He is joined by Steve Alford (New Mexico), Jim Boeheim (Syracuse) and John Calipari (Kentucky) in making up the final ballot for the prestigious national award presented annually to the top men’s college basketball coach. The winner will be announced in early April.
After guiding K-State to its best regular season in more than 50 years, Martin enters the postseason with a No. 2 seed in the West Region of the NCAA Tournament. Named the Big 12 Coach of the Year, Martin has guided the Wildcats to a school-record 26 victories, a tie for second place in the Big 12 and an appearance in the Phillips 66 Big 12 Men’s Basketball Championship game. KSU earned its first top five ranking in nearly 50 years on March 1 when they rose to number five in each poll. Martin now has the most wins by a head coach in his first three seasons, and became the first Kansas State head coach to have three 20-win seasons to start a career.
The finalists were voted on by the Atlanta Tipoff Club’s National Voting Academy, comprised of leading basketball journalists, coaches and administrators from around the country. The academy based its criteria on coaching performances this season. The vote was tabulated and certified by the accounting firm of Habif, Arogeti & Wynne, LLP. HA&W is the largest independent accounting firm in Georgia and one of the top 50 firms in the United States.
For more information, visit
www.naismithawards.com.
