BOSTON (UCFKnights.com) – The finalists for the 2019 Ben Jobe Award were announced on Thursday and UCF head coach Johnny Dawkins was named among them.
The Ben Jobe Award is presented annually to the top minority coach in division I men's basketball. An icon in the history of basketball at Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Jobe is best known as the head coach of the Southern University, a position he held for 12 seasons.
It marks the second time in the last three seasons that Dawkins has been named a finalist for the national award. He was also named a finalist for the Skip Prosser Man of the Year Award earlier this week.
Dawkins has led UCF to a school record 23 regular season victories in 2018-19 and his Knights are the four seed in this weekend’s American Athletic Conference Championship. Come Sunday, Dawkins may lead UCF to its first NCAA Tournament since 2005.
The recipient of the 2019 Ben Jobe award will be announced on April 5 at the College Insider Awards Event, in Minneapolis, site of the 2019 NCAA division I basketball championship.
2019 BEN JOBE AWARD FINALISTS
Tommy Amaker, Harvard
Jeremy Ballard, FIU
Johnny Dawkins, UCF
Travis DeCuire, Montana
Patrick Ewing, Georgetown
Jason Gardner, IUPUI
Earl Grant, Charleston
Leonard Hamilton, Florida State
Penny Hardaway, Memphis
Lew Hill, UT Rio Grande Valley
Michael Huger, Bowling Green
Ron Hunter, Georgia State
Justin Hutson, Fresno State
Donte' Jackson, Grambling
James Jones, Yale
Johnny Jones, Texas Southern
Mike Jones, Radford
Robert Jones, Norfolk State
Jay Joyner, North Carolina A&T
Dave Leitao, DePaul
Ritchie McKay, Liberty
Robert McCullum, Florida A&M
Richie Riley, South Alabama
Kelvin Sampson, Houston
Byron Smith, Prairie View A&M