By TOM ZEBOLD

USF Senior Writer

TAMPA - Stan Heath was driving home from church when he received news about the biggest accomplishment of his rising career.

The USF men's basketball team's leading man picked up his cellphone Sunday and found out he was selected as the Big East Coach of the Year after guiding the Bulls to a historic regular season in the conference. The fifth-year Bull also was named Sporting News Big East Coach of the Year on Tuesday.

"I was kind of taken back and I was surprised," Heath said with a big smile. "I was really humbled and honored. It's quite an accomplishment personally to be on that list of coaches."

The Bulls, coming off a 10-23 record last season, caught the nation's attention by going 19-12 and setting a program best by posting a 12-6 record in Big East play that had them in a tie for fourth place. Amazingly enough, Heath got his team among the Big East's elite after not having three of his star players together for the first 11 games of the season.

USF is seeded sixth in the Big East tournament, was awarded a first-round bye and gets going 9 p.m. Wednesday against either Villanova or Rutgers.

"We're continuing to move the bar in the right direction," Heath said. "We just can't let our foot off the gas pedal, but I think we're moving in the direction. People are seeing what we're doing and we're starting to get out there a little bit."

Heath, a defensive mastermind, also guided USF to Big East history this regular season. The Bulls broke the conference's single-season scoring defense record by allowing just 57.2 points per game. They rank eighth nationally in the category.

"Stan is a great coach, he doesn't get enough credit for the job he's done in a really tough situation rebuilding this program," Cincinnati head coach Mick Cronin said. "He's one of the best defensive coaches around."

Heath, a team-oriented person through and through, expectedly gave a lot of credit to those around him when talking about his second coach of the year honor. He also earned a top conference coaching honor in 2001-02 when he led Kent State to the NCAA Tournament.

"I've got to give a lot of credit to my players because it's a team effort anytime you get an award," Heath said. "We believe in each other and they bought into what we were trying to do."

Belief may have been just as important as the Bulls' defense in their meteoric rise to conference prominence this season.

"More than anything there was a trust with this group of guys that we didn't have last year," he said. "Sometimes when you're tough on kids they take it personally and it causes a riff with your relationship. For whatever reason this year when we needed to be tough with the guys, it didn't change our relationship and I think that was important."

Now Heath's players are at his side in New York City and were glowing when he accepted arguably the most prestigious coaching award in the country.

"Two weeks ago, there was never a thought about this. A week ago, I'm not sure," Heath said. "It happened, but it happened because I think our team continued to focus on playing, winning and competing every time we stepped out there on the court."