Please Don’t Cry About Awards

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Ever notice how the fans of a school always feel that their coach is the most deserving of Coach of the Year honors?  Or that fans of a school feel that their players are most deserving of postseason laurels?

Well, not every player and coach can take home a gold trophy when the season’s complete.  And personally, I’ve never really understood why folks care so much about MVPs and All-Conference teams.

Still, in the last two weeks I’ve heard tell of at least five — yes FIVE — SEC East Division coaches that “deserved” to win Coach of the Year honors in the league.

Last week, Mark Bradley of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution suggested that UGA’s Mark Fox be honored.

A friend of mine covering the Florida-Tennessee basketball game two weeks ago told me that someone on press row told him that Billy Donovan should be the SEC’s COTY.

Vanderbilt and Tennessee fans have already emailed me to say: a) Why is everyone complaining that Kevin Stallings won the award? and b) Why didn’t Bruce Pearl win it?  You can do the math as to which fans said what.

Now, folks in Lexington are upset that John Calipari didn’t get the award.  DeMarcus Cousins and John Wall said they didn’t even know who Stallings is.

As I’ve previously stated on this site, I believe that any of those last three coaches mentioned could have easily laid claim to the COTY prize.  And I don’t disagree with CBS’ Gary Parrish who suggested the other league coaches didn’t vote for Pearl or Calipari because they simply don’t like them.

But just to throw a little water on all the “how could our coach not win it” nonsense, let’s look at some of the reasons those five SEC East Division coaches might not have won: 



John Calipari

Pros:  Recruited a stellar cast of freshmen and then led UK to a 29-2 regular season record.  He did a fabulous job of keeping a team of young egos together.

Cons:  Easily had the best talent in the league.  He should have had a great year.  His own players were aiming for an undefeated season.  The All-SEC team reads like a UK roster.  The award goes to Coach of the Year, not Recruiter of the Year.



Bruce Pearl

Pros:  Pearl had to abandon his usual style of play due to a major off-court issue (four players arrested on New Year’s Day) and numerous injuries.  He used a variety of line-ups to somehow lead UT to an 11-5 conference record and upset wins over Kentucky and Kansas.

Cons:  Who recruited the four players who were arrested on New Year’s Day?  Oh, yeah.  So you could say Pearl had to clean up a mess that was partially his own creation.



Billy Donovan

Pros:  Well, to be honest, I have no idea how anyone could push Billy D for COTY this season.  I guess he got as much out of a thin backcourt as could have been expected.  Maybe?

Cons:  The Gators lost their final three games when all they likely needed was one win to wrap up an NCAA bid.  And UF’s guard depth was hurt when Nick Calathes — who Donovan couldn’t get along with — left for a Greek professional league early.



Mark Fox

Pros:  Georgia was a tougher team — at home at least — than most folks expected.  UGA upset Vanderbilt, Tennessee and Florida in Athens.  Fox gave Bulldog fans reason to be optimistic about the future.

Cons:  Georgia finished the season 13-16, 5-11 in the SEC.  End of argument.



Kevin Stallings

Pros:  Vanderbilt overachieved.  Picked for third in the East, the Commodores hung close to league champion Kentucky for much of the season.  The surprisingly consistent ‘Dores finished 12-4 in league play and were unexpectedly physical in doing so.

Cons:  I can’t think of any.  Really.  There are no glaring holes.  Nothing that could really be spun as a reason not to give Stallings the prize.



I know, I know, I’ve just ticked off four different fanbases.  And Vandy fans will probably be mad because I wasn’t glowing enough in my praise of Stallings.

But again, I think any of those top three guys could have won the award.  Plus, I don’t really understand folks’ fascination with these types of honors anyway. 

And I’d be willing to bet that if Kentucky wins the national title, Calipari probably won’t be thinking about the SEC’s Coach of the Year award when he’s up on a ladder cutting down a net.