A trio of Big 12 candidates and a pair of former Duke guards are among the 10 finalists for the 2022-23 Naismith Coach of the Year Award.
Rodney Terry was elevated at Texas when Chris Beard was arrested and later fired by the Longhorns, guiding the team to a 23-8 regular-season record to be recognized as Sporting News Coach of the Year.
Bill Self guided Kansas to the Big 12 regular-season title and has the Jayhawks in line for a No. 1 seed in the 2023 NCAA Tournament in defense of the program’s 2022 national championship. Self is currently hospitalized and recovering from a medical procedure.
Jerome Tang and Kansas State climbed from the bottom of the Big 12 and was named Coach of the Year by the conference. He tied multiple coaches — Missouri’s Dennis Gates, Sean Miller at Xavier and Duke’s Jon Scheyer — for the best first-year record in the regular season (23-8).
Scheyer’s fellow Duke products, Jeff Capel at Pittsburgh and Chris Collins at Northwestern, have their teams pointed toward the NCAA Tournament at programs not used to such postseason travels.
UCLA’s Mick Cronin, Purdue’s Matt Painter and Houston’s Kelvin Sampson have piloted top-ranked teams most of the season and are competing for No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament.
Dusty May sparked Florida Atlantic to a 28-3 season and Conference USA regular-season title, putting the Owls in position for their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2002.
Shaka Smart was named Big East Coach of the Year last week. He returned to Marquette prior to last season, and the Golden Eagles went 17-3 in the conference to win the league title outright for the first time.
Four finalists will be announced March 20 and the winner is recognized the day before the national championship game in Houston at the Final Four next month.
The Naismith Coach of the Year finalists:
Jeff Capel, Pittsburgh
Chris Collins, Northwestern
Mick Cronin, UCLA
Dusty May, Florida Atlantic
Matt Painter, Purdue
Kelvin Sampson, Houston
Bill Self, Kansas
Shaka Smart, Marquette
Jerome Tang, Kansas State
Rodney Terry, Texas
–Field Level Media
