Eastern Washington University men's basketball coach Shantay Legans is among the finalists for a pair of awards given annually to collegiate men's basketball coaches by CollegeInsider.com
 
The fourth-year Eastern head coach is one of 25 finalists for the Skip Prosser Man of the Year Award which goes to a coach who not only achieves success on the court but who displays moral integrity off the floor as well. He is also among the 25 finalists for the Ben Jobe Award presented to the top NCAA Division I minority coach.
 
Both awards will be announced on April 1.
 
This season, Legans has guided Eastern to the cusp of a berth in the NCAA Tournament, and the Eagles need three wins this week in Boise, Idaho, to accomplish that feat. Eastern finished as the Big Sky runner-up after leading the league from Feb. 6 to March 3, and won 10 of its last 11 games to finish 12-3 and tied with Weber State.
 
The Eagles will play either No. 7 Portland State or No. 10 Northern Arizona in their opener in the quarterfinals of the Big Sky Conference Men's Basketball Championships at the Idaho Central Arena. Eastern will play at 4 p.m. Pacific time on Thursday, March 11 versus the winner of the opening-round game between the Vikings and Lumberjacks on Wednesday, March 10 at 11 a.m. Pacific time.
 
Eastern won its 12 league games by an average winning margin of 14.2 points per game, and its lone league losses were by a total of 12 points (5 twice, 2). Overall, Eastern lost to Oregon by 17, but the Eagles lost their other six other games by an average margin of just 3.8 points (5 three times, 3 twice, 2).
 
Legans, the 2019-20 Big Sky Conference Coach of the Year, is No. 4 in winning percentage in the 58-year history of the Big Sky Conference – second among those who coached at least four seasons. After the ISU games, he's 53-20 in four seasons for a percentage of .726. He only ranks behind Phil Johnson (Weber State 1968-71, .886, 39-5), Kermit Davis (Idaho 1989-90, .813, 26-6) and Dick Motta (Weber State, 1963-68, .727, 40-15), and is ahead of Travis DeCuire (Montana 2014-present, .719, 92-36) and Ron Abegglen (Weber State, 1991-99, .717, 86-34).
 
Overall, Legans is now 72-48 overall (.600) in four seasons. In school history, Ray Giacoletti (four seasons, 2000-04) currently ranks behind Legans in winning percentage overall (.580, 69-50) and is No. 2 in league games only (.707, 41-17).
 
In league games in his four years at the helm, Legans has directed EWU to 13, 12, 16 and 12 victories, His 41 league wins in his first three seasons at the helm is the best three-year stretch in school history. His four-year total of 53 is also the best all-time at EWU in 34 seasons in the league, as Eastern has won at least 10 league games for the eighth-straight season. That only happened six times before in EWU's first 26 seasons as a member of NCAA Division I.
 
Legans led EWU to a final record of 23-8 overall and 16-4 in the league in the 2019-20 season. Legans entered the 2020-21 season 59-41 in his three years as head coach for a .590 winning percentage. In the spring of 2020, Legans was selected to ESPN's "40 Under 40" list of the top NCAA Division I basketball coaches under the age of 40. He was selected No. 11 -- eighth among head coaches -- in the list of coaches ranked by achievement and potential.
 
 
 

More on The Skip Prosser Man of the Year Award . . .

 
The Skip Prosser Man of the Year award honors those who not only achieve success on the basketball court but who display moral integrity off the floor as well.
 
In six years with the Deacons, Prosser posted a 126-68 record. For his career, he was 291-146 in 14 seasons including six as the head coach at Xavier and one year at Loyola (Md.).
 
At Wake Forest, Prosser's teams averaged 21 wins per season while playing in arguably the nation's most difficult league, the Atlantic Coast Conference. Prosser won 100 games at an ACC school quicker than all but two coaches in the 55-year history of the conference. He coached NBA stars Chris Paul and Josh Howard, led the Demon Deacons to the first No. 1 national ranking in school history and earned ACC Coach of the Year honors in 2003.
Prosser passed away of an apparent heart attack on July 26, 2007 in his office at Wake Forest. He had just returned from his morning jog. The recipient of the 2021 award will be announced on April 1.
 
SKIP PROSSER MAN OF THE YEAR AWARD FINALISTS:
 

Casey Alexander	Belmont
Chris Beard	Texas Tech
Mike Boynton	Oklahoma State
Wayne Brent	Jackson State
John Dunne	Marist
Dana Ford	Missouri State
Leonard Hamilton	Florida State
Lew Hill	UTRGV
Chris Holtmann	Ohio State
Michael Huger	Bowling Green
Donte' Jackson	Grambling
Mike Jones	Radford
Robert Jones	Norfolk State
Pat Kelsey	Winthrop
Tod Kowalczyk	Toledo
Greg Lansing	Indiana State
Shantay Legans	Eastern Washington
Carmen Maciariello	Siena
Bob Marlin	Louisiana
Ryan Odom	UMBC
Lamont Paris	Chattanooga
Mark Schmidt	St. Bonaventure
Rob Senderoff	Kent State
Todd Simon	Southern Utah
Byron Smith	Prairie View A&M

 
 

More on the Ben Jobe Award . . .

 
The Ben Jobe Award, which is presented annually to the top Division I minority coach, is named in honor of one of the finest men to ever college basketball.
 
Coach Jobe is an icon in the history of basketball at Historically Black Colleges and Universities. He is best known as the head coach of the Southern University, a position he held for 12 seasons. He was also head coach at Alabama A&M, Alabama State, Talladega, Tuskegee and South Carolina State.
 
His record at Southern was 209-141 and included four NCAA Tournament appearances. He also coached the Jaguars to one NIT appearance, five SIAC championships, 11 SWAC titles and two NAIA Tournament Championships. Perhaps his most memorable moment as a coach was leading No. 15 seed Southern to a 93-78 win over No. 2 Georgia Tech in the first round of the 1993 NCAA Tournament. It stands as one of the great upsets in the history of the event.
 
The recipient of the 2021 award will be announced on April 1.
 
BEN JOBE AWARD FINALISTS:
 

Mike Boynton	Oklahoma State
Wayne Brent	Jackson State
Kevin Broadus	Morgan State
Isaac Brown	Wichita State
Dana Ford	Missouri State
Dennis Gates	Cleveland State
Leonard Hamilton	Florida State
Lew Hill	UTRGV
Shaheen Holloway	Saint Peter's
Juwan Howard	Michigan
Stan Johnson	Loyola Marymount
Terrence Johnson	Texas State
Mike Jones	Radford
Robert Jones	Norfolk State
Will Jones	North Carolina A&T
Rob Lanier	Georgia State
Shantay Legans	Eastern Washington
Mike Magpayo	UC Riverside
Bashir Mason	Wagner
Ritchie McKay	Liberty
Lamont Paris	Chattanooga
Richie Riley	South Alabama
Kelvin Sampson	Houston
Shaka Smart	Texas
Byron Smith	Prairie View A&M