Heath Named Finalist for Inaugural Ben Jobe Award
March 11, 2010 | Men's Basketball
CollegeInsider.com Ben Jobe Award Page
TAMPA - Head Coach Stan Heath of the University of South Florida men's basketball program was named a finalist for the inaugural Ben Jobe Award as presented by CollegeInsider.com.
The award is given to the top minority coach in Division I college basketball. Heath is one of 15 coaches up for the honor.
The award is named for coaching legend Ben Jobe who spent the majority of his career at Historically Black Colleges and Universities and won 524 games in 31 years. He is best known for his accomplishments at Southern University, where he took the program to four NCAA tournament appearances and one NIT berth.
A 30-member selection committee will vote this month and the winner of the inaugural Ben Jobe Award will be announced at the Final Four in Indianapolis.
In his third year with the Bulls, Heath led the team to the best turnaround among major conferences, as the Bulls went from 9-22 in 2008-09 to 20-12 this season. USF also went 9-9 in BIG EAST play, highlighted by a pair of wins over ranked opponents No. 7 Georgetown and No. 17 Pittsburgh.
Heath and the Bulls will learn their post-season fate Sunday when the NCAA tournament field is announced.
2010 BEN JOBE AWARD FINALISTS
Tommy Amaker - Harvard
Mike Anderson - Missouri
Tevester Anderson - Jackson State
Tony Barbee - UTEP
Todd Bozeman - Morgan State
Ed Cooley - Fairfield
Mike Davis - UAB
Stan Heath - USF
Ron Hunter - IUPUI
Sydney Johnson - Princeton
Johnny Jones - North Texas
Marvin Menzies - New Mexico State
Shaka Smart - VCU
John Thompson III - Georgetown
Cliff Warren - Jacksonville
