Prosser Award

CENTER VALLEY, Pa. - The finalists for the 2013 Skip Prosser Man of the Year award were announced on Tuesday, and the Patriot League was well-represented with three head coaches on the 20-man list.

Bucknell's Dave Paulsen, Lehigh's Brett Reed and Army's Zach Spiker are all up for the honor which was established in 2008 to honor those who not only achieve success on the basketball court but who display moral integrity off of it as well.

Paulsen has the Bison in the Patriot League Men's Basketball Championship for the third time in as many seasons as they play host to Lafayette on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. on CBS Sports Network. He is in his fifth year as head coach of the Bison, and he has guided the team to three straight seasons of 25 or more wins for the first time in program history. Bucknell is 77-24 over the last three years and has captured an unprecedented three straight outright Patriot League regular-season titles.

Paulsen is now 98-64 in his five years at Bucknell. He already ranks fourth in program history in total coaching wins, and his .605 winning percentage ranks second all-time to George Hoskins, who piled up a .667 percentage from 1908-11. Paulsen's overall record is 360-184, including previous posts at Williams, Le Moyne and St. Lawrence.

Paulsen was named Patriot League Coach of the Year in both 2011 and 2012. In 2011 he guided the Bison to the league title and an NCAA Tournament berth. Last year the team played in the NIT for the first time ever and knocked off top-seeded Arizona in the first round.

Reed won his 100th career game at Lehigh on Dec. 1 against Fairleigh Dickinson, doing so in his 165th game to become the fastest coach in league history to that milestone. Reed then broke the school wins record against Navy on Feb. 27, winning his 113th career game.

Reed and the Mountain Hawks advanced to their fourth straight Patriot League semifinal this season and have eclipsed 20 wins for the third time in the last four years. Lehigh advanced to the NCAA Tournament in both 2010 and 2012, and posted one of the biggest upsets in the history of the event last year when they won as a No. 15 seed against No. 2 seed Duke in a second-round contest.

Spiker earned the Patriot League Coach of the Year award this season after guiding the Black Knights to an Academy record eight conference wins and their first winning season in Patriot League play. Army's final record of 16-15 marked the program's first winning season since 1984-85. The Black Knights also posted school records with five straight Patriot League wins and four consecutive Patriot League road victories.

Since taking the reins of the West Point program prior to the 2009-10 season, Spiker has joined Bob Knight, Mike Krzyzewski and George Hunter as the only coaches in Army history to win at least 50 games in their first four seasons.

The full list of finalists includes John Beilein (Michigan), Tony Bennett (Virginia), Rick Byrd (Belmont), Kermit Davis (Middle Tennessee), Billy Donlon (Wright State), Jim Engles (NJIT), Steve Fisher (San Diego State), John Gallagher (Hartford), Anthony Grant (Alabama), Ben Jacobson (Northern Iowa), Jim Larranaga (Miami), Ryan Marks (UT-Pan American), Bob McKilop (Davidson), Joe Mihalich (Niagara), Dave Paulsen (Bucknell), Brett Reed (Lehigh), Zach Spiker (Army), Bob Thomason (Pacific), John Thompson III (Georgetown), Bruce Weber (Kansas State).

Prosser posted a career record of 291-146 in 14 seasons as a head coach. During his time at Wake Forest, his teams averaged 21 wins per season while playing in arguably the nation's most difficult league, the Atlantic Coast Conference.

The 2013 recipient will be announced at the CollegeInsider.com awards banquet in Atlanta, site of the men's NCAA Basketball Championship. Jimmy Patsos, the head coach of future Patriot League member Loyola University Maryland, was the recipient of the 2012 award.

For the full release from College Insider, go here