BOSTON – Wright State head coach Billy Donlon was named as one of 20 finalists for the 2013 Skip Prosser Man of the Year and Hugh Durham Coach of the Year awards, as announced by CollegeInsider.com.
Donlon, who guided Wright State into the Horizon League Men’s Basketball Championship, holds a 53-45 record in his three years in charge of the Raiders. This season, Donlon has guided Wright State to a 21-12 mark after being picked last in the Horizon League preseason poll.
Donlon is among a group that includes John Beilein (Michigan), Tony Bennett (Virginia), Rick Byrd (Belmont), Kermit Davis (Middle Tennessee), Jim Engles (NJIT), Steve Fisher (San Diego State), John Gallagher (Hartford), Anthony Grant (Alabama), Ben Jacobson (Northern Iowa), Jim Larranaga (Miami), Ryan Marks (UT-Pan American), Bob McKilop (Davidson), Joe Mihalich (Niagara), Dave Paulsen (Bucknell), Brett Reed (Lehigh), Zach Spiker (Army), Bob Thomason (Pacific), John Thompson III (Georgetown) and Bruce Weber (Kansas State).
The Skip Prosser Award was established in 2008 to honor those who not only achieve success on the basketball court but who display moral integrity off of it as well. Prosser posted a career record of 291-146 in 14 seasons as a head coach. During his time at Wake Forest, his teams averaged 21 wins per season while playing in arguably the nation's most difficult league, the Atlantic Coast Conference.
"It's an honor just to be mentioned with the name Skip Prosser," said Loyola MD coach Jimmy Patsos who was the recipient of the 2012 award. "He went from Loyola to Wake Forest and never changed as a person. It would be a great honor for any one of these finalists to win an award with Skip's name on it."
The Hugh Durham Award is given annually to the nation's top mid-major coach. The award is named in honor of Hugh Durham who had retired at the end of the 2004-05 season. Durham is one of just 12 coaches to have led two different programs to the NCAA Final Four (Florida State in 1972 and Georgia in 1983). He is the only coach among that group to have led both schools to their lone Final Four appearance.
Donlon is one 20 finalists for the Durham Award, including Jim Baron (Canisius), Rick Byrd (Belmont), Bill Coen (Northeastern), Keith Dambrot (Akron), Kermit Davis (Middle Tennessee), Billy Donlon (Wright State), Andy Enfield (Florida Gulf Coast), Anthony Evans (Norfolk State), Chris Holtmann (Gardner-Webb), Danny Kaspar (Stephen F. Austin), Matt Matheny (Elon), Joe Mihalich (Niagara), Jim Molinari (Western Illinois), LeVelle Moton (North Carolina Central), Steve Pikiell (Stony Brook), Joe Scott (Denver), Pat Skerry (Towson), Zach Spiker (Army), Wayne Tinkle (Montana), Tod Kowalczyk (Toledo) and Michael White (Louisiana Tech).
The 2013 recipients will be announced at the CollegeInsider.com awards banquet in Atlanta, site of the men's NCAA Basketball Championship.
