March 28, 2011

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Bethune-Cookman University Head Basketball Coach Clifford Reed is a finalist for two Coach of the Year awards that will be announced this Friday at the Collegeinsider.com banquet in Houston, site of the men's Final Four.

Reed is among 16 coaches considered for the Hugh Durham Award, presented annually to the top mid-major coach in Division I college basketball, as well as a being a finalist for the Ben Jobe Award for the nation's top minority coach.

"To be in the same lists as two Final Four coaches [Butler's Brad Stevens and Virginia Commonwealth's Shaka Smart are Durham and Jobe award finalists, respectively] is indeed an honor," Coach Reed said. "We must continue working hard to maintain this level of success."

2011 HUGH DURHAM AWARD FINALISTS: Tommy Amaker, Harvard; Randy Bennett, St. Mary's; Rick Byrd, Belmont; Ed Cooley, Fairfield; Cliff Ellis, Coastal Carolina; Jim Ferry, Long Island; B.J. Hill, Northern Colorado; Rob Jeter, Milwaukee; Sydney Johnson, Princeton; Greg Kampe, Oakland; Jim Larranaga, George Mason; Cuonzo Martin, Missouri State; Dave Paulsen, Bucknell; Clifford Reed, Bethune-Cookman; Brad Stevens, Butler; Blaine Taylor, Old Dominion.

2011 BEN JOBE AWARD FINALISTS: Tommy Amaker, Harvard; Ed Cooley, Fairfield; Mike Davis, UAB; Anthony Grant, Alabama; Leonard Hamilton, Florida State; Tony Harvey, Texas Southern; Jeff Jackson, Furman; Mike Jarvis, Florida Atlantic; Rob Jeter, Milwaukee; Sydney Johnson, Princeton; Cuonzo Martin, Missouri State; Clifford Reed, Bethune-Cookman; Dave Simmons, McNeese State; Shaka Smart, VCU; Cliff Warren, Jacksonville; Gary Waters, Cleveland State.

In addition, B-CU junior guard C.J. Reed is one two players in an HSRN.com fan poll for HBCU Division I Player Of The Year along with Texas Southern's Trevele Jones. Voting concludes Wednesday.

B-CU finished the 2010-2011 season with a 21-13 record with both its first Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference regular season championship and Division I post-season appearance in the NIT.