Bowling Green State University Athletics
Curt Miller Named MAC Coach of the Year
March 08, 2005 | Women's Basketball
March 8, 2005
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CLEVELAND, Ohio - Bowling Green State University women's basketball coach Curt Miller guided the Falcons to the Mid-American Conference regular-season championship, and folks around the league have taken notice, as Miller has been named the 2004-05 MAC Coach of the Year. The announcement came at Tuesday night's (March 8) Kraft MAC Tournament Banquet, held at the Hyatt at the Arcade Hotel in downtown Cleveland.
The award is the result of balloting by members of the MAC News Media Association as well as the league's head coaches. Miller received 39 of the 61 total ballots cast, with Marshall's Royce Chadwick (14 votes) finishing second and Eastern Michigan's Suzy Merchant (4) third.
Miller guided the Falcons, picked to finish third in the West Division, to the league's best overall record, a MAC regular-season championship and the top seed for the Kraft MAC Tournament. The Falcons finished 13-3 in MAC play, and BGSU enters the tourney quarterfinals with an overall record of 20-7.
Miller, in his fourth season with the Falcons, currently has an overall head-coaching record of 62-52, and finished the 2004-05 regular season with a MAC ledger of 35-29. The Falcons are 41-17 overall and 24-8 in conference play over the last two seasons.
Miller's honor marks the first time in 12 years, and the fourth time in school history, that a BGSU coach has earned the league honor. Fran Voll picked up the MAC Coach-of-the-Year award in both 1986-87 and 1988-89, while Jaci Clark earned the honor in the 1992-93 season.
The Falcons have won at least 20 games in back-to-back seasons for the first time since the 1992-93 and '93-94 teams turned the trick. This year's team marks the tenth in school history to win 20 games.
Several other awards were handed out at Tuesday night's banquet. Ball State's Kate Endress was named the MAC's Player of the Year, while Buffalo's Heather Turner was named the Freshman of the Year. BGSU's Kate Achter was runner-up in the F-O-Y balloting, finishing six points behind Turner (26-20) in the voting.
Kent State's Malika Willoughby was named the MAC's Defensive Player of the Year, while Ohio's Simone Redd earned the Sixth Man award. Like the Coach-of-the-Year award, the Player-of-the-Year and Freshman-of-the-Year awards are the results of voting by the MAC NMA members as well as the head coaches. The Defensive Player and Sixth Man awards are the result of voting by the 13 head coaches only.
BGSU sophomore Julie Gompers delivered the invocation at the start of Tuesday's banquet.
The Falcons open play in the Kraft MAC Tournament Wednesday (March 9), facing eighth-seeded Miami University. The game, the first quarterfinal of the day, begins at 1:00 p.m. at Cleveland's Gund Arena.
