WHEELING – West Liberty University men’s basketball coach Jim Crutchfield has received another prestigious award.
The West Virginia Sportswriters Association (WVSWA) announced on Sunday that the Hilltopper head man has won the 2011 Mickey Furfari Award as West Virginia’s College Coach of the Year.
Here’s a link to the announcement, which appeared in the Sunday News-Register: Crutchfield Adds to Trophy Case
After leading West Liberty to a No. 1 national ranking, West Virginia Conference and Atlantic Regional championships and the Hilltoppers’ first trip to the NCAA Division II Elite Eight, Crutchfield came out on top in the state-wide balloting by WVSWA members.
Rounding out the top five were West Virginia University men’s basketball coach Bob Huggins, who had won the award each of the past three years; Mountain State University head basketball coach Bob Bolen, who took his team to the NAIA national championship game; Shepherd football coach Monte Cater, whose Rams were WVIAC and Super Region I champions; and W.Va. Wesleyan football coach Dennis Creehan.
Crutchfield had been honored late last month as the Basketball Times NCAA Division II Coach of the Year. Earlier this spring, he became the WVIAC’s first three-time Coach of the Year in men’s basketball and was the NABC Atlantic District Coach of the Year.
He is the fourth West Liberty coach to receive the WVSWA’s College Coach of the Year Award, following in the footsteps of Lynn Ullom (2000), Ollie Olson (1960) and Joe Bartell (1956).
A Clarksburg, W.Va. native, Crutchfield will be presented with the Furfari Award on May 1 during the Victory Awards Dinner at the Village Square Conference Center in Clarksburg.
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