WKU men’s basketball Head Coach Hank Plona was announced as a finalist for the Joe B. Hall National Coach of the Year award Tuesday, according to a press release from WKU Athletics.
The award is given to the best first-year head coach in Division I NCAA basketball, according to the Joe B. Hall Website.
Plona gave his “honest thoughts” about the nomination at his Tuesday press conference.
“They told me it was for first-year coaches so I said ‘Man, there must not be a lot of first-year coaches this year,’” Plona said.
With just two games left in the regular season, WKU sits at seventh place in Conference USA. The Hilltoppers are 7-9 in the conference play and 16-13 overall.
“The season’s not over,” Plona said. “It’s hard to reflect and look back.”
Injuries have tainted Plona and the Hilltoppers. Senior forward Babacar Faye was the Hilltoppers second-leading scorer before suffering an injury against Murray State on Dec. 14. WKU was 7-3 before Faye’s injury and has gone 11-10 since.
Freshman guard Julius Thedford went down early in the conference slate against MTSU on Jan. 18. Before his injury, Thedford averaged 12.4 points per game.
The Hilltoppers also had five players redshirt before the season in sophomore guard Teegan Moore, freshman guard Kade Unsled, senior forward Fallou Diagne, junior guard Cade Stinnett, and graduate guard Terrion Murdix.
“I’m very proud of our team for how they fight and how they contend,” Plona said. “But winning is the standard, you know, we have an expectation to be very successful.”
Sports Reporter Nathan Mueller can be reached at [email protected]
