BOSTON – Cioffi Men's Basketball Head Coach John Becker has been named a finalist for the 2019 Hugh Durham Award. CollegeInsider.com made the announcement on Friday afternoon.
 
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The Hugh Durham award is presented annually to the nation's top mid-major coach. The award is named after the legendary coach who is the only coach in NCAA history to be the all-time winningest coach at three different Division I schools.
 
Becker has guided the Catamounts to a 26-6 overall record this season, their third-highest single-season win total ever, and won the program's ninth America East regular season title after posting a 14-2 league mark. He also collected America East Coach of the Year honors for the third season in a row, the only coach in league history to accomplish the feat, and he is one of three coaches to win the award four times. Earlier this week, he was tabbed as the U.S. Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) District I (New England) Coach of the Year for the second time in the last three years.
 
Becker won his 100th-career conference game with a 74-65 victory at UMass Lowell on Feb. 2 in only his 120th-career game, which is tied for the fourth quickest in NCAA history. He has logged eight straight 20-win seasons and he is one of five active coaches with eight 20-win seasons in his first eight seasons as a Division I head coach at the same school. Under Becker's guidance, the Cats have accrued a 192-83 record and he has the highest winning-percentage (.698) of the 52 Division I head coaches hired prior to the 2011-12 campaign.
 
The recipient of the 2019 Hugh Durham Award will be announced on Friday, April 5 at the College Insider Awards Event in Minneapolis, Minnesota - the site of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship.
 
Becker and top-seeded Vermont will host defending conference champion UMBC on Saturday (March 16) in the 2019 America East Championship. The opening tip is set for 11 a.m. Fans in attendance are encouraged to wear white apparel as a part of a "White Out" of Patrick Gym.
 
All of the action will be nationally-televised on ESPN2 and the WatchESPN app by logging in with your television provider. Doug Sherman, Paul Biancardi and Stormy Buonantony will have the call. ESPN2 is located on DirecTV channel 209 while Dish Network viewers can tune-in to channel 143. Burlington Telecom will air the game on channel 29 SD and channel 229 HD. For additional cable listings, contact your local cable provider. Westwood One will have the national radio broadcast of the game with Justin Kutcher and former Vermont coach Tom Brennan on the call. Local radio coverage can be heard on 101.3 The Game and 1013TheGame.com with Jake Marsh and Bernie Cieplicki covering the game.
 
2019 HUGH DURHAM AWARD FINALISTS
John Becker, Vermont
Randy Bennett, Saint Mary's
Rick Byrd, Belmont
Bill Coen, Northeastern
Tim Cluess, Iona
Darian DeVries, Drake
Steve Forbes, ETSU
Joe Golding, Abilene Christian
Jason Hooten, Sam Houston State
Mike Huger, Bowling Green
Chris Jans, New Mexico State
Robert Jones, Norfolk State
Danny Kaspar, Texas State
Dustin Kerns, Presbyterian
Ritchie McKay, Liberty
Matt McMahon, Murray State
Joe Mihalich, Hofstra
Wes Miller, UNC Greensboro
Nate Oats, Buffalo
Chris Ogden, UT Arlington
Mark Pope, Utah Valley
Bob Richey, Furman
Byron Smith, Prairie View A&M
Russell Turner, UC Irvine
Mike Young, Wofford
 
National Life Group is the presenting sponsor of the 2018-19 Vermont men's basketball season