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| Monte Ross won a national coaching award named after his college coach. (Spokeo photo) |
Like the man it is named after, the Clarence “Big House” Gaines Award is a big deal every year. The winners of this year’s award for minority coach of the year have special ties to the man the award is named after. Tuskegee’s Leon Douglas (Division II) coaches at an HBCU and Delaware’s Monte Ross (Division I ) actually played for Gaines.
Ross, a 1992 graduate of Winston-Salem State, led Delaware to 25-10 season and led the team back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1999. That comes on the heels of 18 and 19 win seasons over the past two years.
Douglas led Tuskegee to the Division II Elite Eight after putting together a 21-12 seasons that included his fourth SIAC Championship in four years. His team was the last HBCU left in an NCAA Tournament.
