The National Basketball League Coach of the Year Award was an annual National Basketball League (NBL) award given to the top head coach of the regular season in each of the twelve years the league existed. The Coach of the Year was selected by sports writers, broadcasters, coaches, and managers.Nelson, Murry R. The National Basketball League: A History, 1935–1949. McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2009. Retrieved on June 17, 2019. Through the 1945–46 season every coach that would win the NBL's Coach of the Year Award also subsequently lead his team to the NBL championship. Following that season's end, Lon Darling of the Oshkosh All-Stars, Murray Mendenhall of the Anderson Duffey Packers, and Al Cervi of the Syracuse Nationals would be named the final winners of the NBL's Coach of the Year Award, though they wouldn't win the NBL championship in the subsequent years they earned that honor in question. The Oshkosh All-Stars had the most seasons where a coach of theirs earned that honor with it happening to them three different times, while the most honors for a head coach occurred three different times with Paul Sheeks of the Akron Firestone Non-Skids, Bobby McDermott of the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons, and Lon Darling of the Oshkosh All-Stars each earning the award twice in their careers (Darling being the only one earning it in non-consecutive years). Sheeks, McDermott, and Darlins would end up earning the NBL's Coach of the Year Award for half of the years the NBL existed as a league.
Among the winners were three future Basketball Hall of Famers: Al Cervi (1985), Les Harrison (1980), and Bobby McDermott (1988).
Winners *Inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Denotes coach whose team won championship that yearCoach (X)Denotes the number of times the coach had been named COY at that timeTeam (X)Denotes the number of times a coach from this team had won at that timeW–LWin–loss record for that seasonWin%Winning percentage for that season SeasonCoachTeamW–LWin%1937–38 Akron Goodyear Wingfoots 13–5 1938–39 Akron Firestone Non-Skids 24–3 1939–40 (2) Akron Firestone Non-Skids (2) 19–9 1940–41 Oshkosh All-Stars 18–6 1941–42 Oshkosh All-Stars (2) 20–4 1942–43 Sheboygan Red Skins 12–11 1943–44* Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons 18–4 1944–45* (2) Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons (2) 25–5 1945–46* Rochester Royals 24–10 1946–47 (2) Oshkosh All-Stars (3) 28–16 1947–48 Anderson Duffey Packers 42–18 1948–49* Syracuse Nationals 40–23
See also NBA Coach of the Year Award
References