Wichita State's Marshall named USBWA Coach of the Year

Mar 24, 2014 - 6:37 PM St. Louis, MO (SportsNetwork.com) - Wichita State's Gregg Marshall was named the winner of the Henry Iba Award, given annually to the top men's college basketball coach as selected by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association.

The announcement comes a day after the Shockers suffered their only loss of the season and were eliminated from the NCAA Tournament in a 78-76 decision against Kentucky.

Wichita State finished 35-1 and won at least 25 games for the fifth straight season. The Shockers, coming off a surprising Final Four appearance last year, became the first team in NCAA history to win its first 35 games.

Marshall owns a mark of 174-71 in seven seasons at Wichita State and has a career head coaching record of 368-154 in 16 seasons. He spent nine highly successful years at Winthrop in the Big South before taking the job with the Shockers.

"Gregg Marshall has established himself as one of the nation's top coaches, first at Winthrop and now at Wichita State," said USBWA president Kirk Wessler in a statement Monday. "But the job he did this season, coaching his team to an unbeaten regular-season record and the historic accomplishment of becoming the first team to win 35 games without a loss, was transcendent."

The Henry Iba Award is named in honor of the legendary Oklahoma State coach who won 655 games and two national championships in 36 seasons in Stillwater. The award is voted on by all members of the USBWA at the conclusion of the regular season. The USBWA has presented a National Coach of the Year Award each year since the 1958-59 season.

In addition to Marshall, the other finalists for the honor were Michigan's John Beilein, Virginia's Tony Bennett, SMU's Larry Brown, Saint Louis' Jim Crews, Cincinnati's Mick Cronin, Florida's Billy Donovan, San Diego State's Steve Fisher, Creighton's Greg McDermott and Villanova's Jay Wright.