KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Northwest Missouri State University head men’s basketball coach Ben McCollum has been named the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) 2016-17 Division II Coach of the Year, in a release from the organization on Friday. The eighth year head coach has led Northwest to the last four MIAA regular season titles and will lead the team into the NCAA national championship game on Saturday at 2 p.m. CST against Fairmont State.
McCollum, the four-time MIAA Coach of the Year, has led the Bearcats to six-straight 20+ win seasons, one of just seven schools in Division II to accomplish that feat. This year’s 34 victories is a Northwest and an MIAA single season record. Northwest also set the conference mark with 28 straight MIAA regular season victories from Jan. 16, 2016, to Feb. 18, 2017, a span of 402 days.
McCollum and the NABC Player of the Year Justin Pitts, will be honored at an award ceremony at the AT&T NABC Guardians of the Game Awards Show on Sunday, April 2, at the Orpheum Theatre in Phoenix at 6:30 p.m. MST (8:30 p.m. CST). The show is held during the annual NABC Convention and the NCAA Final Four.
— Northwest Athletics —
