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March 31, 2007

PULLMAN, Wash. - Washington State University Men's Basketball Head Coach Tony Bennett was named coach of the year by CBS/Chevrolet, Saturday.

Bennett is the first Pacific-10 Conference coach to win five national coach of the year honors since UCLA's John Wooden in 1972 (online entities not included). Both Bennett and Wooden were named coach of the year by the Associated Press, United States Basketball Writers Association and The Sporting News.

Wooden also earned the honor from United Press International (no longer awarded) and the National Association of Basketball Coaches (2007 award announced Sunday).

Bennett has also been named national coach of the year by Basketball Times, Collegeinsider.com (Jim Phelan Award) and Rivals.com. In addition, he was the recipient of the National Association of Basketball Coaches District 14, USBWA District 9, Pacific-10 Conference and Collegeinsider.com Pacific-10 coach of the year honors. He is a finalist for The Naismith Award, and The Clair Bee Award (Chip Hilton Sports and Naismith Hall of Fame national coach of the year).

Bennett led the Cougars to 26 wins this season, tying WSU's 1941 national runner-up squad for the most in school history. The Cougars made their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1994 and posted their first NCAA Tournament win in 24 years with a first round defeat of Oral Roberts, March 15 in Sacramento, Calif.