By AJ Nelson, WHoopDirt.com staff writer
Congratulations to the following coaches who have been selected as the Week 6 WHoopDirt.com Coach of the Week presented by Pivot Analysis. These coaches are now eligible to receive the WHoopDirt.com National Coach of the Year Award presented by Pivot Analysis which will be announced at the conclusion of the 2019-20 college basketball season.
To nominate coaches for future weeks, please email [email protected] with your selection(s).
Previous weekly winners can be found below this week’s recipients.
The Week 6 winners are:
NCAA DI: Karen Aston – University of Texas
Coach Aston and the Longhorns took down the top-ranked team in the country for the first time in 15 years as part of a 2-0 week. Texas began the week by defeating Ohio 73-60 before hosting No. 1 Stanford on Sunday. The Longhorns finally pulled away in a fourth quarter that featured five ties and seven lead changes, coming away with a hard-fought 69-64 victory. This win marked Texas’ first victory over the AP Poll’s No. 1 team since they defeated Tennessee on November 25, 2004. Now 7-4 on the season, the Longhorns will take their three-game win streak into a matchup with Northwestern State on Sunday before heading into conference play.
NCAA DII: Deandra Schirmer – Valdosta State University (GA)
Coach Schirmer’s squad picked up a huge conference victory en route to a 3-0 week. On Tuesday, the Lady Blazers hosted 5th-ranked Lee, who entered the matchup without a loss on the season. VSU never trailed in the contest and came away with an impressive 74-68 win. In their next game, the Lady Blazers held Thomas to 26.2% from the field on the way to an 86-43 triumph. They closed out the week by using a huge fourth quarter to come back from a three-point deficit at the start of the period and take a 76-69 victory over Lenoir-Rhyne. VSU, who is now 10-2 (2-2 GSC) on the season, is back in action on Thursday in a conference matchup at home against West Florida.
NCAA DIII: Nick DiPillo – University of Scranton (PA)
No. 2 Scranton, led by Coach DiPillo, remained unbeaten with three more dominant victories this week. On Wednesday, the Lady Royals led by as many as 61 points on the way to a 95-43 win over Elmira at the Hilton Scranton Poinsettia Classic. In the championship game of the Classic, Scranton forced 30 turnovers and took a 75-57 victory against Misericordia. The Lady Royals closed out the week by again forcing 30 turnovers in a 100-44 defeat of Rosemont. This victory marked the first time Scranton has scored 100 points in a game since 2004. Now 10-0 (1-0 Landmark) on the season, the Lady Royals will face off against 9th-ranked George Fox at the D3hoops.com Classic in Las Vegas on Saturday.
NAIA: Tim Hays – Southeastern University (FL)
Coach Hays’ squad closed out the first portion of their season with three huge victories this week. The No. 2 Fire first took down 13th-ranked Saint Francis 87-64 on Monday before heading into the SEU Christmas Invitational. In their first matchup, Southeastern trailed by as many as 11 to NCAA DII Ferris State, but came back to force overtime and take a 94-90 victory. They followed up this impressive win with a 97-72 blowout of Concordia, the top-ranked team in the country. After these wins over quality opponents, the Fire are 13-2 on the season and an unbelievable 106-7 during Coach Hays’ tenure with the program. SEU is back in action next Saturday at Florida Memorial.
JUCO: Marcilina Grayer – Salt Lake Community College
Coach Grayer led Salt Lake Community College to three victories this week to take the CSN Holiday Tournament title and extend their win streak to nine. In their first game of the tournament, the Bruins took an impressive 68-61 overtime victory over No. 5 Central Arizona. They returned to action the following day with a 90-66 defeat of North Idaho before heading into the finale of the tournament. SLCC took another dominant victory, this time an 84-51 triumph over Dawson CC. Now 11-4 on the season, the Bruins will look to push their win streak to 10 in the conference opener next Saturday at home against Colorado Northwestern CC.
2019-20 HoopDirt.com / Pivot Analysis Coach of the Week Winners
NCAA DI: Dawn Staley – University of South Carolina
NCAA DII: Justin Payne – Georgia Southwestern State University
NCAA DIII: Melissa Kuberka – St. John Fisher College (NY)
NAIA: Courtney Boyd – Clarke University (IA)
JUCO: Bart Walker – Northwest Florida State College
NCAA DI: Dawn Plitzuweit – University of South Dakota
NCAA DII: Lynsey Warren – Ohio Dominican University
NCAA DIII: Kristina Baugh – UMass-Boston
NAIA: Dan Waldeck – The Master’s University (CA)
JUCO: Mark Leszczyk – Massasoit Community College (MA)
NCAA DI: Karl Smesko – Florida Gulf Coast University
NCAA DII: Steve Gomez – Lubbock Christian University
NCAA DIII: Meg Barber – New Your University
NAIA: Jeff Hans – Thomas More University (KY)
JUCO: Cayla Petree – South Plains College (TX)
NCAA DI: Bethann Shapiro Ord – Binghamton University
NCAA DII: Molly Miller – Drury University (MO)
NCAA DIII: Andy Yosinoff – Emmanuel College (MA)
NAIA: Steve Williamson – William Penn University (IA)
JUCO: Kim Muhl – Kirkwood Community College (IA)
NCAA DI: Gary Blair – Texas A&M University
NCAA DII: Missy Traversi – Adelphi University (NY)
NCAA DIII: Mahogany Green – Hamilton College (NY)
NAIA: K.C. Bassett – Sterling College (KS)
JUCO: Stephanie Murphy – Coahoma Community College (MS)
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