Murray State University Athletics
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Kennedy Candidate For Hugh Durham Coach Of The Year
3/8/2010 11:04:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Murray State head men's basketball coach Billy Kennedy has been named as one of 15 finalists for the 2010 Hugh Durham Mid-Major Coach of the Year by CollegeInsider.com.
Kennedy became a candidate for the award after his Racers completed a 17-1 championship season in the Ohio Valley Conference and won the league's tournament and a bid to the NCAA Tournament for the 14th time in school history.
Kennedy is part of 38 coaches to take two teams to the NCAA's, he also did it at his alma mater Southeastern Louisiana in 2005.
He's also a coach who holds the single-season victories record at two schools. His 30 wins this season is the record at MSU and his 24 at SLU in 2005 is a record.
The Hugh Durham Award is given annually to the nation's top mid-major coach, as voted on by the 20-member panel and the winner will be presented with the award at the Final Four in Indianapolis.
In 2005 the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Coach of the Year award was renamed in honor of Hugh Durham, the coaching legend who had retired at the end of the 2004-05 season. Durham is one of just twelve coaches to have led two different programs to the NCAA Final Four (Florida State in 1972 and Georgia in 1983). He is the only coach among that group to have led both schools to their lone Final Four appearance.
The previous winners of the award were Bozeman last season, Keno Davis (Drake) in 2008, Gregg Marshall (Winthrop) in 2007, Pat Flannery (Bucknell) in 2006 and Bob Thomason (Pacific) in 2005.
Here are all 15 finalists for the Hugh Durham Mid-Major Coach of the Year award.
| Randy Bennett | St. Mary's |
| Tad Boyle | Northern Colorado |
| Todd Bozeman | Morgan State |
| Steve Donahue | Cornell |
| Cliff Ellis | Coastal Carolina |
| Ben Jacobson | Northern Iowa |
| Greg Kampe | Oakland |
| Billy Kennedy | Murray State |
| Bob Marlin | Sam Houston State |
| Fran McCaffery | Siena |
| Randy Rahe | Weber State |
| Tony Shaver | William & Mary |
| Brad Stevens | Butler |
| Blaine Taylor | Old Dominion |
| Mike Young | Wofford |
