Southeastern coach Jay Ladner finalist for Hugh Durham Award

SAN ANTONIO, Texas – Southeastern Louisiana men’s basketball head coach Jay Ladner was among 21 finalists for the Hugh Durham National Coach of the Year Award, the award committee announced recently.

UMBC head coach Ryan Odom was the recipient of this year’s award.

The Hugh Durham award is presented annually to the top Division I mid-major head coach as voted on by a 30-member panel, consisting of five current Division I head coach coaches, five retired head coaches, 10 current athletic directors and/or conference administrators, five members of the national media and five collegeinsider.com staff members.

Eligible coaches must be from the following conferences or leagues: America East, Atlantic Sun, Big Sky, Big South, Big West, Colonial, Horizon, Independents, Ivy, Metro Atlantic, Mid-American, Mid-Eastern, Missouri Valley, Northeast, Ohio Valley, Patriot, Southern, Southland, Southwestern, Summit, Sun Belt, West Coast and Western Athletic.

Ladner led Southeastern to its third Southland Conference regular season co-championship and to its first top seed in the league tournament in 2017-18 with a 22-12 overall mark and a 15-3 record in conference play. The Lions advanced to the tournament finals for the first time since 2004-05.

Southeastern advanced to the National Invitation Tournament for the first time, making its second postseason appearance in Division I. The Lions’ 22 wins were their second-most in
Division I while their 15 Southland wins, eight league road victories and 10 road wins overall were all program records, as was their nine-game win streak from Feb. 3-March 9.

2018 Hugh Durham Award Finalists

Kevin Baggett, Rider

Bill Coen, Northeastern

Nathan Davis, Bucknell

Travis DeCuire, Montana

Steve Donahue, Penn

Matt Figger, Austin Peay

Earl Grant, Charleston

Chris Jans, New Mexico State

Jay Joyner, NC A&T

Jay Ladner, Southeastern Louisiana

Jim Les, UC Davis

Bob Marlin, Louisiana

Bashir Mason, Wagner

Matt McMahon, Murray State

Wes Miller, UNC Greensboro

Porter Moser, Loyola Chicago

Scott Nagy, Wright State

Nate Oats, Buffalo

Ryan Odom, UMBC

T.J. Otzelberger, South Dakota State

Joe Pasternack, UC Santa Barbara