March 24, 2011

From Bucknell Athletic Communications

Lewisburg, Pa. - Bucknell men's basketball coach Dave Paulsen has been selected by CollegeInsider.com as one of 16 finalists for the Hugh Durham Award, presented to the national "mid-major" coach of the year. Paulsen guided the Bison to the 2011 Patriot League Championship and was named Patriot League Coach of the Year.

The winner will be announced at the CollegeInsider.com awards banquet on Apr. 1 in Houston, site of this year's Final Four.

The award is named after Hugh Durham, who is the first and only coach in the history of NCAA Division I basketball to lead two different schools to the Final Four for the first and only time in each school's history (Florida State in 1972 and Georgia in 1983).

Durham is the only coach in NCAA Division I history to be the all-time winningest coach at three different programs. His career spanned five decades at Florida State, Georgia and Jacksonville, and he retired with 634 wins.

Joining Paulsen on the list of finalists are Harvard's Tommy Amaker, St. Mary's Randy Bennett, Belmont's Rick Byrd, Fairfield's Ed Cooley, Coastal Carolina's Cliff Ellis, Long Island's Jim Ferry, Northern Colorado's B.J. Hill, Milwaukee's Rob Jeter, Princeton's Sydney Johnson, Oakland's Greg Kampe, George Mason's Jim Larranaga, Missouri State's Cuonzo Martin, Bethune-Cookman's Clifford Reed, Butler's Brad Stevens and Old Dominion's Blaine Taylor.

In Paulsen's third season, Bucknell finished 25-9 in 2010-11, going 23-3 after Dec. 1. The Bison went 13-1 in League play and then defeated Army, Lehigh and Lafayette in the Patriot League Tournament. The season ended last week against Connecticut in the NCAA Tournament.