MAC Announces Player of the Year, Coach of the Year
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Today the Mid-American Conference announced that Western Michigan's David Kool and Kent State's Geno Ford have earned top honors for the 2009-10 men's basketball season. Kool was named Player of Year, while Ford was tabbed Coach of the Year. The Player of the Year and Coach of the Year awards were voted on by a 24-member MAC News Media Association panel.
Kool edged Kent State's Chris Singletary by seven votes in the Player of the Year race. Singletary's teammate Justin Greene followed in the voting for the top player in the conference, while Eastern Michigan's Carlos Medlock, Buffalo's Rodney Pierce and Northern Illinois' Xavier Silas also received consideration.
The senior from Grand Rapids, Mich leads the Mid-American Conference with 21.0 points per game in all games and 21.9 points per game in conference play. Kool scored 22 or more points in 9-of-16 conference contests, including four games of 30 points or more. Kool is the career leader in points at Western Michigan with 2,037 (surpassing Manny Newsome's record of 1,787 set in 1964), which is 10th in Mid-American Conference history. Kool is only the 12th 2,000-point scorer in league annals. A four-time MAC West Player of the Week and four-time MAC Male Scholar Athlete of the Week this season, Kool ranks first in the MAC and 11th nationally in free throw shooting (.898) and fifth in the MAC in steals (1.77 spg).
"It is a very special feeling to be MAC Player of the Year," said Kool. "It's a great honor and I couldn't do without the help of my teammates and the coaches. This is more than an individual award, it's a credit to everyone in our program. It's a complete honor and I'm very humbled."
Kool becomes the fourth player in Western Michigan history to be named MAC Player of the Year. WMU's Jeff Tyson won the award in 1976, while Booker James garnered POY recognition in 1987. Most recently, Mike Williams won the award in 2004.
"To be singled out as the best among all the great players on the 12 teams in this league, it doesn't get any better as an individual honor," said WMU head coach Steve Hawkins. "We're very proud of him and he's very deserving of it for how hard he has worked. More importantly, he's just as good a person and student as he is a basketball player. David Kool is a true scholar-athlete and a great representative of WMU and the Mid-American Conference."
In just his second season at the helm of the Kent State men's basketball team, Ford has led the Golden Flashes (23-8, 13-3 MAC) to a Mid-American Conference Regular Season Championship, Eastern Division Title and the No. 1 seed for the upcoming FirstEnergy MAC Tournament. The regular season title is the fourth in KSU's school history. Under Ford's tutelage the Golden Flashes led the MAC in steals (8.8 per game) and with just 12.3 per game also had the fewest turnovers.
"This is an award that obviously a lot of people have had a hand in," said Ford. "Rob Senderoff has done a tremendous job with our offense, Armon Gates and Bobby Steinburg were instrumental with our defense and Jaden Uken was outstanding with our daily preparation for practice and games. You have to credit our accomplishments this season to the players who performed at a high level and shared that one vision required for a team to be great."
The Golden Flashes have won 13 of the last 14 games and the team's performance in the second half has been a testament to the adjustments made by Ford at halftime. During league play Kent State shot 51 percent and averaged 40 points in the second half, an increase of more than 10 percent from the field and eight points per half.
"We have great support from the University and Athletic Administration here at Kent State," stated Ford. "Our success is made possible due to the commitment we receive from Director of Athletics Laing Kennedy and President Lester Lefton."
Today's announcement marks the seventh time in league history that a Kent State head coach has been selected for the honor (Jim McDonald, 1990; Gary Waters, 1999 & 2000; Stan Heath, 2002; Jim Christian 2006 & 2008).
Men's Quarterfinal action takes place at Quicken Loans Arena on Thursday as No. 2 Central Michigan takes on No. 7 Western Michigan at Noon, No. 3 Akron faces off against No. 6 Eastern Michigan at 2:30 p.m., No. 1 Kent State plays No. 9 Ohio at 7 p.m. and No. 4 Miami will tangle with No. 5 Buffalo at 9:30 p.m. All games will be broadcast on FS Ohio.
Men's Basketball Player of the Year
David Kool, Western Michigan (13 votes)
Others Receiving Votes
Chris Singletary, Kent State (6 votes)
Justin Greene, Kent State (2 votes)
Carlos Medlock, Eastern Michigan (1 vote)
Xavier Silas, Northern Illinois (1 vote)
Rodney Pierce, Buffalo (1 vote)
Men's Basketball Coach of the Year
Geno Ford, Kent State (13 votes)
Others Receiving Votes
Keith Dambrot, Akron (10 votes)
Billy Taylor, Ball State (1 vote)
