Western Michigan senior David Kool was named the Mid-American Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year and Kent State coach Geno Ford was named MAC Coach of the Year this morning by the league.
Kool led the MAC in scoring this season with 21.9 points per conference game for the seventh-seeded Broncos, who will face second-seeded Central Michigan in second-round MAC Tournament action at noon on Thursday.
This season, Kool moved into first place on Western Michigan's all-time scoring list (2.037 points). His total also ranks 10th all-time in the history of the MAC.
"It is a very special feeling to be MAC Player of the Year," Kool said. "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."
This season, Kool moved into first place on Western Michigan's all-time scoring list (2.037 points). His total also ranks 10th all-time in the history of the MAC.
"It is a very special feeling to be MAC Player of the Year," Kool said. "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 received 13 of the 24 votes besting Kent State's Chris Singletary (6)
and Justin Greene (2), Eastern Michigan's Carlos Medlock (1), Northern
Illinois' Xavier Silas (1) and Buffalo's Rodney Pierce (1).
Ford - in his second season with Kent State - led the Flashes to 23
wins, the top seed in the MAC Tournament and a regular season MAC championship after winning at Akron in
the league's final regular season game.
"This is an award that obviously a lot of people have had a hand in," Ford said. "[Associate head coach] Rob Senderoff has done a tremendous job with our offense, [assistant coaches] Armon Gates and Bobby Steinburg were instrumental with our defense and [director of basketball operations] 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."
Ford is the fifth Kent State coach to win the award, and KSU has won the award five times since 2000.
Like Kool, Ford also received 13 of 24 votes, with Akron's Keith Dambrot (10) and Ball State's Billy Taylor (1) trailing him.
In somewhat of a surprise, neither Miami's Charlie Coles or Central Michigan's Ernie Ziegler received any votes.
"This is an award that obviously a lot of people have had a hand in," Ford said. "[Associate head coach] Rob Senderoff has done a tremendous job with our offense, [assistant coaches] Armon Gates and Bobby Steinburg were instrumental with our defense and [director of basketball operations] 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."
Ford is the fifth Kent State coach to win the award, and KSU has won the award five times since 2000.
Like Kool, Ford also received 13 of 24 votes, with Akron's Keith Dambrot (10) and Ball State's Billy Taylor (1) trailing him.
In somewhat of a surprise, neither Miami's Charlie Coles or Central Michigan's Ernie Ziegler received any votes.
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