Men's Coaches' Awards - BasketballScoop 2009 Coaches of the Year powered by Critical Reload™

"Rising Stars" BasketballScoop.com and ONS Performance™, makers of Critical Reload™, announced today the winners of the "Rising Stars" awards. The awards recognize those assistant coaches who are some of the best in the business as determined by their peers.

"The best part about these awards is that the process is entirely driven by coaches. To even be considered for the awards each coach had to have been nominated by another coach in the game. The winners were then selected by a panel of current head and assistant coaches," said Scott Roussel, President of BasketballScoop.

Michael Bewley, President and CEO of ONS Performance™ added, "ONS Performance's Critical Reload would like to congratulate this year's nominees and winners. Recognized by their peers for their talent, effort and dedication, Critical Reload is proud to be a sponsor of this elite selection of coaches. Much like these coaches, at ONS Performance our commitment to the athlete is clearly demonstrated in our product design, testing and certification efforts to ensure athletes and coaches receive top-quality health, safety and performance nutrition. Congratulations again to this years winners!"

Roussel added, "Each Finalist is extremely well thought of in the profession and we have received nothing but positive feedback about the awards and each coach. Our panel felt strongly that each Finalist was deserving and thus in addition to announcing the five Rising Stars we are also naming a second team."

The BasketballScoop 2009 Coaches of the Year powered by Critical Reload™ are:

Charlie Ernst – Associate Head Coach – University of Findlay

Chris Mack – Head Coach – Xavier University

Leon Rice – Associate Head Coach – Gonzaga

Billy Schmidt – Assistant Coach – University of Dayton

Dedrique Taylor – Associate Head Coach – Arizona St. University

Coaches were evaluated in the following areas: Recruiting, Player Development, Team Development / Scouting, Leadership and Administration.

Charlie Ernst – Coach Ernst represents the University of Findlay with great pride. Ernst played and Findlay and has been there ever since. With nearly 20 years of coaching experience under his belt, Ernst and the Oilers had their most successful season on the court this season. The Oilers went 36-0 and won the D-II National Championship. Ernst, who leads the defense and is the recruiting coordinator, "deserves a huge amount of credit" says head coach Ron Niekamp. Niekamp told BasketballScoop, "Charlie is a great coach and a great person. He has done everything we have ever asked of him and more. The players love him and he does a great job on the court. Charlie is a great ambassador for the University of Findlay."

Chris Mack – At the time of his nomination, Chris Mack was the Associate Head Coach to Xavier. Sean Miller left to take the job at Arizona and Athletic Director Mike Bobinski performed a thorough due diligence and came to the decision that Mack was the best person to replace Miller as head coach at Xavier. Mack, a two time captain while playing at Xavier, coached first under Skip Prosser at Xavier and Wake Forest and had been on Miller's staff at Xavier for the last five seasons. Bobinski told BasketballScoop, "I was fortunate to have the opportunity to evaluate a number of highly qualified individuals for our head coaching position. The position our program occupies in the college basketball world today generated a quality group of candidates and any number of them could clearly have been a solid choice. In the end, however, the most impressive candidate, and the person best equipped to lead our program to even greater success in the years ahead, happened to be someone we know very well. I've known for some time that Chris was ready to be a successful head coach. I'm very excited to say that he will do so at Xavier."

Leon Rice – Head Coach Mark Few hired Leon Rice four days after being named head coach in 1999. Few told BasketballScoop that, "Leon has been so instrumental in helping us do all that we have at Gonzaga. We couldn't have done it without him. Leon's positive attitude and enthusiasm shine through in everything he does. He's a real leader." Since Rice came to Gonzaga the Bulldogs have gone 236-60. Few and Rice have grown the Bulldogs into a nationally respected program that can compete with (and beat) any team they play.

Billy Schmidt – Head Coach Brian Gregory tells BasketballScoop that "Billy Schmidt is truly one of the elite assistant coaches in the country. He is very dependable and has a great basketball mind. He knows the right way to run a program on and off the court and he represents our program very well. Billy's work ethic is second to none." One of Gregory's first moves when named head coach in 2003 was to hire Schmidt away from Tommy Amaker's who Schmidt had been with at Seton Hall and Michigan. Together, Gregory and Schmidt have improved Dayton into a powerhouse in the A-10. Gregory added, "Billy's going to do great things in this game for a long, long time."

Dedrique Taylor – "Dedrique is a coach that parents want their boys to play for and to be around because they know he's going to teach them the right way" Arizona St. head coach Herb Sendek recently told BasketballScoop. Sendek went on to say, "Dedrique really is the complete package. He recruits extremely well, he develops athletes into great players, he can breakdown an opponent better than most and his game prep is excellent. He really can do it all." In the three seasons that Taylor has been at Arizona St. the Sun Devils have seen their win total rise from 8 to 25 and the future looks bright.

The Second Team consists of Ron Bradley (Clemson), Wayne McClain (Illinois), Dave Rice (BYU), Brian Wardle (Wisc. Green Bay) and Michael White (Ole Miss). Regarding this group, Roussel added, "Dr. Bradley has been successful everywhere he has been, certainly including his years as head coach at Radford. His current and former players speak very proudly of coach Bradley. Coach McClain is like a father to many of his former players and receives (and deserves) praise from the rest of the coaches on his staff and in his conference frequently. Coach Rice does it the right way and has BYU playing at a higher level than they have in decades. Coach Wardle is a great up and coming coach. You'll be hearing his name for a long time. And Michael White, who couldn't be a better person, is very deserving of recognition. What he and the staff at Ole Miss have done is really impressive. Look for White to continue to do great things for his team, and his alma mater, for a long time."

To read more about these awards, click here for the original announcment.

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Women's Coaches' Awards - BasketballScoop 2009 Coaches of the Year powered by Critical Reload™

"Rising Stars"

BasketballScoop.com and ONS Performance™, makers of Critical Reload™, announced today the winners of the "Rising Stars" awards. The awards recognize those assistant coaches who are some of the best in the business as determined by their peers.

"The best part about these awards is that the process is entirely driven by coaches. To even be considered for the awards each coach had to have been nominated by another coach in the game. The winners were then selected by a panel of current head and assistant coaches," said Scott Roussel, President of BasketballScoop.

Michael Bewley, President and CEO of ONS Performance™ added, "ONS Performance's Critical Reload would like to congratulate this year's nominees and winners. Recognized by their peers for their talent, effort and dedication, Critical Reload is proud to be a sponsor of this elite selection of coaches. Much like these coaches, at ONS Performance our commitment to the athlete is clearly demonstrated in our product design, testing and certification efforts to ensure athletes and coaches receive top-quality health, safety and performance nutrition. Congratulations again to this years winners!"

Roussel added, "Each Finalist is extremely well thought of in the profession and we have received nothing but positive feedback about the awards and each coach. Our panel felt strongly that each Finalist was deserving and thus in addition to announcing the five Rising Stars we are also naming a second team."

The BasketballScoop 2009 Coaches of the Year powered by Critical Reload™ are:

Mike Neighbors – Assistant Coach – Xavier University

Jennifer Roos – Associate Head Coach – Bowling Green

Vic Schaefer – Associate Head Coach – Texas A&M

Jackie Smith Carson – Associate Head Coach – James Madison

Jonathan Tsipis – Associate Head Coach – Notre Dame

Coaches were evaluated in the following areas: Recruiting, Player Development, Team Development / Scouting, Leadership and Administration.

Mike Neighbors – Xavier head coach Kevin McGuff recently told BasketballScoop that Neighbors is "a great coach, an incredibly hard worker and an even better person." One of Neighbors primary tasks for the Musketeers is scouting the opponents and preparing a game plan to attack their weaknesses. McGuff told BasketballScoop that, "Mike is one of the best I've ever seen at finding ways to stop an opponent from doing what they want to do on the court." Two years ago Neighbors left his alma mater, Arkansas, for the opportunity to coach with McGuff at Xavier. In the two seasons, Xavier has gone 49-16 (24-4 in conference) and they led the country in field goal percentage defense this season.

Jennifer Roos – Head coach Curt Miller tells BasketballScoop that, "At Bowling Green defense leads the way Jennifer is our defensive coordinator." The Falcon defense consistently leads their conference in most defensive categories and ranks very high nationally as well. Five seasons ago, Miller named Roos Associate Head Coach. The Falcons have won their conference every year since. Miller sees the connection, adding, "Jennifer is really one of the elite assistants in the country." In addition to her role on the court, Roos is also the team's recruiting coordinator and is credited by Miller with helping the Falcons grow from a mid-major into a Top 40 caliber team, "Jennifer works very hard to ensure we get the right players into the program and she deserves every bit of the credit she gets. She's great!"

Vic Schaefer – Schaefer has coached under Gary Blair for 12 seasons. Blair tells BasketballScoop that, "Vic is one of the best coaches in the game. He puts everything he has into making the program a success. Vic tells me what I need to hear, not what I want to hear and that makes us a better team." One highly respected coach told BasketballScoop that watching an Aggie practice is fascinating, "When it comes time to talk defense, Coach Blair turns it over to Vic and Vic runs the show. He's really a brilliant defensive coach." Schaefer served as head coach of the bronze medal winning US team at the William Jones Cup in Taiwan in 2007.

Jackie Smith Carson – Head coach Kenny Brooks told BasketballScoop, "Jackie is going to have a very positive impact on the game for a long time. She's probably the best coach I've ever worked with. I have to fight to keep her every year." Nearly every coach BasketballScoop spoke with in connection with the awards said Coach Carson is something special. In her four seasons at JMU, the Dukes have averaged nearly 25 wins per season while going 99-33 overall and have participated in post season play every year.

Jonathan Tsipis – Coach Tsipis has worked under three national championship winning head coaches and has a great basketball network. Tsipis, the Irish's recruiting coordinator, has helped Notre Dame attract 12 straight Top 20 recruiting classes. Head coach Muffet McGraw tells BasketballScoop that, "Jonathan knows somebody everywhere we go and he is very respected by other coaches and players. He really enjoys recruiting and excels at player development." McGraw added that Tsipis is, "very organized and thorough and prepares the team very well for upcoming opponents. His basketball mind never stops working." McGraw added, "There are a lot of games that we would not have won without Jonathan's insight and hard work."

The Second Team consists of Cori Close (Florida St.), Chris Dailey (Connecticut), Curt Kassab (VCU), Lisa McDonald (Ball St.) and Stephanie Norman (Louisville). Regarding this group, Roussel added, "Cori has done a great job on both coasts. She has the respect of coaches across the country and will be a great head coach someday soon. Chris Dailey is an exceptional coach and Geno gives her a lot of credit. She brings in the best talent. Curt is a great coach. He has only been coaching at the college level for two seasons and there is already a national buzz about him. He's going to be a guy to watch for a longtime, players love playing for him. Lisa has been an integral part of Ball State's success under two head coaches. She works hard and is very well thought of in the profession. Stephanie and Jeff (Walz) have put together a great program at Louisville. They had a great run this year culminating in a season ending loss to UConn in the National Championship game. Stephanie is a hard-nosed recruiter. Other coaches around the country know they're in for a battle if they are competing with Stephanie for a player."

To read more about these awards, click here for the original announcment.

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BasketballScoop 2009 Coaches of the Year Awards powered by Critical Reload™
Winners to be selected by their peers

BasketballScoop.com and ONS Performance™, makers of Critical Reload™, announced today a new set of "Coaches of the Year" awards focusing on the "Rising Stars" of the College Basketball Coaching profession. For both Men's and Women's college basketball, our panel will select five of the best assistant coaches in the game.

"This is the only national set of awards being presented to assistant coaches. The winners will represent the best and brightest of the profession; the Rising Stars," said Scott Roussel, President of BasketballScoop.

Michael Bewley, President and CEO of ONS PerformanceTM added, "At ONS we pride ourselves on being a key part of a team's success. We're excited to team with BasketballScoop and support these awards recognizing coaches for all that they contribute to the success of the team."

Key Dates are as follows:

March 10th - March 25th	Nominations accepted from coaches only
March 30th	20 Semi-Finalists named (both Men's and Women's)
March 30th - April 15th	Votes accepted to determine Finalists
April 20th	10 Finalists will be announced (Men's and Women's)
May 4th	Announcements of the winners begin

To nominate a coach, please send an email containing a few supporting sentences to awards@basketballscoop.com or visit www.basketballscoop.com.

Coaches will be evaluated in the following areas: Recruiting, Player Development, Recruiting, Team Development / Scouting, Leadership and Administration. Men's and Women's winners will be selected by separate panels, each consisting of current head and assistant coaches.

About BasketballScoop:
BasketballScoop.com is the premier source for coaching job information. As the leading coaching job information venue, BasketballScoop.com serves our viewers' needs by providing 1st hand, timely & accurate information for our audience. www.basketballscoop.com