MORGAN STATE'S TODD BOZEMAN RECEIVES 2009 DURHAM AWARD

April 3, 2009


THE AWARD: Check out the 2009 Award presented to Todd Bozeman


BOSTON (MA) -- After leading Morgan State to a second consecutive MEAC championship and the program’s first-ever NCAA tournament appearance, Todd Bozeman has been named the recipient of the 2009 Hugh Durham Award.

“Coach Bozeman did a phenomenal job,” says Joe Dwyer, co-founder of CollegeInsider.com and member of the Durham Award selection committee. “He lost the MEAC player of the year, defensive player of the year and his starting point guard and he we still able to repeat as conference champion. If he accomplished that in the ACC or Big East people would talk about this being one of the best coaching jobs in years.”

The award, which is voted on by a 20-member selection panel that includes current and former head coaches and is chaired by Hugh Durham, is presented annually at the Final Four to the top Mid-Major Coach in America.

Todd Bozeman guided the Morgan State Bears to a 13-3 conference record and 20-11 overall mark. In his third year at the helm, Bozeman’s Bears recorded top non-conference wins over Maryland and DePaul and are currently ranked 23rd in Mid-Major Top 25 poll. Morgan State, who earned back-to-back regular season championship titles, has won the most Division I games in school history and will enter tournament play as the number one seed.

“The job Coach Bozeman did this season went largely unnoticed,” says Hugh Durham. “There were a lot of coaches that did great jobs this season, but nobody did a better job than Todd.”

The finalists for the 2009 award were Duggar Baucom (VMI), Randy Bennett (St. Mary's), TODD BOZEMAN, Ed Conroy (The Citadel), Brad Greenberg (Radford), Ben Jacobson (Northern Iowa), Saul Phillips (North Dakota State), J.P. Piper (Nicholls State), Randy Rahe (Weber State), Brad Stevens (Butler).

“I am humbled and honored to be recognized as the Hugh Durham Mid-Major Coach of the Year,” said Bozeman. “It’s been a rewarding and fun season. To culminate the season by receiving such an award is an honor and an acknowledgement to the hard work that my players and coaching staff put in.”

In 2005 the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Coach of the Year award was renamed in honor of Hugh Durham who retired at the end of the 2004-05 season. Durham is one of just twelve coaches to have led two different programs to the NCAA Final Four (Florida State, 1972 & Georgia, 1983). He is the only coach to lead both teams to their only Final Four appearance.

The previous winners of the award are Keno Davis (Drake 2008), Gregg Marshall (Winthrop 2007), Pat Flannery, (Bucknell 2006) and Bob Thomason (Pacific 2005).