Charlie Coles Honored as MAC Coach of the Year - UB's Turner Battle Cops Player of the Year Award
March 8, 2005
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CLEVELAND -- In March 1987 then Central Michigan University head coach Charlie Coles was honored as MAC Coach of the Year and Turner Battle had turned four year old just two months earlier. Today, as announced by the league office, Coles earned his second MAC Coach of the Year honor and Battle was named as MAC Player of the Year.
Battle, a senior guard from Kernersville, N.C. (East Forsyth HS), was the team leader for the Bulls who established a school record with 20 wins and whose only non-conference loss was to defending national champion Connecticut. The Bulls' 11-7 conference mark tied for second in the MAC East, just one game shy of tying Miami for the league title.
Battle leads the Bulls and ranks fifth in the league in scoring at 15.9 ppg. He also third in the MAC in field goal percentage (46.9), fifth in assists per game (4.46), 11th in steals per game (1.57) and second in assist-turnover ratio (2.36).
Battle adds Player of the Year to his collegiate resume that also includes three-times an all-conference selection, two times an Academic All-MAC selection (and will likely make it three in a row when the MAC Academic team is announced next week), a MAC All-Freshman Team selection and a second-team Academic All-America selection. Battle is the first UB player to win the award.
Coles directed the RedHawks to the school's MAC record 21st conference championship and the third in his career (1987 at CMU and 1999 and 2005 at Miami). His RedHawks squad did it with a stingy defense, allowing a league low 61.1 ppg, a solid 4.5 ppg better than the second best defensive team.
Coles' team opened the season with a home win over Purdue and later won games at Xavier and vs. highly regarded Wichita State in an ESPN Bracket Buster Saturday game on national television. The RedHawks ended the regular season with an overall record of 18-9 and 12-6 in the MAC.
Coles, whose 2005 team went a perfect 13-0 at home, ranks third all-time in victories among MAC coaches with 248 wins overall and 151 MAC only wins. He joins Herb Sendek (1995), Joby Wright (1993), Jerry Pierson (1986) and Darrell Hedric (1971, 1973 and 1984) as previous honorees from Miami.
Voting for both awards was conducted among membership of the MAC News Media Association. Battle received 18 of the 61 votes cast with Western Michigan's Ben Reed receiving 13 votes, Miami's Danny Horace 12 and Bowling Green's John Reimold 10. Coles garnered 22 votes to 18 for Akron's Keith Dambrot and 14 for Ohio's Tim O'Shea.
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