Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
McDevitt named NABC District 11 Coach of the Year
3/15/2022 10:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Middle Tennessee head coach Nick McDevitt has been named the National Basketball Coaches Association District 11 Coach of the Year, as announced by the group this morning.
McDevitt has led one of the largest turnarounds in the country this year, as the Blue Raiders have improved upon their 2020-21 win total by 18, tied with Iowa State for the second-highest total in the country. MT has increased its winning percentage by .479, second-most among teams that played 20 or more games in 2020-21.
That turnaround has seen Middle Tennessee return to postseason play for the first time since the 2017-18 season. The Blue Raiders will take the court in the first round of the College Basketball Invitational at 4 p.m. CT Friday in Daytona Beach, Fla., as the No. 2 seed against no. 15 California Baptist.
Middle Tennessee earned the top seed in the Conference USA East Division with a 13-5 league record before falling in triple overtime to eventual champion UAB in the semifinals of the conference tournament.
The Blue Raiders' 23 wins this season are tied for the seventh-most in a season in program history and tied for McDevitt's most as a head coach.
This is McDevitt's second NABC District Coach of the Year award after winning two such honors at UNC Asheville. At the end of the regular season, he was named the Gene Bartow C-USA Coach of the Year, his second career conference Coach of the Year award.
