CHICAGO (March 23, 2022) – Loyola University Chicago first-year head men's basketball coach
Drew Valentine has been selected as a finalist for the Ben Jobe Award, which is presented each year to the top NCAA Division I minority coach.
Valentine, who spent the previous four seasons as an assistant coach at Loyola before assuming the lead chair this season, was one of the most successful coaches in the country in 2021-22, guiding the Ramblers to a 25-8 overall record, a Missouri Valley Conference Championship title and a NCAA Tournament berth. His 25 wins are the most ever by a Loyola first-year head coach and he is the only coach in program history to lead the Ramblers to a NCAA Tournament appearance in his first season as a coach.
Only three first-year head coaches have piloted their teams to 25 or more wins this season – Valentine (25), Hubert Davis of North Carolina (26) and Arizona's Tommy Lloyd (33). This marked the fifth consecutive campaign that Loyola won 20 or more games and the Ramblers are one of only seven NCAA Division I programs to have posted 20 or more victories in each of the last five years.
Valentine, the youngest head coach in the nation at 30 years of age, is one of only five first-year skippers to captain his squad to a NCAA Tournament appearance in 2021-22.
Jobe is an icon in the history of basketball at Historically Black Colleges and Universities and was a head coach at six universities, including Southern University, which he steered to 209 wins and four NCAA Tournament appearances.
The finalists for the 2021-22 Ben Jobe Award follow.
2021-22 Ben Jobe Award Finalists
Kenny Blakeney, Howard
Mike Boynton, Oklahoma State
Landon Bussie, Alcorn State
Ed Cooley, Providence
Hubert Davis, North Carolina
Dana Ford, Missouri State
Dennis Gates, Cleveland State
Penny Hardaway, Memphis
Shaheen Holloway, Saint Peter's
Rob Jeter, Western Illinois
Terrence Johnson, Texas State
James Jones, Yale
Robert Jones, Norfolk State
Rob Lanier, Georgia State
Shantay Legans, Portland
Tony Madlock, South Carolina State
Bashir Mason, Wagner
Jordan Mincy, Jacksonville
Lamont Paris, Chattanooga
Richie Riley, South Alabama
Kelvin Sampson, Houston
Takayo Siddle, UNC Wilmington
Jerry Stackhouse, Vanderbilt
Dedrique Taylor, Cal State Fullerton
Drew Valentine, Loyola
