Fifth-year head coach Mitch Oliver of the Albertus Magnus men's basketball team has been named one of the 10 finalists for the 2012 Glenn Robinson National Coach of the Year award. The Glenn Robinson Award is presented annually to the top Division III men's basketball coach in the nation.
Oliver joins Larry Anderson (MIT), Jeff Brown (Middlebury), Ken DeWeese (Mary Hardin Baylor), David Hixon (Amherst), Marcus Kahn (Cabrini), Brian Lane (Transylvania), Pat Miller (Wisconsin-Whitewater), Matt Neil (Hope) and Ken Scalmanini (Claremont Mudd Scripps) among the 10 finalists.
The winner will be announced at the CollegeInsider.com awards banquet on March 30 in New Orleans, the site of the men's NCAA Basketball Championship.
The Glenn Robinson award is named after the longtime Franklin & Marshall coach, who has over 800 wins and is currently 12th on the all-time wins list. He has taken Frankin & Marshall to the NCAA Division III Tournament 22 times and has led his team to the Final Four in five seasons. This past season, he recorded his 23rd season with 21 or more wins.
For Oliver, he was named the 2012 Great Northeast Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Coach of the Year after leading his team to a 24-1 record during the 2011-12 regular-season. His Falcons finished the year 28-2 for a program and GNAC record for wins in a single season. The Coach of the Year recognition by the conference was his second in the last three seasons.
In 2011-12, he led his team to a perfect 18-0 showing in GNAC regular-season play as the Falcons become the only men's basketball program in league history to go undefeated.
