Naismith Women’s College Coach of the Year Finalists
By Atlanta Tipoff Club on March 18, 2015 in Press Release
AURIEMMA, BANGHART, SEMRAU AND STALEY NAMED FINALISTS FOR 2015 NAISMITH WOMEN’S COLLEGE COACH OF THE YEAR AWARD
ATLANTA (March 18, 2015) – Geno Auriemma (Connecticut) and Dawn Staley (South Carolina), finalists a year ago, are among the four remaining candidates for the 2015 Naismith Women’s College Coach of the Year Award, the Atlanta Tipoff Club announced today. They are joined by Courtney Banghart (Princeton) and Sue Semrau (Florida State) as finalists for the top award in college coaching.
The four finalists were determined by the Atlanta Tipoff Club’s national voting academy, which based its criteria on the coaches’ performances to this point in the 2014-15 women’s college basketball season.
The Naismith Women’s College Coach of the Year Award will be announced on April 7, 2015.
The vote was tabulated and certified by the accounting firm of Habif, Arogeti & Wynne, LLP. HA&W is the largest independent accounting firm in Georgia and one of the top 50 firms in the United States.
ABOUT THE FINALISTS:
Geno Auriemma, University of Connecticut: Tabbed as the 2015 American Athletic Conference Coach of the Year, he guided the team to a 32-1 overall record and its second-straight regular-season conference championship. The Huskies also won the conference tournament title for the second-straight season. UConn is making its 27th-straight NCAA Tournament appearance and has advanced to the Regional Semifinals in each of the last 21 seasons, including seven-consecutive Final Four trips. The team will enter the tournament as a No. 1 seed for the 18th time in program history and the ninth season in-a-row. Auriemma has won the Naismith Award on six previous occasions, the most of any coach since the award was first presented in 1987.
Courtney Banghart, Princeton University: Under Banghart, the winningest coach in school history (168-66 – .718), the Tigers have set a new single-season program wins record. Princeton’s 30-0 regular season is the best in Ivy basketball history – men’s or women’s. And, the Tigers are the first mid-major women’s team entering the NCAA Tournament with a perfect mark since Liberty in 1998. This season, Banghart led the Tigers to their fifth Ivy title in six seasons (12 overall) en route to being named the inaugural Ivy League Coach of the Year. Princeton is the No. 8 seed in the Spokane Region of the 2015 NCAA Tournament.
Sue Semrau, Florida State University: The Seminoles’ 29 wins (29-4 overall record) are tied for the most in school history, and they were the only ACC team to go undefeated at home (14-0) this season. Semrau, who led the ‘Noles to a school-record 14 ACC victories during the regular season, was named the 2015 ACC Coach of the Year, her fourth overall (2001, 2005, 2009 and 2015). Florida State reached the ACC championship game for the first time in program history, and finished second in the ACC regular season and the ACC Tournament despite being picked to finish fifth in the ACC preseason polls. The Seminoles drew a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament Greensboro Region.
Dawn Staley, University of South Carolina: The Gamecocks (30-2) earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament for the second straight year, after compiling a 15-1 mark in SEC play and a league co-championship. The Gamecocks also won the first SEC Tournament championship in school history. Staley, who won the SEC Coach of the Year award outright in 2014, was named co-winner this season and joins former Tennessee coach Pat Summitt (2003-04) and former Auburn coach Joe Ciampi (1988-89) as the only coaches to win repeat honors.
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