Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns men’s basketball coach Bob Marlin was one of 21 finalists announced on Wednesday for the 2016 Skip Prosser award. The 2016 recipient will be announced on Monday April 4 in Houston, site of the men’s NCAA division I men’s basketball championship.
Marlin, who earned the award in 2010 while at Sam Houston State, recently completed his sixth season at Louisiana where he led the Ragin’ Cajuns to a 19-15 record and a quarterfinal berth in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament.
The Ragin’ Cajuns led the Sun Belt Conference, and ranked 29th nationally, in scoring averaging (79.6) while finishing 13th nationally in rebound margin (+8.1). During the 2015-16 season, Shawn Long was named the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year and finished his career as the Ragin’ Cajuns all-time leader in both rebounds and blocked shots while finishing third in school history in scoring.
Named after the late Skip Prosser, who died suddenly in 2007 while the head coach at Wake Forest, the award is presented annually to those who not only achieve success on the basketball court but who also display moral integrity off of it as well.
Skip Prosser posted a career record of 291-146 in 14 seasons as a head coach at Loyola, Xavier and Wake Forest. During his time at Wake, Prosser’s teams averaged 21 wins per season while playing in the Atlantic Coast Conference.2016 SKIP PROSSER AWARD FINALISTS
Tony Bennett, Virginia
Scott Cross, UT Arlington
Jim Engles, NJIT
Steve Fisher, San Diego State
Mitch Henderson, Princeton
Chris Holtmann, Butler
Jason Hooten, Sam Houston State
Bob Huggins, West Virginia
Sydney Johnson, Fairfield
James Jones, Yale
Pat Kelsey, Winthrop
Billy Kennedy, Texas A&M
Jim Larranaga, Miami
Phil Martelli, Saint Joseph’s
Bob Marlin, Louisiana
Frank Martin, South Carolina
Matt Painter, Purdue
Kyle Smith, Columbia
Zack Spiker, Army
Russell Turner, UC Irvine
Brad Underwood, Stephen F. Austin