KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Cioffi Men's Basketball Head Coach John Becker has been named National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) All-District I Coach of the Year for the second year in a row. The NABC made the announcement on Friday morning.
 
RELATED LINKS
NABC: Release
 
NABC districts are divided by athletic conferences. District I is composed of programs in America East and the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC).
 
Becker has earned his fourth coaching accolade of the season – America East Coach of the Year, U.S. Basketball Writers Association District I (New England) Coach of the Year, and he is currently a finalist for the Hugh Durham National Coach of the Year award. Becker became the first coach in America East history to win the Coach of the Year honor three years in a row and he is one of three coaches to collect the honor four times.
 
The bench boss guided the Catamounts to a 27-7 overall record, tied for the second-highest single-season win total in school history, and their second trip to the NCAA Tournament in the last three years. Vermont captured its ninth America East regular season title after posting a 14-2 league record and won its seventh tournament crown after knocking off defending champion UMBC 66-49 last Saturday.
 
Earlier in the regular season, Becker won his 100th-career America East game with a 74-65 victory at UMass Lowell. Becker reached the career milestone in his 120th conference game, the fastest by an America East coach and tied for the fourth-fastest in NCAA history – Gonzaga's Mark Few (112 games in the WCC), Kentucky coaching legend Adolph Rupp (116 games in the SEC), Temple's John Chaney (118 games in the A-10), and Kansas' Bill Self (120 games in the Big XII). Becker joined an elite group as Rupp, Chaney, and Self have been inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.
 
The Green and Gold completed season sweeps over the Atlantic 10 (George Washington, George Mason, and St. Bonaventure) for the first time ever, the Colonial Athletic Association (Northeastern and Towson), and their third straight against the Ivy League (Harvard, Yale, and Dartmouth).
 
In his eight seasons at the helm, Becker has recorded eight consecutive 20-wins seasons and UVM has made eight straight postseason appearances. 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 193-84 record and he has the highest winning-percentage (.697) of the 52 Division I head coaches hired prior to the 2011-12 campaign.
 
2019 NABC ALL-DISTRICT COACHES
District 1                   John Becker, Vermont                                                                
District 2                   Tony Bennett, Virginia                                    
District 3                   Casey Alexander, Lipscomb
District 4                   Mike Rhoades, VCU                                         
District 5                   Kevin Willard, Seton Hall                                
District 6                   Chris Jans, New Mexico State
District 7                   Matt Painter, Purdue
District 8                   Chris Beard, Texas Tech
District 9                   Mark Few, Gonzaga
District 10                 Joe Mihalich, Hofstra
District 11                 Jeff Jones, Old Dominion
District 12                 Derrin Hansen, Omaha
District 13                 Matt Langel, Colgate
District 14                 Nate Oats, Buffalo
District 15                 Rob Jones, Norfolk State
District 16                 Darian DeVries, Drake
District 17                 Craig Smith, Utah State
District 18                 Rob Krimmel, Saint Francis (Pa.)
District 19                 Rick Byrd, Belmont
District 20                 Mike Hopkins, Washington                            
District 21                 Rick Barnes, Tennessee
District 22                 Mike Young, Wofford                                      
District 23                 Joe Golding, Abilene Christian                       
District 24                 Chris Ogden, UT Arlington
District 25                 Kelvin Sampson, Houston
 
National Life Group is the presenting sponsor of the 2018-19 Vermont men's basketball season