Cleveland State Head Coach Gary Waters Named Finalist for Ben Jobe Award

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Cleveland State head men's basketball coach Gary Waters has been named one of 15 finalists for the Ben Jobe Award as announced by CollegeInsider.com on Monday.

The Ben Jobe Award is presented annually to the top minority coach in Division I men's basketball. Coach Jobe is an icon in the history of basketball at Historically Black Colleges and Universities. He is best known as the head coach of the Southern University, a position he held for 12 seasons. He has also head coach at Alabama A&M, Alabama State, Talladega, Tuskegee and South Carolina State.

Waters led the Vikings to a 21-12 record and a second place finish in the Horizon League at 12-4 this year. It was the fifth time in the last seven seasons Waters led CSU to 20 wins, while the 12 league wins were tied for the third most in program history. He led CSU to the CollegeInsider.com Tournament, marking CSU's fifth postseason bid in the last seven seasons.

Waters became the all-time winningest coach in CSU history on Jan. 28 when he led the Vikings to a win at Eastern Illinois, notching his 150th win at CSU. He will enter the 2014-15 season with 157 career victories.

In addition to Waters, the finalists include Tommy Amaker (Harvard), Roman Banks (Southern), Johnny Dawkins (Stanford), Ron Hunter (Georgia State), James Jones (Yale), Mike Jones (Radford), Joe Jones (Boston University), Danny Manning (Tulsa), Cuonzo Martin (Tennessee), Rob Murphy (Eastern Michigan), LeVelle Moton (North Carolina Central), Kevin Ollie (Connecticut), Monte Ross (Delaware) and Willis Wilson (Texas A&M Corpus Christi).

"Any of the finalists would be make a great recipient of the Ben Jobe Award," said CollegeInsider.com's Angela Lento. "This award recognizes class and coaching excellence, which all of the finalists embody."

The winner of the 2014 Jobe award will be announced at the CollegeInsider.com Awards Banquet on April 4 in Dallas, site of the Division I Men's Basketball Championship.

**Release courtesy of Cleveland State Athletic Communications.