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3/12/2008 - MEN'S BASKETBALL
Rick Byrd Named Finalist for Prosser Man of the Year Award
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Courtesy BelmontBruins.com
BOSTON, Mass. - Belmont University head men's basketball coach Rick Byrd has been named one of 10 finalists for the inaugural Skip Prosser Man of the Year award.
Byrd, who with 541 career victories is one of 16 active Division-I men's basketball coaches with 500 or more career victories, was named Atlantic Sun Conference Coach of the Year Mar. 4. This season, the Knoxville, Tenn. native directed the Bruins to their third consecutive Atlantic Sun Championship - becoming the first program in league history in earn three straight bids to the NCAA Tournament.
A 2004 NAIA Hall of Fame inductee for his service in leading the Bruin program, Byrd also received the Dr. James Naismith National Sportsmanship Award in 1994.
But of even greater satisfaction to Byrd than his sparkling coaching record is the unparalleled academic success of his student-athletes. Since Belmont joined the Atlantic Sun Conference in 2001-02, Belmont Basketball has had 67 players earn Academic All-Conference honors - far and away the league standard. Moreover, each of the program's three leading scorers of its NCAA era - Wes Burtner, Justin Hare, and Adam Mark - earned ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America honors and were named Atlantic Sun Conference Male Student-Athlete of the Year.
The Skip Prosser Man of the Year Award will be given annually to a Division I head coach who best represents the high standards of the coaching profession: Winning with integrity.
The award is named in memory of former Wake Forest head coach Skip Prosser who passed away suddenly on July 26, 2007.
