Coach Sean Miller Semi-Finalist for Naismith Award

The ten semifinalists for the James Naismith College Coach of the Year Award have been announced and guess who’s one of them!?!

On Friday, Coach Sean Miller was named one of the ten finalists for the Naismith Men’s College Coach of the Year Award. The award winner is voted on by a governing board and has been awarded every year since 1987.

The other nine coaches who also made the semifinalist list are Vilanova’s Jay Wright, Louisville’s Rick Pitino, Kansas’ Bill Self, Florida’s Mike White, Gonzaga’s Mark Few, West Virginia’s Bob Huggins, Northwestern’s Chris Collins, Baylor’s Scott Drew, and SMU’s Tim Jankovich.

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If Coach Miller were to win he would be only the 3^rd Pac-12 Conference coach to win the award after UCLA’s Jim Harrick (1994-1995) and Stanford’s Mike Montgomery (1999-2000). This season Coach Miller guided the Wildcats through injury and suspension adversity to a 16-2 conference record. That record and consistency granted the Miller’s squad a share of the regular season Pac-12 Championship with the University of Oregon.

For these accomplishments, the Pac-12 coaches voted him as Coach of the Year in the conference. This the 3^rd time he has won the award in his eight-year tenure at Arizona. Only five other coaches in the history of the Pac-12 conference have ever won the award more than three times, which cements his name on another tablet of college basketball history.

As the judgment for this year’s best head coach is calculated, the win totals are often discussed as a resemblance of the skill of the head coach. Sean Miller climbed to another rung of the college coaching echelon with his 100^th win in the Pac-12 this past season. Miller is the 21^st coach to do so in Pac-12 history and hold the 3^rd highest Pac-12 conference play winning percentage (.743) when reaching the 100-win mark.

Both Sean and Archie Miller are the first brothers to win Coach of the Year in their Conference in the same year; maybe this is a good sign?

Lenny Wilkens won the award three times during his career, here’s a look back at his career:

Must Read: Pac-12 Honors awarded to Arizona Wildcats

As the Wildcats head into the Pac-12 Conference Tournament, this week look for Coach Miller to show the fight and intensity of which he is known for. Arizona’s first game will be on Thursday at 6 pm PST on the Pac-12 Network against the winner of the Colorado vs. Washington State. As for Miller, the four finalists for Naismith Award will be announced on March 16^th, Bear Down Coach!