Head coach Kevin Ollie of the Connecticut Huskies acknowledges the crowd after defeating the Kentucky Wildcats 60-54 in the NCAA Men’s Final Four Championship at AT&T Stadium on April 7, 2014 in Arlington, Texas.
This in from UConn:
UConn men’s basketball coach Kevin Ollie, who guided the Huskies to the 2014 NCAA National Championship in just his second season as head coach, will be honored Wednesday as “The Ray Meyer College Coach of the Year” by the Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame.
It is the seventh year that the organization has honored the NCAA Champion coach at its annual induction dinner, which is set for Wednesday evening at the Gold Cup Room at Hawthorne Race Course in Chicago.
In addition to Ollie, honored at the dinner will be Heisman Trophy winner Earl Campbell with the Gale Sayers Award, former Miami Dolphins lineman Bob Kuechenburg with The George Connor Award, along with Hall of Fame inductees Dave Diehl, Donovan McNabb, Johnny Musso and Tom Zbikowski from the world of football. From baseball, inductees include Goose Gossage and White Sox legend Minnie Minoso will receive a lifetime achievement award.
From basketball, scheduled for induction are Bill Cartwright, Craig Hodges, Bill Wennington, Tim Hardaway and Quentin Richardson.
Ollie took the Huskies to a 32-8 record last season, coaching UConn’s to victories over Saint Joseph’s, Villanova, Iowa State, Michigan State, Florida, and Kentucky in the NCAA Tournament on its way to its fourth national title. Ollie became the fastest coach to reach 50 wins (52-18) in UConn history.
The award is named for Hall of Fame coach Ray Meyer, who coached DePaul for 42 years (1942-84) and compiled a 724-354 career record, still 17th on the all-time NCAA coaching list for total wins. Meyer’s teams won the NIT in 1945 and reached the NCAA Final Four in 1943 and 1979. He was the college coach of George Mikan, who went on to become the first of the great NBA big men. Meyer passed away in 2006.
