JMU’s Matt Brady named state coach of the year

After leading James Madison to its third 21-win season in five years and first Colonial Athletic Association championship and NCAA Tournament appearance in 19 years, head coach Matt Brady was announced Tuesday as the State Coach of the Year by the Virginia Sports Information Directors (VaSID).

Brady won the honor for the University Division, which is comprised of all state institutions competing at the Division I level.  The award is selected by member sports information directors at all levels throughout the state. The VaSID honor came one week after Brady was named NABC District 10 Co-Coach of the Year while Moore was also All-District Second Team.

JMU’s CAA title and NCAA appearance were each the first for the school since 1994.  The Dukes (21-15 overall, 11-7 CAA) had not reached the semifinals of the CAA Tournament since 2001 before advancing past William and Mary 72-67 this year and then defeating Delaware 58-57 on March 10 to reach the championship.  Madison had not advanced to the title game since 1997 but went on to defeat Northeastern 70-57 in one of its best performances of the season.  The title earned a spot for the Dukes receiving votes on CollegeInsider.com’s Mid-Major Coaches Poll.  JMU finished the season winning 12 of its final 17 games.

In addition to the first NCAA appearance in 19 years, JMU went on to defeat LIU Brooklyn in the First Four in Dayton, Ohio to clinch the program’s first NCAA postseason win since 1983. The win gave JMU 21 wins before ultimately finishing at 21-15, tied for the second-most wins in program history.  It was Brady’s third 21-win season in five years at Madison, giving him three of the top seven win totals in program history. That followed eight consecutive losing seasons for the Dukes.

A noticeable improvement in defense factored into JMU’s championship run.  The 64.6 points allowed per game ranked as the program’s best defensive scoring average since 1984-85, predating the invention of the three-point arc.  The Dukes ranked second in the CAA for defensive scoring overall and first during the 18-game league schedule (60.8 points/game).  JMU had not ranked higher than eighth in the league in either category in over eight years.

2012-13 VaSID University Division All-State Men’s Basketball Teams
VaSID Player of the Year – Erick Green, Sr., Virginia Tech
VaSID Coach of the Year – Matt Brady, James Madison
VaSID Rookie of the Year – Michael Kessens, Fr., Longwood

First Team
Erick Green, Sr., Virginia Tech
Joe Harris, Jr., Virginia
Treveon Graham, So., VCU
Stan Okoye, Sr., VMI
Pendarvis Williams, Jr., Norfolk State

Second Team
Akil Mitchell, Jr., Virginia
Devon Moore, Sr., James Madison
Juvonte Reddic, Jr., VCU
Marcus Thornton, So., William and Mary
Sherrod Wright, Jr., George Mason